TikTok has taken the world of information by storm. By personalizing feeds with trends like cleantok, gardeningtok, babytok and cartok among many others, the vast knowledge people like us possess is made personable and accessible to everyone.
But TikTok is used for much more than just memes, watching cute animals and learning how to make pretty sourdough loaves. Activists on TikTok have begun to raise their voice and make their presence known on one of the best digital platforms for social change yet.
Whether you join activismtok to raise hackles, affirm your own beliefs or learn more about underrepresented ideas and groups, these five accounts are sure to make you think deeply about life.
With his catchy tagline “Hey Colonizer!” Lance Tsosie is the mastermind behind TikTok content that explains, addresses and confronts racism against Indigenous people in the U.S.
One of his most viral videos addresses decolonizing beauty standards, showing how Western culture in America has shunned Native standards of beauty. Lance shows why other people should do the same while being proud of his heritage.
Throughout the past few weeks, Tsosie has confronted many “colonizers” and white supremacists who racially harass Indigenous people online, as well as through legal action in a recent case, and is documenting his journey on TikTok.
With the recent surge of the Black Lives Matter movement over the past couple years, Tsosie is bringing awareness to Indigenous lives as well.
Ross, the filmmaker behind this nature-geared TikTok account, grew up around the Cascade mountains and pursued his passion for nature by becoming a science communicator with a fun, informative TikTok.
Ross addresses issues like flooding, forestry, logging and the inner scientific workings of nature. In one of his recent videos, he explains how the fallen leaves protect the forest floor from erosion and helps provide nutrients for future growth.
“Jeez, check out all this litter,” Rossaid as he began his video. “Not the bad, trashy human kind, but the kind from trees, leaf litter!”
Global warming is falling upon ecosystems in many ways that people see and can’t explain. But Ross can, and through his passion about nature his followers can learn about how nature works, whether he’s addressing climate change or not.
Abraham Piper is a TikTok creator who covers a variety of topics, from education to religion and generational trends to everyday life. In one of his recent videos, he addresses the common argument that “this generation is weak and would be helpless if we went through another World War II.”
Piper states if this generation was considered weak for not having the personality for massive wars and solving our problems by killing millions of people, that is a weakness he can be proud of.
“There are several generations who are not going to submit to going to the other side of the world and giving our lives, or our children’s lives,” Piper said. “That’s fucking stupid, and boring. Like, let’s take a half hour and brainstorm other options, shall we?”
With President Joe Biden recently pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, that controversial move struck chords with the left and right alike, and this TikToker’s opinion gives both sides something to think about when it comes to nationwide or worldwide conflict.
Billy Perry is the TikTok dad people wished they had. With his slogan “Do better” and his rebuttal of common but harmful parenting techniques, Perry teaches his audience about what good parenting looks like.
He creates content with his teenage daughters to demonstrate what a parent might do, such as dropping everything to answer the phone when they call, then explains how they can “do better.”
In a video titled “Things kids wish they could say to their parents” Perry says “Why is it that some of y’all only talk to your kids when they’ve done something wrong? And then, some of y’all need to be proud of your kids because you raised them with a backbone.”
Parenting is something many college students have a touchy relationship with, either because they have left their parents and are reluctant to go back or dealing with homesickness. Some college students may even be parents themselves, so learning how to be a good one is the example Perry presents.
Nadya Okamoto is a Harvard graduate who founded PERIOD to help battle stigma surrounding menstrual cycles, get rid of period poverty and normalize being open about having a uterus. Okamoto also co-founded August, a sustainable period product shop.
In many of her videos, Okamoto responds to comments complaining about her talking so openly about menstruation. But she comes back with sass and explains in one of her videos that “Because we live in a patriarchal world that has not provided period products in the same way that toilet paper is provided for free in restrooms, we have to ask each other if we don’t have them (period products) on ourselves.”
Women all over the U.S. are fighting for equal rights, and the “pink tax” and inaccessibility of period products is just a small part of that battle. Okamoto is one of the women forging a path toward equality other women can follow.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected]