Just because she stars on the Real Housewives of Atlanta doesn’t mean that Phaedra Parks doesn’t know a thing or two about politics.
Parks recently stopped by the ESSENCE offices, where she explained how she wants to use her voice for good.
“To be active doesn’t take access; it just takes a willingness to serve,” she said. “Black Lives Matter is not about people with access. It’s really about the people who are willing to be at the grass roots level, picketing and marching…All it takes is time and the desire.”
Throughout her political upbringing, Parks worked closely with some of Atlanta’s most active civil rights leaders, and last year, she took a publicized trip to the Million Man March. However, what wasn’t publicized was her four hour-long conversation with Louis Farrakhan.
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Parks doesn’t deny that she and her family are more fortunate than others, but she also hopes to instill in her children a certain level of political and social awareness.
“It’s important for us to let our children know we could still be in a state of deprivation,” said Parks, who added that she regularly volunteers at food banks with the Nation of Islam. “But people like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party fought so that we could do these things and have these jobs.”