"I Don't Belong to You" AVAILABLE NOW!https://t.co/Hpwrvabknghttps://t.co/4J7kZOWUEm pic.twitter.com/MGvZU0A6wO

— 👑 K e k e 👑 (@KekePalmer) February 1, 2017

Actress/Singer and now author Keke Palmer has just released a book I Don’t Belong to You; Quiet the Noise and Find Your Voice, which incorporates the title of her song about empowerment. Normally I would side eye a 23-year-old writing a memoir but the book has been described as, “part memoir and part self-help guide.” Since Keke has proven herself as a consistently conscious voice for her generation, I am interested in what she has to say. Keke is a proud voice for Millennials with a massive following on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. Her book is about the things her family, primarily her mother, taught her about creating change personally and globally. In an interview for the Build Series, Keke spoke about the parts of her book encouraging Millennials to make a difference. I’m happy to see her as a beacon for this generation, and she had a lot of good things to say about effecting change in our own communities.

“We have to get out and start mobilizing one another,” Palmer said.” When I think back on Martin Luther King, Malcolm X ― these people that … we all can say were leaders in positive movements ― they started within the communities.” 

“I feel like we are throwing rocks at the White House and it’s like, why? When, really, the problems are going on where we are. I don’t live in D.C. I live in my city,” she continued. “I think it’s more important for us to start figuring out how we can help one another where we are instead of worrying about John Joe after he’s already killed. We can’t do that. We have to literally be caring about each other as we go.”

Palmer believes that young people are the key to this change, something she says has to start from the ground up to have any real affect on larger issues. The “Scream Queens” star wants to see her contemporaries become more involved in local government because, in her eyes, the days of underestimating millennials are over. 

“We have really great views as young people. People discourage the millennials because they don’t understand them,” Palmer explained. “Instead of sitting here and taking the time … they immediately misjudge them and dispute any ideas that they have, but we do know a lot. I feel like if we had the confidence and the self-assuredness to trust ourselves we will change the world.”

[From Huffington Post]

I’ll admit these comments sat better with me when I heard them in context of her entire interview. I first thought she was saying not to worry about the White House because you don’t live there, but she really isn’t. Her point is to start locally because that can make more of a difference in the long run. On that I agree for two reasons: 1) an individual has a louder voice within their own city and 2) local action lays the foundation upon which the larger government sits and that point often gets lost. If the country is successful in toppling #45, we are still left with the Congress that is attacking the ACA, women’s and LGBTQ rights, lowering gun restrictions and approving unqualified Cabinet appointees because they were paid to. The point on which I differ with Keke is that I think you can act locally and still keep your eye on the White House.

I also agree that people are quick to dismiss Millennials and that this is not only unfair but dangerous. They are the voice of the next generation and will decide the future so we need to reach out to each other. As the saying goes ‘be nice to your kids, they are the ones who determine your nursing home.’ So I am all for holding discussions with Millennials, especially because I think they’re listening.

Photo credit: Instagram and WENN Photos