Harper\'s Bazaar USA - 12.2019

about what it means to come of age in the first year of the new decade. Photographs by Adrienne Raquel

KS: Absolutely! Sabrina has definitely rubbed off on

me. She’s extremely outspoken, and I’ve found myself

apologizing much less and asking for what I need

much more.

KJ: Yara, you star in Grown-ish, which follows the lives

of young people of color as they navigate college. What

do you think the value is of presenting their narratives

in an academic context?

YS: It reinforces the idea that we can exist in all these

different spaces—in an academic world, a social world, a

world with oppression, a world with successes. Each char-

acter is young and proud of the community they’re part

of, but no one is monolithic. Everyone is an individual.

KJ: Kiernan, you’ve decided not to go to college. I was

wondering how you approach learning in a setting

outside of academia?

KS: Constantly enriching myself is really fulfilling, and

I believe I can get that without college. Thanks to the

Internet, it’s ridiculously easy to educate ourselves about

any kind of topic.

KJ: I watched Greta Thunberg’s speech at the U.N.

Do you think that youth today are collectively threat-

ening the ivory tower?

KS: Yara had a voter-registration party for her 18th

birthday, which I think is pretty badass.

YS: So many major social movements throughout his-

tory have been led by young people. Take, for example,

Congressman John Lewis, who was only our age when

he helped lead some of the first sit-ins and Freedom

Rides of the ’60s. There is power in being young. We

get the privilege of feeling that everything is malleable.

KJ: Speaking of John Lewis, who is part of the govern-

ment establishment now, how can older generations

be allies to young people?

YS: By acknowledging that young people have valid

points. It’s downplayed just how well informed about

the issues we are. At the same time it’s crucial that we

find ways to partner with the generations prior to us

who have done and continue to do the same work. ■

“There is power in being young.

We get the privilege of feeling

that everything

is malleable.”— Yara Shahidi

makeup: Loren Canby for Koh Gen Do; manicure: Tracy

Clemens for Chanel Le Vernis; production: Paul Preiss for

Preiss Creative. Shahidi, hair: Kendall Dorsey for Color

Wow; makeup: Vincent Oquendo for Maybelline New York;

manicure: Karrie Welch; production: Jen Hall for J&J

Productions. Fashion editor: Ryan Young.