Gabrielle Union and her husband, Dwyane Wade, are raising three sons together, and although her sons may be privileged, Union says she still has the same fears that many black parents have for their children.
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In her cover interview with Essence, Union spoke about the approach she takes to raising three black boys and making sure they aren't ignorant about what's going on in the world.
βEven if society didnβt give us hashtags every day to prompt us, I was raised talking about it all the time. So I try to make sure our boys are not as ignorant as I was,β Union said. βWe are raising privileged black boys, which creates an interesting situation. Me and D, we werenβt raised with that kind of privilege, so weβre kind of learning through their eyes.β
Even with living the lifestyle many people may only dream of, Union says she still tries to safeguard the kids from situations that may go bad. Union spoke of an incident when she didn't want the boys walking to a neighbor's basketball court at night, but they did anyway.
βI said, βNo,β because I donβt trust our neighbors to [β¦] see our teenage boys, our tall teenage boys, as children and not as threats to βput down,β like an animal,β she said.
βWe told them to stop where they were. If they were under a street light, please just stay there. And as weβre en route to them, there are cop cars coming from [their direction],β she said. βAnd it wasnβt even the cops that I was necessarily afraid of. Our neighbors have personal security, too, and in a βStand your groundβ state, an open-carry state, theyβll shoot you first and get off later.β
Take a look at the interview below:
Straight From
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