Zendaya Talks Fearing For Father’s Life Following Deaths Of Philando Castile And Alton Sterling
Zendaya Coleman is sharing a moment in time when she feared for the life of her father, Kazembe Ajamu Coleman, after the tragic deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, two Black men who died at the hands of police in 2016.
In the September cover story of InStyle, the Euphoria actress, known for her wokeness, revisits a time she will never forget.
“I remember when I was with my dad in Atlanta shooting the first Spider-Man movie, and it was around the time that the murders of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling happened,” Zendaya, an active supporter of the Black Lives Matter, explained. “I was extremely emotional, and I remember thinking about my dad, who was out picking up food at the time.”
“I started worrying and calling him like, "Are you OK?"
The Malcolm & Marie actress said that it came to a point where she did not want her father to go out and run errands.
“I didn’t want him to go out and do anything,” she recalls
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“My dad is a 65-year-old Black man,” she continues. “He’s been on this planet a long time, so he knows what he knows. But I still had that fear, and that scared me.”
Zendaya believes that her voice is needed more than ever to reach today’s youth, which is what she plans to do.
“There is hope in the youth. That makes me want to keep going. And more than anything, I just want to tell people that your voice does matter. The little things do matter. And continue to use your emotions. They are sometimes considered a weakness, but in this time they are very powerful.”