Amandla Stenberg: The 19 Year Old Face of Social Media Activism
Long gone are their Hunger Games days but Amandla Stenberg has become that face of their own revolution.
Starting in showbiz at the age of 4 through modelling and small film roles, Amandla is best known for their breakthrough role as Rue in the 2012 film the Hunger Games. Since then Amandla has made a name for themselves in the industry as well as outside of it through their social media with their 1.5 million Instagram followers. They are named after the Zulu word for power “Amandla awethu!” which means “Power to the people” which is very fitting when taking in Amandla’s character today. It’s also ironic that their character in the Hunger Games Rue was the one to spark the revolution within the films (spoiler! their character dies) and now Amandla is at the forefront of their own revolution.
At only 19 years old, Amandla Stenberg has accomplished things that an average nineteen year old (aka me) only dreams of doing. Amandla is an actress, singer and musician, model, writer, filmmaker and author. Not only that but they are biracial yet is undoubtedly proud and embraces their African heritage, is bisexual, and identifies as non-binary (preferring they/them over she/her pronouns). Most importantly above all Amandla is an active activist.
Using social media as a platform to allow their voice to be heard, Amandla takes control of their Instagram page as a megaphone. Scrolling through their social media accounts, mainly their Instagram and Tumblr page, you can find it littered with posts that focus on social injustices, calls to action, and bringing awareness to black artists, activists, etc. Amandla pages focuses on issues such as #BlackLivesMatter, LGBTQ+ rights, Indigenous rights, cultural appropriation, and female sexuality. From a quick glance at their pages, you can see that they work towards promoting intersectional feminism.
In 2015, Amandla made a video for their history class on the importance of black women’s hair. The video was entitled Don’t Cash on my Cornrows, which gained popularity and traction just as the #BLM movements was gaining its own steam. Catching wind of the video, Amandla was tapped by TeenVouge to create a short series of videos entitled #BlackGirlMagic. The success of the video and the importance of the subject allows Amandla to “made [them] recognize the power of [their] voice and of social media.” They told Vogue, “I realized, I can actually use this as a tool, as opposed to just coasting and posting pictures of myself and my friends.”
The video and Amandla’s activism caught the eye of Oprah, where they spoke on SuperSoul.TV about their experiences with growing up black and their work as an activist:
“When we grow up as black girls, we are told that we should be ashamed of our hair,” [they] say. “We are told that we should be ashamed of our bodies. And we should be ashamed of our voices.
When I was about 16, I realized I was actually combating a lot of self-hatred. And what I did in order to deal with that self-hatred is I decided to start writing. And I wrote, and I wrote, and I journaled, and I wrote some more. And in writing, I found my voice. In writing, I found my identity, and I found self-love.”
As social media is the best place to get your message across to the masses these days, Amandla ensures that their messages and posts are consistent to their beliefs. From first glance of all their accounts, we can see that they proudly embraces their African-American culture as their regularly sports black hairstyles such as box braids, corn rows, and even natural hair. Amandla is unapologetically themself — as any teen should be — and is unafraid of making people uncomfortable which is a big part of activism in itself.
Deep diving into each of their platforms though, we can see that Amandla balances the amount of activism that they post on their accounts with a healthy amount of personal content. For instance in the photo below, we see Amandla healthy mixes the amount of selfies with the amount of feminist and activist photos that they feature on their page.
In each of their selfies, they’re rocking a hairstyle that is typically donned by black women and has spoken about the appropriation of it on social media (such as calling Kylie Jenner out about her cornrows on Instagram). The posts that don’t feature themselves focus on the conversation that they are consistent in having. Their posts focus on Black issues and Black History Month which had just passed, their captions speak on being queer, and scrolling down we see videos from the recent #MarchforOurLives rally.
Looking to their Twitter now, Amandla’s account is mostly concentrated with retweets that highlight articles and work that they have done. Many are interviews in which they speak on their activism and the revolution of social media activism as well as many upcoming films. While this platform is not as personalized as their other two, we still are given a glimpse into Amandla’s character and their continuous fight for intersectional feminism through the personal tweets that they send out into the world.
Finally, we look at Amandla’s Tumblr page. On their page, they don’t post much of their own content but instead reblog a bunch of posts that again, follow the themes of their message and other social media accounts. The first couple posts on their page, at the time of writing, features a post that highlights black activists from the past year. As a black teen who is politically aware, Amandla continues to bring attention to the issue across all their platforms.
This is mostly a creative and artistic space of Amandla where they reblog various photographs that feature black people often in intimate settings focussing on sexuality and intimacy. Looking through their archive page below on their Tumblr account, we can see various posts that highlight this aspect of their character along with other socially/politically aware posts sprinkled in between.
While many may criticize Amandla for being apart of “slactvism” as they use their social media to promote the message of universal love, they are able to prove their critics wrong. Amandla has gone on to host many talks about activism, self-love, and embracing their blackness through guest speaking as events such as TIFF. They have also gone on to shift their activism from remaining online as they have been, as of recent, channeling it into their acting. They have been choosing their roles very carefully. Amandla had turned down a role in the highly praised Black Panther film as being bi-racial and light-skinned compared to the rest of the cast wouldn’t be a natural fit, and wanting to allow opportunities for dark-skinned black females to be represented. Instead, Amandla is set to star in Amma Asante’s Where Hands Touch, which focuses on a young, mixed-race German woman who falls in love with a member of the Hitler Youth. As these are certainly changing times for Hollywood, Amandla speaks on the shift to Vogue: “I think we’re at a very interesting and pivotal point in Hollywood, people are getting tired of the same material; they want to see black girls as leads in movies. And I happen to be lucky enough to understand that — and be able to grab that opportunity and run with it.”
There is nothing wrong in using the platform you are given — Amandla’s being social media and a celebrity — in order to give way to a much needed conversation. Amandla wrote an op-ed for TeenVogue in which they talk about millennials and online activism, looking to shut down misconceptions held about the generation as they are constantly criticized for wanting “instant gratification” therefore their online activism is not taken seriously. Amandla goes to write:
“Youth-driven social activism gets results. Our generation of activists has a tool unlike any previous generation: the technology to act instantly. We learn and connect online. We develop opinions and we use social media as a megaphone to make a difference. Online activism is a powerful experience; and I believe we are creating real change through it.
[…]Our generation is more than just a hashtag. We are the next generation of hunger leaders and advocates, taking a stand and not allowing our peers and families to go hungry. We are no different from any committed movement of passionate people who see a brighter future for generations to come. We just happen to talk about it in 140 characters or less. I’m encouraged to see my friends and peers use their online power for the better. They inspire me to stand up for all I care about.
The youth around the world are causing disruptions around the world with online activism. They are able to make issues trend and cause shifts within social and political atmospheres just from the palm of their hands. Amandla is an all around teen hero as one of the main disruptors and rightly so. With their continuous efforts, they will surely create a path for the next generation of young activists.
