Taraji P. Henson says she’s sending her son to a historically black college because he’s been racially profiled at the University of Southern California. In a recent interview with Uptown, the “Empire” star reveals that her son Marcel has been the target of unnecessary police attention, leading Henson to want to make a switch.
“My child has been racially profiled,” the actress tells the magazine. “He was in Glendale, California and did exactly everything the cops told him to do, including letting them illegally search his car. It was bogus because they didn’t give him the ticket for what he was pulled over for.”
Henson continues, “Then he’s at University of Southern California, the school that I was going to transfer him to, when police stopped him for having his hands in his pockets. So guess where he’s going? Howard University. I’m not paying $50K so I can’t sleep at night wondering is this the night my son is getting racially profiled on campus.”
The star is part of a group of black actresses (such as Kerry Washington, Viola Davis and Tracee Ellis Ross) whose shows have become huge network television successes. Henson tells Uptown, “It feels good that there’s not just one black person. I don’t like that we get fixated on one or two at a time, or three at a time. If you look at Caucasian Hollywood, every year there’s a handful of new faces you’ve never seen before, then after that, they got five movies coming out and they’re introducing you to more talent. So I’m just so happy to see what’s happening on television right now. We have options and that’s how it should be.”
And in terms of her place in Hollywood overall, Henson has learned not to let envy distract her. “If you don’t stay in your lane and you start looking around, you’ll go crazy,” she explains. “I use to have this crazy thing with Amy Adams, and I love Amy Adams. You see her [consistently] getting nominated, as she should, because Amy does good work. But, it’s like, ‘Well, I did good work too.’”
“But if you choose to stay in that place then you become miserable,” says Henson. “It’s a pity party and nobody cares. I’m human, so I’ve done it. But I check that because it’s ego and it’s the devil.” What do you think about Henson’s comments?
0 comments:
Post a Comment