Ellen Pompeo describes raising multi-racial children on Red Table Talk

On a recent episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk, Ellen Pompeo discusses her interracial marriage, raising multi-racial children, and race issues.

On Red Table Talk, three generations of Jada Pinkett Smith’s family, including her daughter Willow Smith and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris, have roundtable discussions about a breadth of family dynamics. On the last episode of Red Table Talk, Ellen Pompeo joined the red table to discuss the challenges in her interracial marriage and how she fights her haters.

Interracial Marriage with Ellen Pompeo

Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo opens up about her interracial marriage and the challenges of raising bi-racial children.

Posted by Red Table Talk on Thursday, December 6, 2018

At the start of the episode, Pinkett Smith prefaces the conversation with a previous episode where the family and Red Table Talk host discussed race issues that women of color experience and the partition of white women. Shortly afterward, Pompeo tells Pinkett Smith, “Don’t feel like you have to tiptoe. I’m not afraid to talk about race.”

Based on Pompeo’s interview with Net-a-Porter, where she discussed the lack of diversity in Hollywood, the actress isn’t bashful when it comes to race and diversity discourse. Pompeo understands that there’s an issue with lack of meaningful inclusion in the entertainment industry, and she’s continually used her voice to speak out about it, as she notes on Red Table Talk.

After everyone at the red table acknowledges that discussing race issues are a vital conversation to have, the episode transitions into Pompeo’s marriage, her children, and her authentic approach to combating racism. There’s a lot to dissect in this 24-minute long episode; however, there are several valuable takeaways from the talk.

1. It’s important to discuss race

As Pompeo says toward the start of the episode, it’s important to talk about race and the issues that different races face.

Smith continues the conversation to say that people need to “teach [their] kids not to be afraid of different kinds of people.” Although this statement was in reference to a friend of Pompeo’s daughter being confused that she has a white mother, the lived experience isn’t a myopic experience; educating kids and young people in general about different races and the issues they face in their specific community can help combat adversity.

2. It’s understandable that black people distrust white people

At a point of the conversation, Pompeo reflects on a time where she mentioned reverse racism. She’s clearly referring to one of her tweets from a couple of years ago when she said that there is racism on “all sides,” insinuating that white people can be targets of racism.

During her conversation on the episode, she spoke out in support of the black men and women who have criticized her tweets. As Pompeo mentions, black people have the right to criticize white people when they discuss issues around race, especially topics that impact the black community, regardless of their intentions.

Pompeo continues to reference that people of color have a right to be upset and to call her out for any of her comments, tweets, or otherwise because she acknowledges.

3. Trauma made Pompeo more compassionate

About halfway through the episode, Pompeo mentions how her mother passed away when she was four. Pompeo expands to say that she believes this early life trauma made her become a more compassionate person.

4.  Pompeo on her interracial marriage and raising multiracial kids

At the beginning of the episode, Pompeo discusses her challenges with raising her multiracial children. She notes that one of the biggest challenges is gauging how much information she should divulge to her kids, in reference to race and their specific family dynamic.

5. Pompeo answers why multi-racial kids who have a black parent are considered black

Pompeo answers a fan question about why “when a white person and a black person have a child their child is automatically considered black.” As Pompeo explains, society will always perceive her children as “brown,” because they will be discriminated against because of the color of their skin.

Pompeo notes that when she celebrates people of color because she respects people of color and has a multi-racial family, white social media users predominately chastise her.

However, we’re just thankful that this conversation exists.

We could continue with at least another dozen of important highlights from this episode of Red Table Talk, particularly Willow Smith’s important discussion on how white people often misconstrue her as angry, which feed into the harmful stereotype of “the angry black woman.”

Honestly, we’re thankful this conversation exists, and are eager to see more from Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris as they continue to host necessary discussions about race, family, and forgiveness.

We encourage everyone to watch this episode in its entirety and keep tuning into Red Table Talk.