Amandla Stenberg presented an award to Taylor Swift at the American Music Awards. I’m happy she was there for a couple of reasons. One, I LOVE her outfit. She’s wearing a Ralph Lauren blazer and karla x Levi’s jeans that I need in my life. The high waist is perfect and the cut is nice for those days you just aren’t feeling your skinny jeans, you know? I’m also VERY into the box braids Amandla’s hairstylist Vernon Francois styled her in.
ISSA LEWK. Amandla’s great look isn’t the only reason I was happy she was at the AMAs. I don’t want us to forget that Amandla is currently promoting The Hate U Give. Lainey and I saw it at TIFF. You can revisit my review here. Last Friday, Lainey reminded you that THUG opened in select theatres and will go wide this weekend. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that this movie should be required viewing, that its story be told and its messages be conveyed, especially now when real-life Khalils are still being murdered at alarming rates and justice comes, rarely, in the form of a conviction, when a trial shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
Sure, The Hate U Give is just a movie and it’s not going to solve police violence towards unarmed black people on its own, but I think everyone who sees it is going to think of these cases differently when they walk out of the theatre. They are going to understand the people behind the hashtags a little more. They are going to be moved. GO SEE THIS MOVIE.
At the very least, you will get to watch Amandla Stenberg become a legitimate STAR (and Starr) in real time. She is SO GOOD. And she’s one of those Gen Z celebs who give me hope for the future. Amandla is constantly using her platform for change, and she’s done so from the minute she got famous. This week, she wrote an essay about sexual assault and coping with trauma for TIME. You can read it here.
