??Amandla Stenberg Comes Out, Says She ‘Identifies As A Black, Bisexual Woman’
??Amandla Stenberg has been an activist for the last few years, but some may remember her role as Rue in The Hunger Games. The actress turned social activist has recently come out as bisexual, reports People.
“As someone who identifies as a black, bisexual woman I’ve been through it, and it hurts, and it’s awkward and it’s uncomfortable. But then I realized because of Solange [Knowles] and Ava DuVernay and Willow [Smith] and all the black girls watching this right now, that there’s absolutely nothing to change.”
Stenberg, 17, made an appearance on Teen Vogue‘s Snapchat account on Thursday, where she opened up about her sexuality while appearing on Teen Vogue‘s Snapchat account on Thursday. Amandla jumped on social media and sent out a tweet with a link to the clip on Friday.
“It’s deeply bruising to fight against your identity and mold yourself into shapes you just shouldn’t be in,” Stenberg says, in the introduction of the video, stressing the importance of representation.
https://twitter.com/amandlastenberg/status/685491403829321728
The Amandla Stenberg you see before you has been embracing herself and everything that comes with it — be it her ethnicity, her skin color, her hair, or her intelligence. She has consistently let her voice be heard and has been participating in discussions of current and important issues within the black community. Amandla, which means “power” in Zulu, schooled Kylie Jenner on the subject of cultural appropriation, when Jenner posted an Instagram photo of herself with braided hair, captioned “I woke up like disss.”
Stenberg eloquently responded, “When u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter.”
“I think that as a black girl you grow up internalizing all these messages that say you shouldn’t accept your hair or your skin tone or your natural features, or that you shouldn’t have a voice, or that you aren’t smart,” says Amandla. “I feel like the only way to fight that is to just be yourself on the most genuine level and to connect with other black girls who are awakening and realizing that they’ve been trying to conform.”
Dazed magazine featured Amandla on its Autumn 2015 cover and named her “one of the most incendiary voices of her generation.” The actress turned social activist helped spread the topic of cultural appropriation into public conversation in 2014, with her video, “Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows.” It started as a school project she released on Tumblr, and it started to spread like wildfire.
Stenberg ended the video with a crucial question: “What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we love black culture?”
The video gained plenty of attention, to the surprise of Amandla, who wasn’t expecting it at all. She didn’t think her statements were going to be viewed as controversial, and the amount of attention she received had her feeling a bit daunted. In the end, she was glad she made the video, regardless of any kind of doubtful or dubious feelings she may have had once so many people began to watch it.
Amandla Stenberg also serves as youth ambassador for No Kid Hungry and is a proud supporter of the Ubuntu Education Fund, a venture that nurtures children “from cradle to career” in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
[Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images for Women in Film]
