Leigh-Anne Pinnock, singer and member of the British girls band Little Mix, posted an emotional video on Instagram to talk about her experience with racism following the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
“There comes a point in every Black human’s life…you realize racism does not exclude you. Nine years ago, after joining Little Mix, I had the biggest awakening of my life. When we were filming ‘Wings,’ we worked with Frank Gatson. He said to me ‘you are the Black girl, you have to work ten times harder.’ Never in my life had someone told me I would need to work harder because of my race.”
“My reality is feeling anxious before fan events and signings because I always feel like I’m the least favored. My reality is constantly feeling like I have to work ten times harder and longer to make my case in the group, because my talent alone isn’t enough.”
“My reality is all the times I felt invisible within my group. Part of me is fully aware that my experience would have been ever harder to deal with had I been dark-skinned. Our reality is no matter how far you think you’ve come, racism exists,” says Leigh-Anne.
View Leigh-Anne’s Instagram post below.