Amandla Stenberg's newest movie The Hate U Give follows high schooler Starr Carter (played by Amandla), whose life changes when police shoot and kill her unarmed friend Khalil.
The movie, based on Angie Thomas's book of the same name, also stars KJ Apa, Issa Rae, Russell Hornsby, Algee Smith, Sabrina Carpenter, Anthony Mackie, and Common; and discusses systemic racism, code-switching, and police brutality. They're understandably heavy topics, and as Amandla noted in a recent interview, the film has resulted in audiences — and especially white audiences — becoming emotional.
While talking with Trevor Noah on the Daily Show on Oct. 16 Amandla pinpointed a marker of the movie's impact. “I saw people cry in the cinema,” Trevor said during the interview. Amandla then agreed, adding, “We have a lot of white people crying, which is great. I’ve never seen so many white people crying before."
Trevor also asked how the actor would measure success “beyond the white people crying.” Laughing, Amandla responded, “White people crying actually was the goal!” She explained further, noting: “We wanted to make sure that those who have been affected by the ways the media misconstrues these events actually have a real sense of empathy and are able to place themselves into the shoes of our communities.”
📸: Erika Doss