On Monday’s new episode of “Red Table Talk,” Jada Pinkett-Smith, her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones and daughter, Willow Smith tackled racism in America.
Jada Pinkett-Smith revealed she would never forget the time two white police officers yelled racial slurs at her.
“I remember going to Virginia Beach ― remember when they had the riots?” she asked.
“I was there by myself — terrified — trying to get back to my hotel,” Smith says. “I will never forget these two white officers. I was like, ‘I’m just trying to get down the street so I can get to my hotel,’ and they said, ‘You better get your n****r bitch ass off this street right now.’”
The incident Pinkett Smith was referring to took place amidst the 1989 Greekfest riots.
“I have a lot of pain and a lot of hurt attached to some of the experiences I’ve had as well,” she said.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“I think what crushes me specifically in regards to my relationship with white women [and] the thing that really breaks my heart… is that white women understand what it feels like to be oppressed,” Pinkett-Smith added.
“Because of their sex,” Willow suggested.
“Exactly! Because of their sex,” she responds.
“[They know] what it feels like to be ostracized or not be treated as an equal.”
Banfield-Jones also shared her experience with racism, as she was raised in a time she remembered not being able to go to downtown and “try on hats and different places that we weren’t allowed to go in in our own neighborhood.”
Three generations of women came together to discuss the racial divide between white women and women of color in this country, an issue they all agreed would be a heavy one.
