Jada writes a heartfelt piece about some gut-wrenching realities
Jada Pinkett-Smith was very close with Tupac while he was alive, so much so their relationship has been the talk of many different culture commentators and film/documentary directors for years. To accentuate what was a “reflective Saturday” for the Hollywood star, Pinkett-Smith penned a very heartfelt open letter not just about Tupac and her close friend Maxine, but what their deaths, and the circumstances that brought about their deaths, say about the society we live in, and who we are as a culture.
I’m having a deeply reflective Saturday.
In this picture I’m flanked by two extremely close friends of mine…Tupac and Maxine. They both died tragically not too far apart from one another. I flipped through more pictures of my youth only to come across at least 6 other friends who had been taken from this world…violently. I can’t even count acquaintances. There was a time all that loss felt like the norm; today it felt unnatural, strange, downright wrong. Half of my life was surviving a war zone…genocide. I’m grateful for what I have survived. GratefuI that I can spend an evening with Fallon playing a pie in the face game. Grateful I didn’t become a statistic like I often thought I would. Grateful that my own children don’t have to confront the loss and violence in their neighborhood in the way their parents had to. But, I also feel helpless, a bit depressed that there are so many of us who still do. And it feels like it’s only gotten and getting worse.
I’m hurting today.
Love you guys.
J
