Kevin Hart did something amazing for his friend Taraji P. Henson.
On his new talk show, Hart to Heart, streaming on NBC”s Peacock, Henson appeared as a special guest where she and Hart had a deep-rooted conversation about mental health, generational trauma, and other issues within the Black community.
Hart said, “It’s frowned upon in our community, in our culture for some reason. And I don’t why but it’s looked at as….” Henson would step in and say, “Weakness.”
Henson would go on to say, “ It’s deep for us. You’re talking about 400 years of oppression. So you’re talking about trauma that Black people have learned to normalize. We’ve been doing it for over 400 years.”
The conversation continued between Hart and Henson where she would go on to explain the meaning of hush puppies, a deep-fried cornmeal side dish, mostly known in the South.
“I just found out that hush puppies were actually used by runaway slaves to keep the dogs off of them. Hush…puppy. See these are things that we’ve normalized so imagine all other things we’ve normalized. Trying to be strong, push through.”
Taraji P. Henson started her own foundation, the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation in 2018, after her father, a Vietnam War veteran who suffered from PTSD and bipolar disorder.
Watch the exclusive clip below.