Zoe Kravitz may be the daughter of two of Black Hollywood’s most respected stars, but that doesn’t mean she’s always felt connected to her identity as a Black woman. And in her latest interview for Nylon magazine, she explains why it took her a long time to come to terms with her Blackness.
Both Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz are biracial (half Black and half Jewish) and as their daughter, Kravitz grew up in predominantly white sections of California, Miami and New York. She was one of only a few Black and biracial kids in her schools.
With only a small community of Black people around her, Kravitz explained that she felt she identified more with White culture.
“I identified with white culture, and I wanted to fit in… I didn’t identify with Black culture, like, I didn’t like Tyler Perry movies, and I wasn’t into hip-hop music…Black culture is so much deeper than that, but unfortunately that is what’s fed through the media. That’s what people see. That’s what I saw,” Kravitz said.
However, she explains that her ideas about blackness changed once she immersed herself in the world of Black music and art.
“But then I got older and listened to A Tribe Called Quest and watched films with Sidney Poitier, and heard Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. I had to un-brainwash myself. It’s my mission, especially as an actress,” Kravitz explained.
Well, we’re glad that Kravitz finally to explore her Blackness and embraced her full identity. And we hope she continues to make strides in Hollywood to show the world just how beautiful, diverse, and brilliant that Blackness really is.
