Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 10 OctOber 2018
Amandla Stenberg: I'm still finding my voice

By JAKE COYLE whether Starr should also
Associated Press be dark-skinned, Stenberg
NEW YORK (AP) — Actress responded thoughtfully
Amandla Stenberg was about "my role in the quest
named after a 1989 Miles for onscreen diversity and
Davis album — a lush, Afri- the sensitivity I must have
can-tinged funk fusion that towards the colorism that I
takes its name from the Zulu do not experience."
and Xhosa word for "pow- Stenberg came out in an
er." interview earlier this year
In South Africa under apart- ("Yep, I'm gay," she said).
heid, "amandla" was — Last week, after watching
and still is — a rallying cry Christine Blasey Ford's tes-
against oppression. It's a lot timony, Stenberg penned
for Stenberg to live up to. an op-ed for Teen Vogue
"You think?" she asks, laugh- about her two experiences
ing and thanking her moth- of sexual assault.
er for the heavy responsibil- "I would love to change the
ity. Then she turns more se- fabric of Hollywood," she
rious. "It's something I keep says, laughing at the bra-
very close to my heart." vado of how that sounds.
Stenberg has already "I'm really just being my-
done much to embody her self. I also think there's a
namesake. At 19, she has huge movement that's
become the face of a new This Sept. 28, 2018 photo shows Amandla Stenberg during a portrait session in New York to pro- been started and contin-
Hollywood, one that fuses mote her film, "The Hate U Give." ues that's completely in-
the personal with the politi- Associated Press dependent of me but that
cal. I've been included in now,
She is a confident, social expands in theaters Friday, Stenberg did growing up project in which Sternberg that's been well on its way
media-savvy, outspoken, Stenberg has found a per- in South Los Angeles — analyzed the appropria- for a long time."
young, gay, African-Ameri- fect amalgamation of art shuttles between worlds — tion of black culture. After Much of "The Hate U Give"
can woman who, like many and activism. Based on her predominantly black Stenberg posted it on her involves Starr's relationship
others of her generation, Angie Thomas' Black Lives neighborhood and her Tumblr, it was watched by with her father, a reformed
has little interest in contrib- Matter-inspired 2017 best- largely white, privileged millions. One viewer was drug dealer played com-
uting to the stereotypes or seller, George Tillman Jr.'s high school. Thomas, who was in the mandingly by Russell Horn-
biases of the past. drama is about 16-year- When she sees a white po- midst of writing her young- sby. His mentoring of Sten-
In "The Hate U Give," which old Starr Carter, who — like lice officer shoot and kill her adult novel. berg, she says, mirrored the
unarmed friend, Starr must "I remember watching it film. Hornsby's regular flow
decide whether to speak and I was like: That's ex- of advice was "the best
out. actly who I want Starr to tough love I've ever re-
Starr eventually finds her be," Thomas says about ceived," she says.
voice. Sternberg has, too, Stenberg and her unfold- "She's a beautiful, beautiful
but says she's not done ing career. "I can't wait un- spirit," Hornsby says of Sten-
growing yet. til 10 years from now when berg, whose own father is
"I'm finding my voice right I'm like, 'Yep, she was in my Danish. "The role and her
now, as we speak," she adaptation. That's when activism and where she's
said, smiling, in a recent in- it really took off.' I'm going in in life, everything is just
terview. to have bragging points on perfectly aligned. This is the
It's a theme that Stenberg that one." role she was meant to do."
returns to again and again: Stenberg's education be- The production wasn't
That whatever label has gan with her mother, who easy. Stenberg says she
been put on her isn't nec- schooled her on the likes of had residual trauma for
essarily who she is — or who "Roots," ''The Color Purple" months following the shoot-
she will remain. "I experi- and Nina Simone. From ing scene and still vividly re-
ence intersections of iden- the age of 10, she com- calls seeing fake blood on
tity," she says. "Everyone muted from Leimert Park to her shoe,
does." the Wildwood School near Worse, some scenes need-
Even the word "activist" Santa Monica. About four ed to be reshot long after
doesn't sit quite right with years ago, she began to the fact, when it was re-
her. feel emboldened by others vealed that Kian Lawley, a
"I made a video that went on social media. white actor who had been
viral and since then, every- On Instagram, she has cast as Starr's boyfriend,
thing I've said or done has been a forceful voice on had previously been vid-
been politicized," says Sten- diversity and gender equal- eotaped in a racist tirade.
berg, who gained fame ity. Stenberg has said she He was recast. "The irony
from her breakthrough removed herself from con- of that was not lost on us,"
role of Rue in "The Hunger tention for a "Black Pan- says Stenberg.
Games." ther" role because she felt What's most striking about
The video, titled "Don't Cash the part shouldn't go to a the young actor, both on
Crop on My Cornrows," light-skinned woman of col- camera and off, is her pre-
was a high school history or. When some questioned ternatural poise. q