Cynthia Nixon says white people need to understand how they 'benefit from white supremacy'

'It's really important for white people to listen to people of colour' says actor

Cynthia Nixon has said white people have got to “catch up” on the “race problem”.

The Sex and the City star, who played lawyer Miranda Hobbes on the classic TV show, entered politics in 2018 with an unsuccessful bid to become governor of New York.

Nixon ran on a progressive campaign, advocating for LGBT+ rights, the legalisation of marijuana and increased funding for public education, but failed to oust Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo.

Despite failing to secure the Democratic party’s support, the 54-year-old has continued to fight for the issues she believes in, including the fight against systemic racism.

During an appearance on the Homo Sapiens podcast, hosted by Alan Cumming and Chris Sweeney, Nixon discussed white privilege and said that she believes listening is key to achieving greater equality.

“I think it's really important for white people and other people to listen to people of colour - that's the most important thing we can do,” she explained.

”Right after that we have to really start understanding how, if we are white, we benefit from white supremacy and talking about that. Because people of colour are miles ahead in understanding the race problem and white people really have got to catch up.

“The first thing is listening, and the second thing is when you speak about things. Like mass incarceration of people of colour - include yourself in the equation and say 'this would not happen to me'.”

Nixon, who married her longtime girlfriend Christine Marinoni in 2012, also spoke about LGBT+ rights, stating that the debate around transgender people is similar to the one around the gay community 40 years ago.

“You can make all the arguments that you want but the fact is, as a parent, as a human, you should listen to what people tell you about themselves,” Nixon said.

”And if they want to make this really extreme change or move in that direction, people are not going to do this lightly. It's different but it's the same as when you think about 30/40 years ago and more, the arguments given to gay people that 'this is just a phase', 'you're going to grow out of this'.“

In 2018, Nixon announced that her oldest child, from a previous relationship, had come out as transgender.

The actor made the announcement on her Instagram account to mark the 14th annual Trans Day Of Action.

Her 21-year-old son Samuel Joseph Mozes goes by the nickname Seph.

“I’m so proud of my son Samuel Joseph Mozes (called Seph) who graduated college this month,” she captioned a photo of herself posing with Seph at his graduation.

“I salute him and everyone else marking today’s #TransDayofAction.”