Meet the 20-year-old queer actor Time Magazine called "a leader of the next generation. She's Amandla Stenberg — and she's more than Hollywood glitz and glamour.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00So I still consider myself a baby gay and I'm just now stepping into my unadulterated and uncompromised truth.
00:30I'm just now stepping into my unadulterated and uncompromised truth.
01:00Unfortunately, police brutality is something that is probably going to be timely for a long time. It has been and will continue to unless we are galvanized to action when it comes to reform of our laws, when it comes to gun control reform, when it comes to the humanization of black people in America. And that's why I was drawn to this.
01:27I want to take today to express a gratitude for the legacy of women I come from who have stored the richest learnings in their bodies and passed them down through their blood and their mentorship. I thank you for the gift of your eternal guidance, the sway in your walk that I have learned to mimic and then embody.
01:48The most important thing now more than ever is to really revel in communion and sisterhood and think about what that looks like. Not necessarily just to use your voice, but what does it look like to support your sisters in your everyday life?
02:01It is so exciting to witness so many of my queer peers shine and grow and grow and grow. It's just such a joyous relief to be in this room and celebrate just how divine it is to be queer.
02:19Had I had more representations of black gay women growing up, I probably would have come to conclusions around my sexuality much earlier because I would have had more of a conception around what was possible and okay.
02:49I think in some ways I kind of see her story as reflective of mine in terms of how I navigate the world and how I attempt to bring peace to the people around me and use my platform to do kind of what she's doing, except she's doing it in a much more badass way.
03:09We're definitely living in a time where we kind of talk about identity politics in a way that's like separated from what actually makes us human and so it's really important that we actually, you know, settle down and kind of kumbaya and just like revel in the power of our collective love.