Little Mix's Leigh-Anne Pinnock Speaks on Racism

[steph_monster]

https://instagram.com/p/CBDqHVcHVVw

• Sends condolences to George Floyd's family and all other families that have lost someone due to police brutality and racism.
• She gets really upset talking about race so she decided to write a few things to share with us.
• Last year she spoke about her experiences as a black woman in Little Mix and since then she's learned the world doesn't care about race.
• "For the first time in my life, I feel like racism is the topic of conversation. We have the world's attenion. We cannot see this as a moment, this has to be a movement until the system designed to oppress is is no more and we are seen as equals to our white counterparts."
• "Growing up, me and my sisters never saw race as a limitation on what we wanted to achieve." (Prior to this she explains that her grandfathers came to UK during the windrush generation, married white women and raised mixed raced childred).
• "One thing we were doing was sleeping on racism. Too often black people are reminded how far we have come as opposed to how far we can go."
• When she joined Little Mix and they were shooting the Wings video, Frank Gatson told her: "you are the black girl, you have to work 10x harder."
• She talks about what she learned as a black woman in the entertainment industry. "You learn to take great comfort in rare moments when you meet black creatives who understand this feeling and misplacement you have inside."
• (This is where Leigh-Anne gets very emotional and OP started crying.) "My reality was feeling lonely while touring predominately white countries. I sang to fans who don't see me or hear me or cheer me on. My reality is feeling anxious before fan events and signings because I always feel like I am the least favored. My reality is constantly feeling like I have to work 10x harder and longer to mark my place in the group because my talent alone isn't enough."
• Talks about how black artists are seen as not marketable.
• "But [the industry] will get behind someone else with aspects of black culture the world wants to see, but leave behind the aspects they feel that make them unmarketable."
• "My reality is all the times I felt invisible within my group, part of of me is fully aware that my experience would be even harder to cope with had I been dark skinned."
• Ends by saying racism exists everywhere and that we need to continue to keep this movement going.

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