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Amandla Stenberg And Algee Smith On Changing Behavior To Move In White Spaces

Stars of 'The Hate U Give' share reality of Black life.

The cast of The Hate U Give recently shared with us their views on code-switching: an everyday practice Black and Brown people have grown quite acccustomed to incorporating into their daily lives.

Stars Amandla Stenberg and Algee Smith expressed how they have respectively put code-switching into practice in their lives, both as young Black people in America and as minority members of Hollywood.

"I experience it in my industry," Stenberg said. "It's kind of a necessary part of finding success. Understanding how you are interpreted by white institutions. Sometimes altering yourself in order to be more accessible, but I experienced it first growing up."

Smith explained that his experience was not as conscious and deliberate.

"It was interesting because I grew up my whole life growing up around both white people [and] Black people, so it never really clicked to me that I'm code-switching, it was just a thing to where you become all things to all men," Smith added.

The Hate U Give is currently playing in theaters.

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