Yara Shahidi Pens Brilliant Essay For i-D

Yara Shahidi penned a brilliant essay for i-D. The young actress expressed her thoughts on diversity, acting, and social issues for this article. Highlights are below.

On her show black-ish: “Black-ish is about black families and the duality of raising black children in our modern climate. It tackles what it means to be black, what it means to be human, what it means to be a family. As a TV show, Black-ish has created a national dialogue about social issues, whether it’s the episode in which we’re talking about police brutality, or when we talk about the complexity of being biracial. We even talk about the importance of the presidential election. Black-ish has played a large role in many cultural conversations. Rather than forcing a way of thinking on somebody, our show has allowed the audience to see and feel the importance of constructive conversation.”

On duty as an actor: “As an actor, I think my role is to contribute to the world at large. Whether it’s starting conversations or bringing a story to life that hasn’t been told before, I believe actors can create a narrative that helps many people not only relate to what we’re talking about, but really understand the humanity behind the story that we’re telling. If you want to change people’s minds about the political issues you care about, you need to have something human for them to understand. If you just explain the theory, or the economic impact, then many won’t understand the human element of how policy impacts people. As actors we have the ability to tell those stories in a way that isn’t discussed in the news.”

You can check out Yara’s full essay here.

Everyone needs to read this!