Tia Mowry with son Cree (Instagram)
Former “Instant Mom” star Tia Mowry shared her fears about raising her son in the current racial climate. Since giving birth to Cree Hardrict, her child with husband and actor Cory Hardrict, the actress said they discuss what to tell their son “all the time.”
“I’m a huge advocate about Black Lives Matter,” she revealed to Vibe. “And for a while, I had a hard time sleeping. I really did, because I have a son who is Black and who is going to be growing up in a society such as this. It’s a conversation that I have with my husband all the time about, what are we going to tell Cree? What are we going to say to him so that he is not put in any circumstance with what’s going on? And it’s hard.”
Mowry also pointed out a lesson her white father told her about how to react if stopped by the police. Her dad, who previously worked as a cop, told her to keep her hands at 10 and 2.
The “Food Network Star Kids” host said she and Cory plan to tell their son the same thing.
“It’s sad that I have to tell him that you cannot give anybody any reason whatsoever so that you are not put in that situation,” Mowry explained. “But I think what I am spotlighting is having the conversation and talking about it and saying, ‘Unfortunately, you are not, in my opinion, treated equally in a situation like that.’ So if you educate yourself and know that you aren’t – unfortunately – then you have to take those precautions.”
The actress mentioned her comfort in telling Cree about racism early on stems from her experience as a child. In the third grade, someone called her the n-word. It forced Mowry to tell her mother – who is Black – about what happened.
“That’s when she had to say, ‘Look, Tia you’re Black, your dad’s white,’ ” Mowry said. “I credit my mom and my dad. We had to have the conversation. I think you should talk about it, you know? Because it’s the reality of the situation.”
