“Married to Medicine” creator and executive producer Mariah Huq is opening up about the candid conversation she had with her daughter Lauren-Taylor Huq, 15, and her son Ethan-Tyler Huq, 13, about police brutality. On Wednesday, June 17, the reality star dished in an exclusive telephone interview with Atlanta Black Star about raising two Black children in America and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
Within the past several weeks, the nation has witnessed the deaths and shootings of unarmed Black people at the hands of police. When describing her experience as a mother to two African-American children, Mariah said that she is worried for her kids’ safety. “I’m afraid for my own children. It has nothing to do with class. I’m still raising two Black children. And I’m afraid for them. When I saw George Floyd call out for his mother, my heart just sank because that could be my son. That could be my daughter,” she stressed.
George Floyd, an African-American man in Minneapolis, died on Memorial Day after a white police officer pinned the handcuffed man to the ground and pressed his knee into George’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Shortly after the incident, an outburst of protests broke out around the nation. Mariah and her family, who live in an Atlanta suburb, have been on the front lines in support of the Black Lives Matter movement by attending peaceful protests around the city of Atlanta. She revealed that her children wanted to speak out against racial injustice, explaining that it is important for her children to attend demonstrations to ensure that they have a better future.
Mariah shared that she talks to her children about the different ways to handle police encounters. “We talk about it a lot. It’s a very awkward conversation, but it’s one that we must have,” she said. “And you know, I just told them, the most important thing is to respect authority, and to let them know that they don’t have a weapon, and to do as they’re told. But even teaching them that, something can still go wrong.”
Mariah and her husband of 16 years Dr. Aydin Huq are the parents to Lauren and Ethan. She said she told her children to contact them anytime they had a run-in with the police. “I just let them know to call either me or their dad. Call me or Aydin,” she urged.
