Amandla Stenberg, who acts in the newest installment in the “Star Wars” franchise, “The Acolyte,” recently shared a video of herself singing about oppression. Earlier this week, the 25-year-old actress shared her musical act on Instagram with her 2.3 million followers, suggesting it was a form of “discourse.”
The music video begins with ominous music superimposed over footage of Stenberg dancing as the word “discourse” flashes over the screen, while the lyrics “We so bored, don’t f*** with yo discourse” are repeated in the background. The first verse appeared to acknowledge a resurfaced interview from 2018 she had with Trevor Noah that has generated controversy for her suggestion that “white people crying was the goal.”
She further sang about social justice themes such as police brutality, “I was running from city to city to speak on a story, you know the one, police murdering a black boy. My people cried in the theaters finding release. White people cried. They could see us as human beings. Trevor ask what I want the people to know. I say white people crying was the goal. If they could take one thing what would it be? I say empathy. Ooooo that’s why they mad at me?”
Her lyrics continued, “They splice lines, make hate they recognize, make it look like the same propaganda they spew ’cause they conflate our pain with violence and try to weaponize everything that we do. The desperation of oppressors is rising and now they holding onto any ole thing they can use. If you rely upon misinformation then that tells me you afraid of the truth.”
Stenberg also calls out the use of the term “woke,” which conservatives have touted in recent years to describe the absurdities of progressivism. The actress asserts that wokeness was originally used to call out supposed instances of racism and bigotry.
Her tune adds, “And now you listening imma tell you something fascinating. They spinning woke. Bastardize it and appropriate it. Last I recall woke was something we created. Speak truth to power. Keep an eye out for you silly racists. And now they use it to describe anything they threatened by. Remember when Gambino put it in the zeitgeist? It was all about the people recognizing bigotry. The power of community not fodder for your clickbait.”
“The Acolyte” star also called out the media, suggesting they have failed to sufficiently report on the truth, appearing to share the same concern as conservatives, but almost certainly from a different political disposition. She suggested that the media is prioritizing profit over ethical reporting, leading to divisiveness and declining trust in the press. Watch her skit below:
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She sings, “Speaking of which, journalists I’m looking at you. Did you forget it’s your job to provide the truth? Spreading divisiveness, mining the metrics and data, seems you gave up all your ethics for money and views. And I can tell that the people are tired and the kids don’t trust anything that they view. We can learn something from their discernment. The future’s coming and it’s always the youth,” the actress sings.
Stenberg concludes her song, “My sis said don’t let it get to my spirit, but I’m sick and f***ing tired of suppressing my rage. 400 years of taking their bulls**t to compartmentalize like my ancestors had to encaged? If you don’t confront the pain that you live with, it’ll manifest as addiction diseases and hate. I’ve seen the infection repression can give ya. I’m not gonna be the next one sent to an early grave.”
Featured image credit: MTV International, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amandla_Stenberg_2018.jpg