BALTIMORE — A Baltimore native and now one of the stars of the new Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, actress Moses Ingram, is becoming a mainstay in Hollywood
But, the journey hasn’t been easy, and most recently, Ingram opened up about receiving racist messages online for her role on the show.
Ingram graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts in 2012.
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WMAR-2 News spoke to the school’s principal about her reaction to Ingram speaking out about the hateful comments.
Rosiland Cauthen said she couldn’t be more proud of Ingram for calling out fans of Star Wars who sent her racist and hateful comments online.
“I love the fact she was like, 'I’m going to speak up for myself. This is wrong. I’m not going to stand for it,'” Cauthen said.
Ingram’s response generated a lot of conversation on social media with Star Wars and even her co-stars coming to her defense.
It also was something Cauthen spoke about with her students.
“We’re just encouraging our kids to make their own art, to make their own way and to be change makers, to let their voices be heard, to speak up on what’s right and what’s wrong,” Cauthen said.
Cauthen knows Ingram isn’t the first and won’t be the last Black actress to experience racism, but she hopes Ingram’s willingness to speak up will lead to change.
“I think that we owe it to ourselves and also younger generations that our coming up behind them, like our students, we owe it to them to speak up about these things to try and improve conditions and that’s the only way it’s going to change if people really start to speak up about how they feel and what they’re going through,” Cauthen said.
Ingram said she received hundreds of hateful messages, but there were many people who supported her as well.
She said she was thankful for everyone who did.
