Yara Shahidi has a few reasons to love the Internet. The central reason for the Black-ish star favoring the Web is because of the Internet’s ability to let users create their own narratives versus accepting pre-conceived stereotypes.
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“What I love about the internet is that not only is it a platform for our voices to be shared, it’s a platform to disseminate information,” Yara explains to CNET. “It has allowed us to claim our own history, and more than that, share our own history with each other — especially in a world where so many of our histories and stories have been intentionally left out.”
Yara Shahidi recently celebrated her eighteenth birthday in the most epic manner. The young star launched an online platform called “Eighteen x ’18” that encourages her peers to stay informed about political and social issues.
“It started after the unrest of the 2016 general election,” Yara reveals. “So many of my peers, including me, couldn’t vote. It really stemmed from this idea of how do we engage in our government systems? How do we make sure we stay informed, especially when you are either a new voter or somebody who hadn’t voted yet?”
Shahidi further explains, “There are so many times you realize the news isn’t quite marketed for us or to us. Whenever somebody likes a CNN or a BBC, they’re viewed as the anomaly. Like ‘Wow, you’re a kid who’s into the news,’ versus feeling like, ‘OK. You’re affected by this.’ Especially my generation. By the time so many of these policies are implemented, we’ll be young adults. What does that mean for us? How do we really, truly break down and understand what’s happening?”
When girls just want to have fun. 🤗 #yarashahidi #sundaymood pic.twitter.com/4IPf9HQiKJ
— Girls of Height Inc. (@GirlsOfHeight) August 19, 2018
Asking questions is one way to truly understand what is going on in our world. “One thing that’s already been happening [with the platform] that I love is [people] sending in their own questions,” Shahidi tells media. “I feel like so much of this is supposed to be a relationship based on reciprocity. We want it to really answer something you are worried about.”
Check out Yara Shahidi’s new platform here! Catch the young star on the hit series Black-ish as well as on Yara’s Freeform spinoff, Grown-ish.
Photo: CNET
