Amandla Stenberg, star of The Acolyte, is calling out “intolerable racism” and released a song to express their sentiments.
The star of the Star Wars universe series, who uses she/they pronouns, dropped a track titled “Discourse” and addresses the intolerance they have experienced.
“Happy Juneteenth and to those who are flooding me with intolerable racism—since it took me 72 hours on my laptop to make this song and video, u got 72 hours to respond. and I expect choreo!!” Stenberg posted on Instagram.
Stenberg begins “Discourse” by referencing a 2018 interview with Trevor Noah that went viral on social media. In the interview, Stenberg said that “white people crying actually was the goal” of the movie The Hate U Give, film about the aftermath of a Black teenager who is murdered by a police officer.
“They splice lines, make hate they recognize, make it look like the same propaganda they spew cuz they conflate our pain with violence and try to weaponize everything that we do,” Stenberg sings. “The desperation of oppressors is rising and now they holding onto any ol thing they can use. If you reply on misinformation, then that tells me you afraid of the truth.”
Stenberg also had something to say to right-wing media that turned the word “woke” into something negative.
“They spinning WOKE, bastardize it and appropriate it,” Stenberg sings. “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.”
Stenberg also references Childish Gambino used the phrase “stay woke” in the 2016 song “Redbone.”
“It was all about the people recognizing bigotry,” Stenberg sings. “The power of community, not fodder for your clickbait.”
Watch the music video for “Discourse” below.
