Malia Obama is making her voice heard in politics, only a week after her family left the White House. The 18-year-old was spotted at a Standing Rock solidarity event protesting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline at the Sundance Film Festival this week, according to Shailene Woodly.
The Park City, Utah event was hosted by Woodley and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II. Woodley, who has been actively protesting the pipeline for some time and got arrested for the cause last year, was happy to see the former first daughter join the protest.
"It was amazing to see Malia," she told Democracy Now, going on to praise the eldest Obama daughter for following her personal beliefs. "To witness a human being and a woman coming into her own outside of her family and outside of the attachments that this country has on her [and as] someone who's willing to participate in democracy because she chooses to, because she recognizes, regardless of her last name, that if she doesn't participate in democracy, there will be no world for her future children."
President Trump reinstated the Dakota Access Pipeline's construction the next day, promising that it would create jobs. Woodley has already spoken out about the need to "mobilize" in response to the new executive order. Whether or not Malia will continue to lend her high-profile presence to the cause remains to be seen.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT