Kerry Washington Wants Black History Taught to Kids to Show 'Elegance' Before Hardships
Kerry Washington is pinpointing a different approach to teaching black history to children.
On Monday, the Scandal star appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to discuss the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement and the fight against racial injustice.
Washington — who's mom to son Caleb Kelechi, 3½, and daughter Isabelle Amarachi, 6, plus stepmom to husband Nnamdi Asomugha's teenage daughter from a past relationship — also opened up about speaking to her kids about racism.
"For a lot of black families, we don't have the privilege of ignoring what's going on and pretending that it's not happening," said Washington, 43.
The actress further explained that she'd rather see education put an emphasis on the range of black history beyond only the civil rights hardship.
"It's really important that we start to introduce the idea of race with a black history that begins before teaching kids about what black people were told they couldn't do," said Washington. "Black history and black people were a lot of things before segregation and Jim Crow and the civil rights movement."
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Many celebrity parents have shared how they plan to teach their kids about racism, including Washington's Little Fires Everywhere costar Reese Witherspoon.
On Instagram last month, Witherspoon, 44, shared how she talked to her youngest child, 7-year-old son Tennessee James, about police brutality.
The Oscar winner also encouraged her fans to not shy away from the subject. "Please talk to your children about racism, privilege, bigotry and hate. If you aren't talking to them, someone else is," she wrote.
To help combat systemic racism, consider learning from or donating to these organizations:
- Campaign Zero (joincampaignzero.org) which works to end police brutality in America through research-proven strategies.
- ColorofChange.org works to make government more responsive to racial disparities.
- National Cares Mentoring Movement (caresmentoring.org) provides social and academic support to help black youth succeed in college and beyond.
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