“When do we get to have a conversation about [colorism]?”
In a recent interview with Refinery29’s Unbothered, the British actor reflected on everything from Thandiwe Newton‘s viral video on colorism to the “powerful and empowering” conversations she hopes to have with her child.
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To catch you up to speed, Thandiwe — who is of Zimbabwean and English descent — faced criticism for her emotional video interview with Sky News, where she apologized for being “the one chosen” over “darker-skinned actresses” in Hollywood and “not representing” them.
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This isn’t the first time Thandiwe has opened up about colorism; back in 2020, she reference Jodie by name in an interview with Vulture.
Addressing these comments, Jodie said she “loves” Thandiwe but admitted that it was “unfortunate” she decided to air her thoughts in a short interview setting. “She’s talked about [colorism] many times,” Jodie shared. “She’s talked about what seeing me on screen means to her and so on and so forth. I think colorism hurts all of us, and we all have a lot of stuff to work on.”
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Overall, however, Jodie recognized the difficulty of having discussions about colorism, reflecting on her own experience when she tried to speak out about its prevalence.
“When I did Queen & Slim and tried to talk about colorism, people told me to sit the fuck down and that I didn’t know what I was talking about and that I was lying. When I said, ‘This is how I’ve been perceived in life as a dark-skinned Black woman,’ people literally told me that I was lying.”
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She concluded, “So, you don’t want to hear it from dark-skinned women. You don’t want to hear it from light-skinned women. When do we get to have a conversation about it? Without people telling us to sit down and shut up?”
Jodie continued, adding that the topics brought up in Thandiwe’s video are important and will shape how she raises her biracial daughter. “I’m raising a girl who does not look exactly like me, who is lighter than me.”
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“I want to figure out how I can raise her to have an understanding of white supremacy, of colorism, of how she benefits from that, of how she does not benefit from that, of how to have these kinds of conversations in a way that is really powerful and empowering,” she added.
Ultimately, the After Yang star said she believed Thandiwe was “sincere” and that her “pain was real,” although she “definitely cringed at certain bits” and acknowledged that it could have “come out better.”
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“I think that she is on a healing journey,” Jodie explained. “She has a lot more healing to do, as we all do. And I think the best thing that we can do is really talk to her about how some of the things that she said were harmful and listen to the bits where she’s obviously in pain.”
To read Jodie’s full Q&A with Refinery29’s Unbothered, head here.
