‘Illegals Is Not a Noun’ Viral Moment Voted 2016 Rebelde of Year

Dec 28, 2016
2:14 PM

Of all the 2016 stories that spoke to the moment when the authentically unfiltered leads to something bigger than all of us, our Latino Rebels Twitter audience named Maria Hinojosa’s viral “Illegals Is Not a Noun” MSNBC moment as the 2016 Rebelde of the Year. A few days after Hinojosa’s were already resonating with many in our community, a viral video from Fusion ampligied Hinojosa’s Rebelde moment:

Hinojosa’s words earned 39% of Twitter votes. Second place (25%) went to Sarai González from Bomba Estéreo’s “Soy Yo” video. Twenty-three percent of voters chose the heartwarming story of the Chicago paleta man. The courageous work of immigrant rights groups in the era of Obama (and Trump) earned 13% of the Twitter tally.

Here is what a few of you told us about your votes:

Some of you even added your write-in votes:

There was also this exchange:

FYI: Our founder now works with Hinojosa, but he was not involved in this post, in prepping this poll or in promoting or influencing the vote.