In a profound essay written for Net-a-Porter on the 20th anniversary, Yara Shahidi opened up about being born at the turn of the millennium and what has been for her to witness and participate in the recent global movements toward inclusion and equality. Citing American novelist and playwright James Baldwin, Yara wrote, “perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.” In the trial, Yara explained that this sense of home is something that she and all her generation still have not found.
“Instead of being complacent with the world we have inherited, that we have taken on the project of building a new house, built on the foundations of inclusion.”
“Inheriting the progress fought for by previous generations – from the civil rights movement to Stonewall – I was born in a world of possibility,” he said in the essay. “Being proudly Black and Iranian, my freedoms and privileges are the clear result of generations of a global commitment to progress and justice . . . Here we are on the precipice of progress and possibility. My generation proudly takes possession of our identities, and delights in our intersections. So why, at 20, I feel as if we are looking for a house?”.
Yara went on to explain that his year of birth 2000 marked a fundamental change in technology, noting that grow along with the digital world created a sense of global community between her and her peers, but also changed the way in which they relate to one another as a generation. “The same technologies that have connected us to surveille our Black and Brown communities,” she wrote.
The 20-years of age Grown-ish star added that growing up in a world where the police terrorism is frequent and the global protests seem never-ending creates a “collision of the forward movement of 2020 and the hatred and discrimination that the string of us.” Yara said this shock has created a feeling of “helplessness” in which, while a rather uncomfortable, since then, it has become a source of hope.
“All of us bring many of our tools to the table to participate in the work of the system to break down, and the space of decisions,” she wrote. “Instead of being complacent with the world we have inherited, that we have taken on the project of building a new house, built on the foundations of inclusion.” For her part, Yara has been a strong activist for change, and even celebrated his 18th birthday with a voter registration party in honor of those who came before her and fought for the right to vote.
Yara added that, in a world full of so much uncertainty, it is crucial to be a resource for those around you financially, emotionally, and physically, whenever possible. “So, where are we, Generation Z, go from here? I have No idea,” he said. “But I hope with impatience the efforts of our composite of voices and I look down at the house that we built.”
