Helena Duke: 

Helena Duke, an 18-year-old Massachusetts resident, is, as she puts it, “the liberal lesbian” of her family. 

Through a series of crazy events, Helena has recently found herself appearing in numerous news sources, including the Boston Globe, New York Times, Buzzfeed,  Teen Vogue, and, most notably, the NHS Hilltopper. The reason: she publicly identified her mom, aunt, and uncle via Twitter for being part of a pro-Trump group harassing a black woman in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, January 5th, the day before the insurrection at the Capital. It is unclear if they also participated in the insurrection.  

On Thursday, January 7th, Helena received a viral video of a physical encounter including her mother, aunt, and uncle. Ashanti Smith, the victim in the situation, was surrounded by Trump supporters, and after a woman, now identified as Helena’s mom, tried to grab her, Smith punched her in the face. 

Ashanti Smith is now facing criminal charges and she has been relieved from her job pending an investigation. You can help Smith with her legal fees and everyday expenses by donating to this Go Fund Me. 

After seeing this video, Helena tweeted “hi mom remember the time you told me I shouldn't go to BLM protests bc they could get violent...this you,” with the attached clip. In another tweet, she follows up, saying, “Hi this is the liberal lesbian of the family who has been kicked out multiple times for her views and for going to BLM protests to care what happens to me so…” then precedes to list her family members’ names. 

These tweets immediately blew up, and the first tweet received over 425,000 likes. Now, Helena has 32K followers. While Helena and her mom have gained attention recently, their relationship has been on the rocks for quite a while. Despite the fact that her mom has been a democrat for the majority of her life, something about Trump made her switch to the other end of the political spectrum. Helena reports being kicked out of her house multiple times for her beliefs. Once, after going to a Black Lives Matter protest, her mom told her she was no longer welcome in the house, telling her that BLM was a violent organization and would be inciting violence. 

Ironic, right? 

Since these exposing tweets, Helena’s mom has lost her job, and Helena is no longer living with her mother. “It was hard for me, and I felt very, immense guilt for doing it at some point,” she said of posting the tweets, though also admits that “I really don’t think that I did anything wrong. They should be held accountable.”

Helena Duke also just happens to be a former teammate of mine, playing on my club soccer team back in 2017. From what I remember, Duke (what everyone called her) was a compassionate, kind person whom everyone loved -- a favorite among the team. She deserves to find an environment where she feels safe and happy. Helena hopes to find such a place in college, but as of now, she is not sure how she will pay for it. You can help her out by donating to this Go Fund Me.