Black Girls Are Tired of These Phrases – And Here’s Amandla Stenberg’s Perfect Summary of Why

“Can I touch your hair?” is only the beginning.

Here’s 17-year-old actress Amandla Stenberg reminding us once again of why she’s one of our faves. She teams up with some brilliant and inspirational friends, including filmmaker Franchesca Ramsey, activist Johnetta “Netta” Elzie, and the women of Urban Bush Babes, to get real about the phrases black girls are tired of being told.

Many of these are meant as “compliments,” but with Amandla’s breakdown of why they’re hurtful, you’ll know why they’re not complimentary at all. This shows just how relentlessly black girls get comments on their looks, voice, and more – and how it all takes a toll.

This is one of three parts of an outstanding video series Amandla co-directed and co-created herself for Teen Vogue. We’re so excited for this and more #BlackGirlMagic from her powerful voice.

With Love,
The Editors at Everyday Feminism



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Franchesca “Chescaleigh” Ramsey is a graphic designer and video blogger based out of New York City. With over 100k subscribers on her two YouTube channels, Chescaleigh and Chescalocs she and her videos have been featured on numerous style and entertainment blogs and news publications including MTV, The New York Times, Essence.com, and The BBC. In January 2012, Franchesca had her first viral video “Shit White Girls Say…to Black Girls” which accumulated 1.5 million views in 24 hours, 6 million views in a week and over 9 million views to date. Follow her on Twitter @chescaleigh.

Amandla Stenberg is a model, actor, and philanthropist best known for her role as Rue in The Hunger Games. You can check out her website here and follow her on Twitter @amandlastenberg