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Kerry Washington Says Hollywood Still Needs To Do Better With Diversity

Kerry Washington Says Hollywood Still Needs To Do Better With Diversity

Kerry Washington is opening up about diversity in Hollywood and how there is still much work to be done.

Speaking on the Hollywood the Sequel podcast, the 43-year-old Little Fires Everywhere producer and star talked about how theater is still centering whiteness.

“We look at ourselves to get better and do better,” Kerry says. “When we say we’re committed to diversity — it’s diverse from what? We’re still centering whiteness as the most important thing and inviting diversity around that or when we talk about inclusivity, there’s still an in and an out.”

She went on, “We’re still centering certain kinds of people and maybe in tiny fractions allowing other people to the table. There’s just so much of it that needs to reexamined. The simple answer is … I hope a lot of good [comes out of it] and that we can see each other, and have courage to make room for each other.”

Kerry also talked about how Hollywood can be better moving forward as a result of the entire Black Lives Matter movement.

“I think what people are realizing is that it’s not enough to just not be racist — that because our institution were built in the fabric of racism, because our country was born with Black Americans being designated a fraction of a human being — it’s not enough to just not be racist, we have to be actively anti-racist and for that desire to come from a deep understanding that we all deserve full rights of humanity,” she says.

Kerry continued, “Yes, all lives matter, but accepting to be in an anti-racist society, we affirm that Black lives matter. I think people are finally understand that and our institutions need to understand that — not just interpersonal relationships. It’s important we’re having these conversations at our dinner tables, in our class rooms and in our highest systems of government.”

Just recently, Kerry spoke with Jimmy Kimmel about teaching young kids about Black History.

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Posted to: Kerry Washington