Alfred Enoch, known for playing Dean Thomas on Harry Potter and Wes Gibbins on How To Get Away With Murder, wrote a letter to his younger self for Black History Month on Metro.co.uk.
In said letter, Alfred talks about becoming conscious of his own ethnicity, also reflecting about his former lack of consciousness being due to specific circumstances: having a white and English father, and a black and Brazilian mother who grew up in the middle of a military dictatorship and was the only black student in her class.
“A friend once mentioned to me “that thing all black mothers tell their children: that you have to be twice as good to get half as much.” Your mum has never told you this. She has high expectations of you, but she has never framed these in any kind of racial context. She has never disturbed your sense of belonging with warnings about those who might see you differently. Perhaps this was a risk, but it was also an extraordinary feat of parenting.”
The complete letter can be found on Metro.co.uk. To read it, click here.
