Insecure Star Kendrick Sampson Wants You To Be A Better Activist

Kendrick Sampson is quick to admit that his journey as an activist and ally came with its fair share of missteps.


“I made a whole lot of mistakes,” he tells MTV News on a recent Sunday in Los Angeles. “I sought out my own education and place in the movement, and I made a lot of mistakes. It began with good intentions although I realized quickly — and was wise rapidly — on the distinction between that and effect. You can have the ideal intentions in the world and screw up some shit for people that you hope to help.”


He says this matter-of-factly, in part because he understands he’s not alone. For him, it began with the Black Lives Matter movement, yet then he started noticing that other celebrities were speaking up, also, and some days to mixed effect. He doesn’t name names, although provides a scenario: Someone would mention something that was either incorrect or didn’t connect all the dots, and it also was up to organizers who'd already been doing the work for years to right now put out a new fire, whether it be misinformation or suggestions that turned out to be harmful in its own way.


“There was a telephone call for, along with a necessary for, educating these people with powerful platforms to not, for lack a higher end term, fuck up the work of everyday organizers,” he adds, referencing the snowball effect that would be caused by an improperly worded tweet or viral soundbite. “And I was like, I can at least help in that area.”


So the actor, who most recently played Nathan on Season 3 of Insecure, got to work. In May, he launched BLD PWR, a collective that aims to pair people with influence with the organizers who have been doing essential work on any collection of issues for years, including police brutality, environmental racism, mental health stigmatism, and other forms of oppression to which marginalized communities are subjected every day.


If it seems like your faves are speaking out more frequently about the issues that matter to both them and their fans, you’re not imagining things. Thanks in part to social media distributing people direct platforms between themselves and some days millions of) followers, and as the state of the world has, frankly, routinely been pretty dire, it’s increasingly usual to watch as actors, musicians, athletes, and more use their voice to amplify and educate people on essential issues some days to mixed results, or backlash). Some fans signal-boost the causes that matter to them; at other times, they call their idols out for activism they feel missed the mark.


It’s that straightforward and instant correction, nevertheless, that can give a lot of influential people — and their publicists and managers — pause, no matter their intentions. The Internet’s memory is infinite, and several folks are reticent to be contained responsible for something they mentioned two weeks, or two years prior. It could be easy enough, then, to only ever speak out in safe ways, with vague platitudes in support of usually agreed-upon social goods — but increasingly fans are expecting celebrities to go behind that. The stakes are simply also high.


Rather than recommend bold action, Sampson wants his peers to amplify the people who know best, although who might not have the platform or access they do. “There’s already somebody doing the work, so you could refer to their work and uplift that work,” he promises.


To that end, BLD PWR taps activists and changemakers to support them in their mission, like Mike de la Rocha and Tia Oso of Accelerate Impact, an audience really interested in connecting celebrities with movements that matter to them; Bamby Salcedo, the founder of TransLatin@ Coalition, a crowd by and for transgender immigrants; and Bethany Yellowtail, a Northern Cheyenne and Crow style designer whose work uplifts the craftsmanship of Native peoples.


For Yellowtail, the partnership serves as a possibility to open people’s eyes to the injustices and erasure that several Indigenous peoples are subjected to each day. “Most people don’t even know an individual Native person,” she tells MTV News. “So as soon as things like [the Dakota Access Pipeline protest at] Standing Rock happen, some folks are like, ‘Wow, there’s Native Residents of the United States still?’ That’s an extra layer to the challenges we’re already facing. There’s never really been an entry point to the national consciousness of what Native folks are doing now.”


Above all else, both Sampson and Yellowtail prioritize the establishment of safe spaces for the BLD PWR discussions. “There has to be an inherent trust,” Yellowtail explains. “You have to partner with people and firms that show up in their action and are not just saying, ‘We’re making a safe space.’ You actually need proven concepts.” Rather than ask marginalized groups to hold a celebrity’s hand as they walk through generational trauma and disenfranchisement, BLD PWR wants influencers to show up willing to do the work, and learn a thing or two about the history of inequality.


“I’m not gonna sit down and give you talking points,” Sampson adds. “I’m gonna walk you through it, which takes time. What’s really hard, and what’s essential for training, is getting people to understand how radically different the world should be.”


segment of that mental reprogramming includes knowing any time to use a platform to speak out about an allocate, and whenever to use your influence to quiet each person else down so that other people can be heard. “It’s not your job to speak for everyone,” Sampson adds. “It’s your job to uplift other voices and provide your platform so that the leaders in those communities, who have been doing the work forever, can speak for themselves.”


It’s that sort of work that anyone can practice, without consideration of platform size or popularity. And while BLD PWR is starting by focusing on celebrity influence, Sampson hopes those same people can lead by example, and design a ripple effect of systemic change. And above all else, he stresses that it’s key to begin somewhere, right now, and better yourself as you go.


“You’re going to create mistakes,” he adds. “You can’t wait up until you’re brilliant to speak out, because folks are dying in the process. Folks are being oppressed and hurt, harmed and abused in the process. You can’t wait up until you’re brilliant. Although you could speak on what you know and not outdoors of that, and lead each person to people that do know what they’re talking about.”