Taraji P. Henson Is Bringing Mental Health Awareness to Black Students with The Unspoken Curriculum

After a tough pandemic and the end of her engagement, Taraji P. Henson is looking good, feeling good, and helping bring mental health awareness to Black students. “Extra’s” Rachel Lindsay spoke with Taraji, who just launched a new campaign, The Unspoken Curriculum.

She told Rachel about using her platform to speak out about mental health. “For someone who has been put on a pedestal of strength for so long, to come and say, ‘Hey, on some days I’m not so strong.’ I think a lot of people feel OK about talking about it.”

Henson went on, “I’m not perfect… I don’t want to be perfect. My therapist set me free when she said the perfect lie is perfection… There goes that myth. I don’t want people to feel alone. I knew I wasn’t alone. I’m a privileged woman who can afford access to mental health and still found it a challenge.”

Rachel said, “We’ve seen Prince Harry come out, Meghan Markle talk about issues she’s faced, Lady Gaga, Pink… How important do you think it is for people to talk about this, to destigmatize conceptions about mental health?”

Taraji answered, “The only way to eradicate it is to talk about it, flip it on its head, pick the carpet up, and shake the dust out that we’ve been sweeping under there for so long.”

The actress is helping Black students now with her campaign, explaining, “Two things started this campaign for me. How I was affected by biases in education growing up and how it affected me still to this day as a grown woman. Hence, like bracing myself before I walk into a room of all white people… Being a substitute teacher, standing in the actual pipeline to prison in the classroom full of Black boys labeled special ed… Most of our children are being handled improperly. Where is the compassion and the empathy for our children who may be suffering from traumas?”

She added, “We want to shed light on the students and give them a voice… We want to open the floor to educators, students of all races to talk about this unspoken curriculum that happens in school with children of color.”