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Sandra Bullock On Discussing Racism With Her Son

By Niki Cruz
Published on: 09:16 PST, Oct 20, 2015

Sandra Bullock has decided to speak out about raising her child and how she discussed racism with her 5-year-old son Louis. Bullock adopted Louis, who is African American, back in 2010. So he does not lose his culture and is aware of the cultural divide, and the long road that’s ahead of him, Bullock has opened her son’s mind up to the injustices that are going on today.

While she didn’t divulge what she specifically said to Louis about racism, she did say that they touched on prejudices that he might face based on his race.

In an interview with BET, the actress, who starred in the film The Blind Side, spoke about how she has prepared her son. “It’s not a conversation any parent wants to have with their child — that you’ll be judged on 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.”

She continued, “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.”

To promote her new film, Our Brand Is Crises, Bullock spoke to People magazine about how parenthood has shaped her political views as a person. During the chat, she was very candid about what she hoped for her son Louis. At the time she said that she hoped for the best in the United States. She said that she wants her rights as well as her son’s to be represented, and said that this internal dialogue in her head started when she read the script for her current film.

Bullock, who was raised in a politically divided house, asked herself if there was anyone in the country who would stand up and represent others for the greater good of mankind.

The actress’ new film Our Brand is Crises, which is produced by good friend George Clooney, is about “an American woman, well-versed in political campaigns, is sent to the war-torn lands of South America to help install a new leader but is threatened to be thwarted by a long-term rival.”

Interesting enough, the role that Sandra plays was originally written for George Clooney, but after the project was in development hell, Clooney left, and that’s when Bullock decided to step in. The role was unchanged except for pronouns. Bullock decided to take the role because there was nothing appealing being written for women that she was excited about.

And as for her son Louis? Bullock said that being his mother forced her to get her life together. Although she knew who she was as a person, she was still reeling from her divorce from ex-husband Jesse James, and the unwanted scandal she was embroiled in thanks to his infidelity.

When Bullock became a mother to Louis all of that faded away. “I had to step back and go, ‘I have the greatest gift in little Louis, and I’m gonna let him see the woman I want him to know.’ So a child forces you to get your s**t together. In the best way.”

As far as her politics, Bullock said that she grew up to be open with her opinions, and that she thought nothing of vocalizing her opinions until she saw how people were limited in speaking their mind. “So I thought, politically, I was pretty open-minded and could speak my mind and then I saw I wasn’t supposed to.”

[Photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images]

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