Legendary actress Pam Grier shared a heartbreaking memory on The View that still haunts her to this day. During Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day episode, the Foxy Brown icon reflected on growing up in Columbus, Ohio, amid the terrifying realities of racial violence.
Grier recalled how her mother would pull her and her siblings away from scenes that no child should ever witness. “My mom would go, ‘Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look,’ and she would pull us away because there’s someone hanging from a tree,” Grier said, her voice breaking as she recounted the trauma. She explained that the same threat applied not only to Black families but also to white families who supported them. “If a white family supported a Black family, they’re going to get burned down, killed, or lynched as well.”
The 76-year-old actress, celebrated for her pioneering roles in the blaxploitation era, spoke candidly about the daily realities of racism she experienced as a child. Her father, a military member, could not live with his family on base because Black families were barred. “You had to live in an apartment. You couldn’t take a bus, couldn’t afford a car. Sometimes, we’d go from tree shade to shade to get back to the apartment, my brother, my mom, and I, with bags,” she recalled.
Grier also highlighted that memorials now exist at some of these sites, ensuring that the lives lost are not forgotten. “It triggers me today to see that a voice can be silenced,” she said, reflecting on the enduring impact of these atrocities.
Her emotional reflections were met with a sustained standing ovation from the studio audience, with moderator Whoopi Goldberg noting the admiration Pam Grier has earned over her long career. For fans and viewers, it was a poignant reminder of the courage and resilience Grier has carried with her from childhood to stardom.
