American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and producer Janelle Monáe covers the September 2020 issue of Shape Magazine. Alexandra Mandelkorn styles the mega talent in ‘The Muse On A Mission’, lensed by Dana Scruggs. / Hair by Nikki Nelms; makeup by Jessica Smalls; set design by Wooden-Ladder

In an interview focused on Black activism and support for real change in America’s drive for racial justice, AOC notes photographer Dana Scruggs became the first Black female photographer to shoot an athlete for ESPN’s Body Issue in Spring 2018.

In November 2018, the Southside of Chicago native broke another major color barrier as the first Black Person to photograph the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine in its 50-year history. These “it took forever” realities cause as much disgust at AOC as joy. But kudos to Dana Scruggs.

Returning to Shape Magazine, Janelle Monáe talks with Farai Chideya, a writer and broadcaster on pop and politics with an important role at the Ford Foundation, about the star’s role in ‘Antebellum’ and her emerging status as a social activist.

“So I’ve been spending a lot of time organizing behind the scenes with peers, with my Wondaland Arts Society family," says says Janelle, 34, a longtime activist for the Black Lives Matter movement. "We hosted a Zoom where everybody had an opportunity to get on and just vent and cry and talk about how we’re feeling. These were white folks, Asian folks, Black folks, straight, gay—like a full spectrum of people and perspectives.”

Read about all of Janelle’s past and upcoming projects. The one catching our eye is her upcoming role as the civil rights activist Dorothy Pitman Hughes in ‘The Glorias’, the biopic about feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem. (“Gloria personally sent me a letter, so I couldn’t say no to Gloria Steinem,” she says.)

Next comes ‘Antebellum’, the Lionsgate upcoming horror thriller film. In our post-Charleston, Trumpian, boogaloo-movement world, the film is chillingly timely.

Monae speaks to the topic of discomfort . . . to the critical concept of white people facing discomfort. Without this evolution among large numbers of America’s white people, we just cannot break through this wall of systemic injustice.

I think discomfort is part of everyone’s reality right now. White people are feeling discomfort in one way, Black people are feeling discomfort in one way, and I didn’t want to shy away from that. It’s time for us to get uncomfortable, because the real change requires an upsetting and a rerouting and a real commitment to look at ourselves. In this instance,I hope that more white people see this film and fix the systems that their ancestors created that continue to oppress.”