Rhode Island state Sen. Tiara Mack wants people to focus.
After twerking in a TikTok video on July 4, asking voters to reelect her, the backlash was intense.
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The video has over 78,000 views on TikTok and two million views on Twitter as of July 6.
Mack, 28, is the state’s first openly queer Black person elected to office. After a day of responding to internet trolls, she made another TikTok further explaining the political statement she was making by twerking.
“There have been good and there have been bad comments, but the conversation has not shifted towards why my body is a topic of conversation in the news in the first place,” Mack said. “A little over two weeks ago, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which now leads [sic] the rights of abortion up to states to decide. If you’ve been looking at my previous videos, I have been talking about how blue states, including Rhode Island, are not safe, even though many people have the perception we are in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”
@mackdistrict6 Body autonomy. That’s what they won’t cover in mainstream media.
She then returned to the public conversations of her body, which she referred to in a TikTok posted before the twerking one asking another question about her body.
“The conversation about abortion right now is tied to body autonomy,” Mack said. “The conversation about trans rights is body autonomy, and the conversation about intersex rights is about body autonomy. “Stay tuned for more videos on body autonomy.”
Mack is a 2016 Brown graduate and is a rugby national champion. She is the state’s youngest senator.
