Black-ish Star Yara Shahidi’s Message About Donald Trump Is Wise Beyond Her Years

The most uplifting aspect of this election has been the intense, immediate, and inspirational call to action that younger generations are pushing forward. It's clear that the youngest generation, Gen Z, now has a mission in mind, and collectively recognize how powerful their voices can, should, and will be in the years to come. One such Gen Z-er is Black-ish actress Yara Shahidi who shared a powerful open letter about President-elect Donald Trump. After reading her words, it may come as a shock that Shahidi is only 16 years old. She is already priming herself to be on the forefront of positive change along with fellow feminist Rowan Blanchard. (The two are featured together in the December issue of Teen Vogue, which they also guest-edited.) Shahidi shared the open letter on Twitter. She urges young people to be "decisive" and powerful members of their community and society and to never stop working towards progressive change. She labeled the note, "My process/processing."

"Opposition is in our nature and serves as the cornerstone and motivation to some [of] the greatest movements in our history,” she writes. “But I believe that in order for opposition to be constructive to our society, it must be birthed from a place of love and a desire for justice." She continued, "But now that President-elect Trump is a reality. And now that millions of Americans feel as though their vocalized hate and aggression are justified, what do we do? [...] We must ensure that the baton of progress that President Obama ran forth is not dropped. We cannot lose our focus or momentum because of this car, tumultuous change of course. It starts by each and every one of us becoming our personalized version and manifestation of the Hope and Change." She ends the letter by uniting herself with Gen Z and declaring her commitment to bettering our nation. "We are not and will not become passive members of our society. I refuse to watch the undoing of centuries of progress. We are Generation Z." This is just what we all needed to hear. Unsurprisingly, Twitter is captivated and encouraged by the note, as well as her Teen Vogue cover.