Angela Bassett may be an internationally renowned actress, but that hasn’t protected her children from experiencing the sting of racism.
In an interview with People, the Black Panther star opened up about her children — 12-year-old twins Bronwyn and Slater — and how they’ve been subjected to prejudice since they were very young.
“Even from the age of four, from preschool, they’ve had to deal with — and as crazy as it seems or sounds — color issues,” Bassett said. “Or because they were African Americans, and whether other kids will play with them or have issue with that.”
Bassett hopes her latest project, Black Panther, which features a beautiful all-Black cast, will fill young people like her twins with pride.
“I hope that they will feel so wonderful about their aesthetic. All of the different variations of beauty portrayed on the screen in terms of hair or no hair, color, physical strength and mental agility, I hope they get that,” she told espnW. “[This film] is a testament to the lineage that we come from and how we want our daughters to see themselves. They are princesses, and our sons are princes.”