Amandla Stenberg Slams Miley Cyrus For ‘Using’ Black Women As ‘Props’

Amandla Stenberg , 16, recorded a video for her
friends, classmates, and the world that sends a
powerful message about how black culture has
gone mainstream without actually being
accepted by others. In the video, she calls out
Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry for
being white musicians who adopting parts of
black culture to be “edgy” and “gain attention.”

You might remember Amandla from her role as
fan-favorite Rue in The Hunger Games film, but
now you’ll remember her for the powerful
message she put on social media. In short, her
4-minute long video sets the record straight
about where so many trends abused by society
originated from: black culture.
“Pop stars and icons adopted black culture as a
way of being edgy and gaining attention,”
Amandla states, before calling out Miley. “In
2013, Miley Cyrus twerks and uses black women
as props,” Amandla said, blasting the singer for
her “We Can’t Stop” music video.

Then, Amandla goes on to list all the ways Katy,
Taylor, and others have relied on black culture in
their careers.
“Katy Perry uses ebonics, hand gestures, eats
watermelons, while wearing cornrows before
cutting, inexplicably, to a picture of Aretha
Franklin,” Amandla says, referring to Katy’s “This
Is How We Do” video. Yikes.
As the video continues, Amandla praises
controversial rapper Azealia Banks for calling out
other celebrities and artists who adopted
“blackness” for not voicing their support during
the Black Lives Matter movement inspired by the
recent police brutality. The video then cuts to
Azealia Banks doing an interview in which
she calls the adoption of her culture without the
support against racism a “cultural smudging.”
Amandla then continues, “Appropriation occurs
when a style leads to racist generalizations or
stereotypes where it originated, but is deemed
as high fashion, cool, or funny when the
privileged take it for themselves.”
One thing is for sure, and that is that
Amandla shows the potential to become the next
great voice of her generation. Hopefully, her
message inspires others to think
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