Amandla Stenberg thinks on screen diversity is "paramount to equity".
The ‘Hate U Give’ star believes it is crucial for movies to feature stories about people from all different backgrounds as it is "one step towards humanising them in your own life".
She told Vogue magazine: "I think on screen diversity is paramount to equity, because entertainment and media is such a large part of what shapes how we look at the world. If you are able to have empathy instilled in you for other people who walk different paths in life and have different experiences than you by seeing a movie, I think that is one step towards humanising them in your own life."
Meanwhile, the 21-year-old actress previously confessed she feels a "responsibility" to only take on roles that serve a purpose so she can be a positive role model.
She said: "I feel a responsibility., but these are also the only sorts of roles I’m interested in. It’s probably something my mom instilled in me. When I was younger, the only roles I would have received would be like, ‘Daughter of a drug user’ or ‘overly sexuallised young black girl’. But she always said, ‘No, we don’t have to touch the roles you don’t want to play. I don’t really have interest in stereotypes of myself. Or putting myself in a light that robs me of the ability to do more activism … I think it should be everyone’s moral responsibility and not necessarily postulate it as really radical, because it’s what we should all be doing. I have friends who exist within marginalised intersections of identity who have no interest in speaking out. Because they just want the ability to exist. And in many ways, I think that’s enough."
Amandla Stenberg: On screen diversity is crucial
