Taye Diggs says his 10-year-old son is 'not afraid to discuss what's happening' amid growing Black Lives Matter movement
Like many kids, Taye Diggs’s 10-year-old son Walker was supposed to go away to summer camp this year but his plans changed when the camp closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic. “He was devastated,” Diggs tells Yahoo Entertainment. “But I selfishly was excited to spend more time with him.”
Diggs is teaming up with Quaker Chewy to bring the summer camp experience to your home and explained how for him it started with the usual activities — basketball, football, tennis — but evolved into something deeper.
“We've come to enjoy these nightly swims where we wait until it's pitch black,” says Diggs. “And we have these really kind of intimate, intense conversations.”
This spring and summer have been unlike any other for Americans. In addition to the threat of the coronavirus, nationwide protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd have ignited fierce discussions over racial inequality and police abuse. Diggs explained that he didn’t shy away from broaching the subject with his son.
“I am being constantly reminded how sensitive and feeling he is in the midst of Black Lives Matter,” says Diggs. “He’s very tuned in and not afraid to discuss what's happening.”
Diggs, who shares his son with actress Idina Menzel, explained how he and his ex-wife approach co-parenting during such a difficult time.
“Me and his mother and his stepdad [are] making ourselves very available to him when he has these questions. We're just a kind of a sounding board,” Diggs says. “And we don't really have to talk down to him.”
On Twitter, Diggs has been vocal about raising awareness of the death of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. He admits that talking about such heavy subjects with his son is not easy, but ultimately worth it.
August 28, 2020 marks 65 years since the brutal murder of 14 year old @EmmettTill
>50,000 people attended @EmmettTill's open-casket-funeral
Our goal:
>50,000 followers of @EmmettTill, the Emmett Till Legacy Project by August 28, 2020#JusticeForEmmettTill— Taye Diggs (@TayeDiggs) August 15, 2020
“It's been challenging,” says Diggs. “But at the end of the day, I consider it a positive because we’re opening up the conversation.”
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