Sandra Bullock has taught her son about racism, bias: ‘He fully understands’

Sandra Bullock is doing promotion for Our Brand is Crisis, the George Clooney produced film in which she plays a campaign manager hired to help the Bolivian President win reelection. The film costars Billy Bob Thornton and Anthony Mackie and is out October 30.

A couple of weeks ago, we saw Sandra on the cover of Glamour, where she opened up about her fears for her son, Louis. Sandra adopted Louis, now 5, from New Orleans, and she told Glamour that she worries about his future in our country. She said “I want my son to be safe. I want my son to be judged for the man he is… If I could ride in a bubble with him for the rest of his life, I would. But I can’t.” In a new interview with BET, Sandra expanded on that, stating that she’s taught Louis about racism and other forms of bias like sexism and homophobia. She added “He doesn’t understand why people judge each other based on color of their skin, but he knows they do.” It was a kind of sad reality check, considering that she’s talking about a kid who’s kindergarten age. Here’s more of what Sandra told BET:

On if she teaches her son Louis about racism
Absolutely. It’s an open conversation we have. He fully understands what that means. He doesn’t understand why people judge each other based on color of their skin, but he knows they do. He also knows there’s sexism, he knows that there’s homophobia. He knows a lot for a 5 and 3/4 year old, but I think if you don’t start the conversation very early on you’re doing them a disservice. I’ve said it before I can’t ride in a bubble with him. I want him to know the truth but I also want him to know the good in the world as well but those are hard conversations to have.

“Do you find that difficult to balance sometimes?”
Not at all. It’s not a conversation any parent wants to have with their child. It’s not any conversation any parent wants to have with their child, is that you’ll be judged by the color of your skin rather than the content of your character. But it exists, and I want him to be safe and I want him to be aware. Once he leaves that house and I’m not with him, it’s his life and how he approaches it is his decision. But I want to know that I did the best I could as his mom to educate him on the ugliness in the world, and also the beauty.

[From BET via US Magazine]

That was incredibly well put, especially considering that Sandra was on a press circuit and was likely fielding questions all day. She could have given a half-assed answer, but this is something she cares about and thinks about deeply. I have a son and I also taught him early about prejudice, but we have the benefit of being white and all the advantages that go along with that. It’s got to be harder when you see the dangers that your child can face as a person of color.

Header image is from July, 2014. Images below are from March, 2015 (with Louis and friend) and September, 2015 (with Clooney at TIFF) Credit: FameFlynet