Boris Kodjoe Talks Dealing With Racism As A Child In Germany
Boris Kodjoe can find eternal, but his experiences as a visibly Black biracial child were anything but. In a sit-down on the Pivot podcast, the actor opened up about his difficult upbringing in Germany.
In response to a question about what his experience was like being raised by his white mother in a predominantly white country, Kodjoe gave a vulnerable and honest answer.
“There is ignorance and misinformation and fear,” he said. “Because that's really where it comes from. I was faced with racism and bullying every day growing up in Germany because I was different. Kids would grab my hair, rub your skin to see if it's real, ask if we live on trees in Africa. Just the most ignorant, stupid things based on, again, misinformation and fear.”
He continued,
“On top of that, my mom is white. My dad's from Ghana. But my dad left when I was between three and four years old. So, it was just my mom and me and my brother. So, I always felt different and you know when you're a kid, all you want is to be just like everyone else. You want to belong. You want to fit in. And without my dad it wasn't that hard because I wasn't that hard because I didn't was. have someone to me protect have someone to explain to me what this was. I think my mother did an extremely admirable job, a sense of pride and a sense of confidence in us.
He also chatted about how he felt when his father abandoned their family and how it shaped his approach to both manhood and parenting.
“When I was in first grade, in maybe kindergarten, they tell you to paint a picture of what you want to be when you get old and become an adult,” he said. “Everyone wanted to be a firefighter and athletes, I wrote down that I wanted to be a father. That was my goal. I didn't have anyone present and I knew what it felt like to be disappointed and feel left out.”
He continued,
“When my father left, he told me 'take care of your mother and your brother', I was five years old and I took that to heart. And it struck me for 30 years, because I thought that if I do a good job, he will come back. And he never came back. So, I thought, 'oh, this is my fault, I didn't do a good job.' I have had that with me for a long time. All that had a big impact on me as a father, because I knew how important it was to always be present for the children and I wanted them to feel safe. I wanted them to feel loved. I wanted them to feel validated. I wanted them to feel empowered. Fortunately, we got a second chance with my father because my daughter had these problems and he was a doctor. My mom called him and the next day he came to my house in LA.
Kodjoe went on to say that although he had not seen his father since the day he left their family, he would spend the last 10 years of his life making up for lost time and building a relationship with his and Nicole Ari Parker children
Watch the touching episode below:
