Kristin Davis has spoken about the “institutionalised” racism that her black adopted daughter has been subjected to.
The Sex And The City star is mother to Gemma, seven, who she adopted in 2011, as well as a son she adopted in 2018.
During an interview with Jada Pinkett Smith on her chat show, Red Table Talk, Kristin discussed what adopting black children has taught her about white privilege.
“This is what I want to say, from a white person adopting (black children): You absolutely do not fully understand. There’s no doubt,” she said.
“There’s no way you could, because you could understand you live in white privilege and that’s a theory but it’s one thing to be watching it (racism) happening to other people and another when it’s your child.
“And you haven’t personally been through it. It’s a big issue, it’s something I think about every day and every night.”
The 54-year-old, who played Charlotte in Sex And The City, appeared on the verge of tears as she spoke about the racism Gemma has experienced, saying: “I was horrified, it’s hard to put into words really.
“There has been so many things over the years. Gemma is seven now.”
Recalling people remarking that her baby girl would become “a great basketball player” someday, she said: “How dare they limit my child and how dare they make that assumption and how can they just say it it like that, so casual?”
“I was like ‘Please, don’t let it be everybody’ but our country is built on this and it is institutionalised and that is what you come to realise as time goes on.”
She also recalled a visit to a playground where a young white girl was holding a swing for her friend across the playground, even though Gemma had been patiently waiting her turn.
When Kristin approached staff about the issue, she said they told her: “We just see them all the same. We don’t see colour.”
She added: “It was a very harsh moment of understanding. I don’t know how every person of colour has gotten through this. I don’t understand how you could take this every day.”
“It lit a fire under me where I couldn’t be relaxed or casual (about racism).
“But I will never be black, no matter how hard I try … That is the truth, and we have to accept it. And therefore I will never be able to say to Gemma ‘I understand how you feel because this happened to me’.
“That’s what’s painful and hard. It made me on a mission to find a place where she was exposed to everything.
“It made me on a mission to put her in situations where I was the only white person or maybe there was no white person.”
The TV star added that she was influenced to adopt her son after her daughter asked for a brother.
“She said ‘Mommy, I would really love a black little brother’. And I was like ‘I totally understand, baby’.
“And then one day, there he was. And I tell you, my daughter didn’t bat an eye. She was like ‘There he is’. So beautiful. And then she held him and fed him. She’s just the best big sister.”