Ma'Khia Bryant Honored by Social Media Via Her TikToks
Black Lives Matter

Ma'Khia Bryant Honored by Social Media Via Her TikToks

Social media users are honoring Ma'Khia Bryant's memory by sharing her TikToks.

As an alternative to the bodycam footage of her death released by Columbus police, Newsweek reported that people were choosing to remember the 16-year-old by reposting her TikToks, which have been shared over 1 million times in one day. Meanwhile, Ma'Khia's other TikToks — many of which showed her dancing or styling her hair — were posted to Twitter and Instagram have since racked up millions of more views.

"This is how we want to remember #MakhiaBryant. Joyful. Beautiful. Adorable," as the organization Until Freedom wrote on Instagram. "Protect Black girls. Protect Black women."

Another group called Justice 4 Black Girls also stated that these would be "the only kinds of videos we will ever circulate of Ma'Khia," explaining that "we will never ever curate our trauma, we will never circulate our abuse and death."

E"ven as we demand accountability, even as we resist, we will honor the fullness of Black girlhood," the post continued. "We will honor the fullness of Ma'Khia. I feel her vibrancy in this short clip."

On Twitter, others shared Ma'Khia's TikToks alongside messages about how she "deserved to be alive and happy with her family."

"Look at the art. Look at this Black girl magic. Look at her joy! Look at that smile and that face. What a beauty. What a baby," as one user wrote, while another added, "This is a child. A teenager going through puberty, a teenager experimenting with beauty and hair care. A child who had decades of living to do before that swine silenced her forever."

"I am reminding you of her childhood because I know most of you don't see her as a kid. Because you've been programmed not to," they continued, referencing the racist idea that Black children are often seen as "older" and "less innocent" than their white peers. "That makes you deadly to girls like her. Do some introspection y'all, please."

Ma'Khia was fatally shot on Tuesday afternoon by a white officer identified as Nicholas Reardon — just minutes before former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin was convicted for George Floyd's murder.

According to a report from The Columbus Dispatch, the teenager had called 911 about an attempted stabbing at her foster home. However, when police arrived on the scene, Reardon reportedly saw her holding a knife — ostensibly to defend herself against the reported attack — and fired four rounds on her. The shooting was captured by Reardon's bodycam. Ma'Khia later succumbed to her injuries at the hospital.

Photos via TikTok / @makhia03