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Karamo Brown Opens Up to the Estefans About Experiencing Racism Within His Own Family

Karamo Brown Opens Up to the Estefans About Experiencing Racism Within His Own Family

Karamo Brown is discussing his personal experience with racism. In an exclusive clip of the upcoming episode of Red Table Talk: The Estefans, the 40-year-old Queer Eye star reveals that he's experienced racism within his own family.

Brown, who is both Jamaican and Cuban, tells Gloria, Emily and Lili Estefan that the Cuban side of his family made him feel that they didn't accept him when he was growing up, though he doesn't think it was "deliberate."

"I don’t think they understood what they were doing," Brown explains, "but it was the subliminal, unconscious, internalized racism that was in them."

Brown also says that the Cuban side of his family would discuss his darker skin tone in a disparaging way. 

"For me, playing outside as a kid was nerve wracking because my grandmother would say, 'Don’t go outside and don't darken up my family. Don’t darken up my family. Don’t darken up my family. Don’t darken up my family,'" Brown recalls. "So I would not go outside until after 5 p.m."

When ET spoke to Brown in June 2020, he discussed the importance of Black Lives Matter, and his willingness to educate those who want to learn.

"There are people now waking up that they need to educate themselves on what is happing to Black people, so this moment where you step up and truly learn and be there for someone else," he said at the time. "That's what Queer Eye is about: being there for someone else." 

"This is a moment that everyone in this country has a chance to be there for someone else, and I think that is great," he continued. "If people are looking for that support, I have taken it upon myself that I am OK with giving education."

Brown's episode of Red Table Talk: The Estefans will premiere Thursday, Oct. 14 at 12 p.m. ET on Facebook Watch.

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