"The Hate U Give" Author Angie Thomas Spoke to Amandla Stenberg and Common About Their Movie Characters

Claire Dodson

Updated June 2, 2018 at 12:19 PM

She spoke about *The Hate U Give* movie at the *Teen Vogue* Summit.

Amandla Stenberg has some valuable advice for young people who want to speak up about important issues, but may feel scared to do so: "You're not always going to have the answers. To gain the strength to speak up for something you have to allow yourself the time and space to know what you're about."

The inspirational words came on Saturday at the Teen Vogue Summit, when Amandla and rapper Common spoke with The Hate U Give author Angie Thomas about the book's upcoming movie adaptation, which Amandla and Common both star in. The actors talked with Angie about their characters, Starr and Uncle Carlos, respectively, addressing the way their film counterparts learn to speak up for what they believe in after Starr's close childhood friend is killed by police in the novel.

Amandla explained that "Starr is kind of navigating a lot of different identities simultaneously. She is growing up in this lower income black community, but she is going to school with rich white people. She's having to figure out how to code switch, how to find her truth in the midst of having to put herself in two different boxes in order to survive... which often as black girls we have to figure out the code switch."

Additionally, Amandla stressed the importance of letting yourself feel what you feel. "I think it's really important to allow yourself to be confused and scared and internalize those emotions and let them pass and give yourself the time to cultivate your perspective and what you believe in, in a really deep way and a way that satisfies you and fills you up," the actor explained.

Meanwhile, Common spoke about the book and movie's real world implications. "We know in America how black life is not valued like it should by people, by authorities, and the government," he said. "One of the things I really feel about police officers is they have to take the initiative to delve into the communities and try to interact and learn and take responsibility of the communities."

Common's big moment of the panel came at the end, when he freestyle rapped about the Summit, activism, and The Hate U Give. Watch the whole spontaneous video below.