Former Disney star China Anne McClain just opened up about her experiences as a black woman in the entertainment industry, following the tragic death of George Floyd.
“A little piece of my Black experience,” the actress captioned a video posted to Instagram on Friday, June 5.
“There are a lot of people who are craving knowledge on the Black experience and they want to learn something and educate themselves when it comes to what it is that we deal with, and I feel like it’s important for us to talk about all of it,” she explained in the powerful clip. “I’m just here to share my little piece and my facet of this. I’m sure that there are some people who can relate to it and a lot of people who can learn from it.”
“My sisters and I, there’s a lot that we have to deal with as females in the industry already, but I’m just going to focus on something that I know everyone of color deals with in their career,” the Descendants star continued. “I can’t tell you how many conversations — sometimes arguments, it’s escalated to that — with white people, telling me what would be most authentic coming out of my black character’s mouth. That’s happened to me more times than I am comfortable with low-key … I can guarantee you that everyone of color in this industry knows exactly what I am talking about.”
As fans know, many celebrities have spoken out and taken to the streets to protest over George’s unjust passing. The 46-year-old, unarmed black man died in Minneapolis, MN, on May 25, after a police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. The white officer — Derek Chauvin — did not move even as George repeatedly said “I can’t breathe,” as heard in a video captured by bystanders. The officer has since been arrested and charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, while fellow officers Thomas K. Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng — who were also present at the time of the incident — were charged with aiding and abetting murder.
“I’ll give you an example. Say I write a script that’s starring an Asian man. We get on set and this actor walks up to me and he’s like, ‘Hey. This line, I understand your intention behind writing it but as an Asian, this doesn’t sound authentic coming out of my mouth so I think it should be changed.’ I’m not going to sit there going back and forth with this man about what sounds most authentic coming out of his mouth when he has lived every day of his live from the culture that I wrote about, and I haven’t,” the 21-year-old explained. “I don’t care about how much research I’ve done. I don’t care how many Asian friends I have around me. If this man comes to me and he’s trying to change something with the spirit of trying to keep the project authentic, I’m going to be like, ‘Bet. My bad. What does sound authentic coming out of your mouth? Because whatever that is, say that.’ Because that’s my goal. My goal, as a creator of content, is to keep these projects authentic and keep them having integrity. But that’s not a lot of these companies’ goals. A lot of these companies, producers, directors, showrunners — that’s not their goal. Their goal is control. I’ve experienced that a lot.”
China ended her 5-minute video with an important message to any women of color looking to enter the industry.
“I want to say to people of color who want to enter this industry and have the goal to be a creator of content and entertainment, I would say to create and to be responsible with it. We want to be seen. We want people to know that we’re there because we exist,” she concluded. “We also want to be seen in a way that makes us look good. In a way that makes us look strong because that’s who we are. We all come from different walks of life. I want to see different walks of life on screen, I want to see it all. It exists and there is too much money being put into the entertainment industry to just show one facet of life. We have to be responsible, all of us. I would encourage all of you who are of color and trying to enter this industry, to create and to be responsible. Build a foundation of integrity with your projects. We need that.”
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