Visualizing Impact: Bringing 20 Million Signatures to Life
Fifteen-year-old Kellen was horrified when she saw the video of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police. So she started a petition on Change.org to get justice — and it quickly became the biggest online petition in history.
With 20 million signatures, including individuals from every UN-recognized country, Kellen’s campaign smashed records. For context, the biggest campaigns we’d previously seen on Change.org we’re right around 5 million signatures. This global campaign to stop the burning of the Amazon rainforest and a petition that followed the 2016 U.S. election asking the electoral college to honor the popular vote and make Hillary Clinton president. Kellen’s petition received 4 times as many signatures as these campaigns and 5 million more signatures than the largest online petition we could find.
In a digital world with a 24-hour news cycle, we’re constantly bombarded with numbers and statistics. The unemployment rate, the DOW, the number of people infected with COVID-19, election polling and so much more. How do we make sense of them, and how do we understand what is significant? Just how many is 20 million people?
20 million people live and work in Tokyo. Each year, 20 million (or more) viewers tune in to the National Dog Show. 20 million feet is about a quarter of the way around the Earth. And 20 million people want to see justice for George Floyd.
To help Kellen bring her 20 million signatures to life offline, we partnered with some talented artists.
Brittney S. Price, an artist based in L.A., has taken to the streets of her city to paint colorful murals that call folks to action in the fight for racial justice. She used the idea of a butterfly effect to represent the 20 million signatures for justice for George Floyd.
Ali Springer-Elkerson, a 13-year-old high school student, is passionate about visual arts and illustration. He captured the people who finally said “enough is enough” after George Floyd’s murder.
Visual artist Gianni Lee painted a symbolic uprising and sought to convey the power and pain of the people on the front lines of the fight for racial justice.
We worked with a hologram company to build a beautiful 3D hologram of George Floyd. In partnership with the George Floyd Foundation, we brought it on a tour of several southern states to replace confederate monuments that uphold our country’s racist past. Rodney Floyd, brother of George Floyd said, “…the hologram will allow my brother’s face to be seen as a symbol for change in places where change is needed most.”
I’m so moved by all of these creations — and how they bring the fight for justice to life in the real world. As a campaigner at Change.org, this is the kind of work I love to do. To empower people to break records and galvanize their communities to make change. To support petition starters in visualizing the movements they build, and to create tangible and lasting impact.
To us at Change.org, signatures mean people power. They demonstrate support for a cause and show decision-makers that constituents, customers, and citizens want to see things done differently. People like you are making history on Change.org every day. We’re here every step of the way to support you.
Alex Rapson is an Associate Campaigns Director at Change.org based in Brooklyn, NY. She supports a diverse portfolio of campaigns, focusing on women’s rights, racial justice, and workers’ rights.
