Jodie Turner-Smith Wants Her Biracial Daughter To Learn About "Colorism" And How It "Hurts All Of Us"
The Hollywood elites are at it again. This time it's about "colorism." Actress Jodie Turner-Smith wants to discuss this term with her biracial daughter because apparently it's a topic that needs to be spoken about with children.
If it ever feels like so many of the A-list celebrities are obsessed with race, it's probably because they are. In a recent interview with Refinery29, actress Jodie Turner-Smith spoke of teaching her biracial daughter about "colorism," and how much harder life has been for her because of the color of her skin.
Jodie Turner-Smith Thinks "Colorism" Is a Huge Problem
The Queen & Slim actress told Refinery29 that people told her "to sit the f*ck down" when she tried to talk about the effects of "colorism." She never offered a definition of what colorism exactly is, but it sounds like she means that people are judged differently by the shades of darkness in their skin, and the darker your skin is, the harder your life is.
Previously, Thandiwe Newton apologized in an interview to black people with darker skin than hers because she has "not represented them" in Hollywood since her skin is lighter than theirs. Jodie responded, "She's talked about [colorism] many times. She's talked about what seeing me on screen means to her and so on and so forth. I think colorism hurts all of us, and we all have a lot of stuff to work on."
Jodie also said that Thandiwe is "on a healing journey" and we should "listen to the bits where she's obviously in pain." She then turned the conversation to her biracial daughter (whose father is Jodie's husband, Joshua Jackson).
"At the end of the day, I am raising a biracial daughter," she said. "I'm raising a girl who does not look exactly like me, who is lighter than me. I want to figure out how I can raise her to have an understanding of white supremacy, of colorism, of how she benefits from that, of how she does not benefit from that, of how to have these kinds of conversations in a way that is really powerful and empowering."
It's rich that a wealthy, successful Hollywood elite like Jodie thinks that her daughter will face some sort of oppression in her life because she has darker skin than her father's. When can we stop pretending like "white supremacy" is the national bogeyman that's out to get anyone with somewhat dark skin?