Teen Vogue is a teen fashion magazine published by Condé Nast that also covers celebrity news, politics, wellness, and entertainment. This video published by Teen Vogue on YouTube in 2017, follows Mari Copeny, or “Little Miss Flint” to the Women’s March in Washington, where she marched to protest the Flint Water Crisis. The video shows footage of the march shot by Mari, while captions inform the viewer that Mari is the youngest youth ambassador at the march and that she earned her title by calling attention to the fact that water in Flint, Michigan has been contaminated since 2014. Mari talks about this issue while the video shows her social media posts drawing attention to it. Mari also talks about meeting President Obama, while the video shows the media of the two of them together. Captions then inform the viewer that Obama approved one million dollars in December 2016 to help the Flint Water Crisis, but on January 24, 2017 Trump ordered a temporary suspension of any environmental protection agency business activity worldwide. Now it is unclear if federal funds will be allocated to Flint. The video ends by showing Mari with others at the march.
discussion
What young activist is this video about?
Why is Mari called “Little Miss Flint?” How did she bring attention to the Flint Water Crisis?
Why is this video called “Little Miss Flint Has a VERY Important Message for Donald Trump?” What did Obama do to help the Flint Water Crisis? What did Trump do to potentially reverse Obama’s decision?
Besides her age, what other identity groups does Mari belong to? Specifically, think about gender, race/ethnicity, etc. How do these identity categories also play a role in how Mari is represented in this video?