Keke Palmer is showing off a new look and raising her voice in the latest issue of Cosmopolitan.
The magazine’s cover girl held nothing back as she discussed her thoughts on the state of the world and revealed her take on Donald Trump.
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“I think President Trump plays into it too. He’s inciting a race war. His craziness is inspiring us to just really get him the f— out!” she told the outlet.
“It’s like we needed somebody who riled us up so much for us to be activated to the point of saying, ‘Oh, hell no. I can’t let this guy continue.”
The 26-year-old star has been raising her voice to fight for justice for years and has participated in numerous demonstrations and protests since Michael Brown was killed in 2014.
Recently, she made headlines when she asked a member of the National Guard to “march beside us” during a protest over the death of George Floyd.
“At that moment, I felt, ‘You’re human like me. I’m fighting out here, not just for me but for you too, you and the universe,” she said.
“Everything I said came out like word vomit. I know I didn’t let him get a word in edgewise, but it was because I wanted him to feel me. I wanted to connect to the human, not the suit, not this robot-ass s—.”
Palmer insists that the compounded trauma our nation is facing has inspired her and others to speak out.
“Of course no one wanted the coronavirus pandemic to happen…But I think quarantine allowed us to be more reflective. Maybe before, we’d be able to gloss over it because of work,” she said of the community’s renewed commitment to activism.
“It’s also been a buildup: There have been so many names turned into hashtags, so much pain. It blows me away because our language has progressed — I don’t mean specifically Black people. I mean young people, millennials,” she continued. “Naming white supremacy, saying that out loud. When I heard ‘defund the police,’ I’m like ‘Oh s—. We actually could do that.’”
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In June, Palmer shared her thoughts in a column for Variety.
“I have waited for a revolution, I believe, my entire life. I feel it’s like this for many millennials; messages about following rules and staying in line have since evolved into calls to stand up and get others to stand with you, to challenge authority and recognize different life experiences while gathering with others who are like-minded,” she wrote last month. “I truly believe that everything that has led us to this moment has prepared us for a revolution and a revelation: the dismantling and rebuilding of a system that is better, more equitable and representative of the people it claims to represent.”
The actress and singer concluded the column with some encouragement for her fans.
“So while it may be scary, we were born for this: We were born to be leaders and grow out of just ‘following rules’ because following rules isn’t enough,” she concluded. “We are now being called to challenge the rules and to challenge the character of those making them.”