PHOTOSEmotional Video: Tia Mowry Forced To Teach Son About Racism & Homophobia After Someone Calls His Brown Skin Ugly
Tia Mowry had to teach her son a difficult lesson at a very young age. In a new interview, the actress spoke candidly about the time she had to talk to her son Cree about the realities of racism and homophobia.
“The first time I had to sit down and talk to my son about race was when my husband Cory Hardict and I were having a conversation about police brutality,” Tia, 40, explained in video on her Kin channel. “My son and was there but Cory and I were just in our own little word.”
She recalled that her son interrupted the conversation between his parents. “He goes ‘Mommy, I’m afraid of the cops. I’m afraid of the police.’” Tia said.
“That was when I literally had to sit down and have a conversation with him about racism and how certain people of a certain race can be treated differently because of the color of their skin,” she continued.
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The Sister, Sister star also shared another memory of an equally difficult conversation. “Cree was told that his skin color, the brown color, was not a pretty color. He was told that at five or six years old,” she recalled. “He was at camp. Here he comes home telling me that and I’m like “Oh lord here we go.’’
The mom of two explained that she ended up having a meeting with the camp counselors who talked to the other child’s parents. “We ended up sorting it out,” she said.
“But that’s when I had to sit down and tell him, ‘We live in society and world where not only are people treated differently by the color of their skin but they treated differently by their sexual preference and by their socioeconomic status,” she added.
Watch the clip above for more on Tia’s discussion about racism with her son.
