Tiffany Haddish is opening up about the terrifying reality that Black parents everywhere face on a daily basis of trying to keep their children safe. While appearing on NBA star Carmelo Anthony’s YouTube series “What’s In Your Glass,” the pair discussed Haddish’s thoughts on having children, prompting the comedian to share her fear over raising a Black child in a society built on systemic racism that allows police brutality against BIPOC to go unchecked.On June 12, Haddish participated in a Black Live’s Matter protest outside the iconic
Laugh Factory in Los Angeles. Haddish
spoke at the event, which took place only a few days after the comedian
attended the memorial for George Floyd. Describing her mental and emotional state when she arrived at the protest, Haddish told Anthony “I was feeling pretty devastated. I was crying every single day until I went to that protest. I got to get on the stage and speak and I was speaking from my heart about the feat that I have. I’m not a fearful person, but I have watched more than two of my friends growing up be killed by police officers. It makes you feel like, as a Black person, we are being hunted. I’ve always felt like that. We’re hunted and we’re slaughtered. They get this license to kill us and that’s not okay.”
Continuing, Haddish said that her fear has understandably shaped her decision on whether to have children. “I’m a little older now and people are always asking when I’m gonna have some babies. There’s a part of me that would like to do that, and I always make up these excuses like, ‘Oh, I need a million dollars in the bank before I can touch you, I need this, I need that.’ But really, it’s that I would hate to give birth to someone that looks like me knowing that they’re gonna be hunted or killed. Like, why would I put someone through that,” said Haddish through tears. "And white people don’t have to think about that.”Encouraging people to come together as a community, Haddish said she thinks one of the main issues plaguing the country is the unwillingness of its inhabitants to find common ground. “We’re all trying to figure out, how do you fix this?” added Haddish. “We have to figure out how to change people’s hearts. That’s what I’ve been trying to do my whole career. Not necessarily change their hearts but inspire their hearts to laugh and have joy. We all want to be happy. Everybody wants to feel love, and everybody wants to be happy. Nobody wants to see their family slaughtered.”Regardless of whether Haddish becomes a parent herself, the
Girls Trip star has already improved the lives of thousands of children in many ways. The actor is continuing to lend her famous voice to animated projects, telling Anthony, “I’ve been doing a lot of cartoons. Parents are going to know my voice for sure. I’ve been doing it in my closet. Who knew that the closet could be a studio?”Haddish also talked about her
She Ready Foundation, which provides suitcases and other essentials to children in foster care. Having spent some of her youth in the foster care system, Haddish told Anthony she remembered what it felt like to be given a garbage bag to hold her belongings. “When I was 13, I was getting moved around a lot. Every time they would move me, they would make me put all my clothes in trash bags. That made me feel like garbage. It had me viewing myself as that way. Eventually, someone gave me a suitcase and it made me feel different. I thought to myself when I was 13, if I ever get any kind of power I’m going to try to make sure no kids feel like garbage.”
[video_embed id='1993445']BEFORE YOU GO: What We're Watching - Black lives in the spotlight [/video_embed]
