Yara Shahidi believes the world is standing on "the precipice of progress and possibility".
The 20-year-old actress has spoken out amid the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests to insist the world is moving in the direction of change, but believes the younger generation still feel as though they are "looking for a home".
She said: "Here we stand on the precipice of progress and possibility. My generation proudly takes ownership of our identities and revels in our intersections. So why, at 20, do I feel as though we are looking for a home?"
The ‘Grown-ish’ star – who was born in 2000 – says that whilst she was born into a technologically advanced world, she is pleased to see young people aren’t "complacent with the world we’ve inherited", and still want to push for more change.
She added: "I was born into a perceived ‘post-racial’ world with smartphones – undermined by the fact that our societal fates are predetermined based on our ethnicities – and the same technologies that have connected us also surveilled our Black and Brown communities. Global protests against oppressive governments, coupled with constant national police terrorism claiming the lives of my community, should serve as a stark reminder of the collision of the forward movement of 2020 and the hate and discrimination that chain us.
"Rather than being complacent with the world we’ve inherited, we have taken on the project of constructing a new home, built on a foundation of inclusivity."
Yara praised her parents for teaching her that "abundance must flow", and said that motto stands for both physical resources and emotional ones.
Speaking to NET-A-PORTER, she explained: "One of the first things my parents taught me is that abundance must flow – I don’t know the age at which they sat me and my brother down to explain it, but I remember it being something I always knew in the Shahidi household. It not only applies to physical resources – ie when you get money, you give money – it is also the idea of time being a resource: your support, your love, your care."