Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock Reveals Racism She Has Experienced On Stage

@leighannepinnock

Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock has shared an emotional video in support of the #blacklivesmatter movement. In the video she said she wanted to acknowledge what is going on in the world right now as well as offering her condolences to George Floyd’s family.

Leigh-Anne had a message prepared as she said that whenever she speaks about racism she gets upset and emotional and can never quite get her words out and say what she wants to say.

The singer spoke about an interview she did last year in which she discussed this and that at the time “the world did not care enough about race.” However, speaking about current events she said that “For the first time in my life, racism is the topic of conversation. We have the worlds attention.”

 

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A post shared by Leigh-Anne Pinnock (@leighannepinnock) on Oct 22, 2019 at 5:47am PDT

The star specifically referenced her own life and how “my race imprinted my experiences.” Speaking about her own family she mentioned that both her Grandfather’s moved to the UK during the Windrush Generation and married white women. At the time inter-racial marriage would have been frowned upon.

“Growing up, me and my sisters never saw race as a limitation to what we wanted to achieve because if our grandparents could raise mixed raise children in the 60’s, we could do anything.”

However, the singer went on to say that there comes a point in every black person’s life no matter what you have achieved, or how much money you have that you realise “racism does not exclude you.”

 

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A post shared by Leigh-Anne Pinnock (@leighannepinnock) on Oct 6, 2019 at 2:42pm PDT

Speaking about when she first joined Little Mix nine years ago, she had “the biggest awakening of my life.” Whilst filming the video to their song “Wings” she recalls being told “you’re the black girl, you have to work ten times harder.”

Leigh-Anne revealed that speaking about the lack of diversity in the music industry is like “smashing your head against a brick wall.” She also spoke about feeling “misplaced” and “lonely” especially whilst touring “predominantly white countries”

Getting visibly upset she said that whilst on stage “I’d sing to fans who don’t see me, or hear me, or cheer me on.” This led to her feeling anxious at fan events or signings as she felt the least favoured.

 

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A post shared by Leigh-Anne Pinnock (@leighannepinnock) on Jun 5, 2020 at 8:40am PDT

With a platform as big as Leigh-Anne’s it’s fantastic to see her speaking so passionately about this, especially as her audience is mostly young women.

To speak so openly about her own experiences was surely not easy but as she has said, she believes we have been “sleeping on racism” and that “too often black people are reminded how far we have come as opposed to how far we can go”

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• Little Mix