Jennifer Lopez was not on the Golden Globes red carpet last night. Instead of attending to show solidarity with the Time’s Up movement against sexual harassment, she was 3,000 miles away on the island of Puerto Rico surveying the immense damage from Hurricane Maria—a storm that hit more than 100 days ago. Though Lopez was showing her support for an entirely different cause, she still wore all black and told local news outlets that while she stands with Time’s Up and #MeToo supporters, she interpreted the dress code as a broader chance to stand for equality. Of the U.S.’s lack of support for Puerto Rican citizens in the storm’s devastating aftermath, Lopez had this to say: “We just want to be treated equally. We’re Americans.” She added of her choice to skip the Globes and bring the black dress code to Puerto Rico, “I would have been there, but I wanted to be here and chose to be here. I want you to know I’m dressed in black too, even though I am far away in Puerto Rico.”
In her simple black turtleneck and black jeans, J.Lo successfully transported the Time’s Up style mandate from the red carpet to a part of our country so desperately in need of action. We all heard the powerful calls for hope and persistence and change onstage last night from Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman, Laura Dern, and countless other women wearing black gowns and pantsuits. But it’s worth noting that when that message spreads away from Hollywood, just as J.Lo proved it could, it has the power to move so much more.