The ‘Hate U Give’ actress, Amandla Stenberg responded to online backlash surrounding how she pronounced her name on TikTok.
‘Okay so I’m coming on here because I’ve seen a lot of people talking about my name and how I pronounce it, and I want to get into the discourse because I’ve been thinking about these things a lot trust me.’ she said
The actress mentioned the common misconceptions about her name from westerners and how they thought her parents took ‘Amanda’ and seeped an ‘L’ in there.
‘Girl bye! it’s Amandla as in Amandla Awethu which means power to the people in Zulu and Xhosa, and this was an understanding that I grew up with, this had significant weight and history. That Amandla Awethu was a rallying cry that was utilised during the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, and that Amandla means power and my mom gave me this name because she wanted to aspire towards this concept which I’m grateful for’
@amandlafr♬ original sound – amandla stenberg
Amandla explained how her mom westernised her name because she didn’t want her to struggle in school, and she thought that people would be able to pronounce it, essentially trying to help her assimilate.
She continued to say that at this point in her life, it was a fifty-fifty split on how she pronounced it. People who have known her since she was little use the westernised pronunciation as that is how her mom pronounces it. South Africans and black radicals that she knows use the correct vernacular pronunciation, because they know the meaning behind the name and what it signifies.
She ended the tiktok by saying ‘I am still struggling to introduce myself, yo, South Africans – if you’re wiling. Let’s have a dialogue please, I welcome it and I am grateful for it, thank you.
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