In an Interview with The Grio, the actor everyone fell in love with in movies like Brown Sugar and The Best Man, discussed his second children’s book “Mixed Me” and how his biracial son inspired it.
Taye Diggs was previously married to white actress and singer Idina Menzel, which they share an adorable mixed son together. Though some people who are mixed with African American tend to identify with just black, Diggs does not want his son to do that and doesn’t want the world to see him as just black.
“When you [call biracial kids Black], you risk disrespecting that one half of who you are and that’s my fear,” he said. He said having everyone thinking he is just black would lead to confusion for his son.
Diggs used President Obama as an example of confusion with biraciality saying that “we were so quick to say okay he’s black he’s black” while white people were afraid to say he was biracial.
Diggs says he hopes the book will help his son and mixed kids everywhere with realizing that they don’t have to choose black or white. He wants the book to be about self-love and appreciation and knowing that you are special.
When asked how he feels Hollywood is progressing for dark skinned men like himself and Morris Chestnut, he said things are always getting better but he doesn’t think they are anywhere near where they should be.
“I wanna get to the point where you will always see a Morris or a Taye or a beautiful dark skinned woman on TV,” he said.
Is Taye Digg’s strategy with his son’s identity a good one or does it rob him of something as important as blackness?
Source: The Grio, http://thegrio.com/2015/11/13/taye-diggs-mixed-me-biracial-son/
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