Tiffany Haddish recently opened up about the fear she has as a Black woman when it comes to having children. During an appearance on Carmelo Anthony’s podcast What’s in Your Glass?, the comedian explained how racism prevents her from wanting to have children, because of the violence they would face.
"I'm a little older now and people are always asking when I'm gonna have some babies," Haddish, who is 40, said during the show. "There's a part of me that would like to do that, and I always make up these excuses like, 'Oh, I need a million dollars in the bank before I do that, I need this, I need that.' But really, it's like, I would hate to give birth to someone that looks like me, knowing that they're gonna be hunted or killed. Like, why would I put someone through that?"
"It's scary to even think about that," Anthony replied. The NBA star has a 13-year-old son.
Haddish teared up while speaking, noting that not everyone is subjected to fearing the many ways in which police, society, and institutions in America put their children's lives at risk every day. "White people don't have to think about that,” she said. “It's time to talk about that, and how we have to come together as a community and work as a unit, and maybe we don't all agree on the same things, but we need to just find some common ground and move forward as human beings."
As the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests illustrate, it goes without saying that Haddish’s fears are rooted in the racist reality that so many Black people in this country experience. When talking about Black mothers specifically, for example, Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, according to the CDC.
Haddish has attended Black Lives Matter events following the death of George Floyd, and told Anthony that the protests have given her some hope.
Later in their conversation, Anthony asked his guest to share a message to younger generations of Black women “in the midst of everything that's just going on right now.”
"My message to them would be to get informed, be as informed as possible, don't be afraid to get involved in your community and live your best life, be your best self, be you," Haddish said. "There is nothing wrong with you...Don't try to be me. Just be yourself because when you be yourself it saves you a whole lot of stress."
Listen to their entire conversation in the video above.
