Katherine Heigl has had many sleepless nights, trying to figure out how to talk about George Floyd's death with her daughter Adalaide Marie Hope.
In a series of Instagram posts, the actress and mother of three opened up about the difficulty of explaining racial injustice to her 7-year-old daughter, whom she and husband Josh Kelly adopted in 2012.
"I don't typically use my platform or social media to say much when it comes to the state of our country. I keep most of those thoughts to myself. I act quietly and behind the scenes. I let those with far more experience, education and eloquence be the voices for change. But I can't sleep. And when I do I wake with a single thought in my head," Heigl, 41, wrote. "How will I tell Adalaide?"
"How will I explain the unexplainable? How can I protect her? How can I break a piece of her beautiful divine spirit to do so? I can't sleep. I lay in my bed in the dark and weep for every mother of a beautiful divine black child who has to extinguish a piece of their beloved baby’s spirit to try to keep them alive in a country that has too many sleeping soundly," she continued.
"My white bubble though always with me now begins to bleed. Because I have a black daughter. Because I have a Korean daughter. Because I have a Korean sister and nephews and niece. It has taken me far too long to truly internalize the reality of the abhorrent, evil despicable truth of racism.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Heigl, who also shares daughter Naleigh Mi-Eun, 11, and 3-year-old son Joshua Bishop with her husband, went on to explain that because of the color of her skin, and the way she was raised, she was initially "blind" to the idea that people could see the world differently than her.
"My upbringing of inclusivity, love and compassion seemed normal. I thought the majority felt like I did," she wrote. "I was naive. I was childish."
Heigl noted that thinking of her family, as well as the many black people who have been unjustly killed, has turned her fear into rage.
"I look at my daughters. My sister. My nephews and niece. George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. The hundreds, thousands millions more we haven't even heard about. I look and the fear turns to something else. The sorrow warms and then bursts into flames of rage," she wrote.
RELATED: Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins Are 'Standing Up' Against Racial Injustice for Their Black Daughter
Heigl went on to emphasize that in order for justice to be served, all of the police officers who were present at the time of Floyd's death will have to be held accountable, not just Derek Chauvin, who was filmed with his knee on Floyd's neck, and has been charged with his murder.
"I want them to pay. I want that payment to be harsh. I want it to be a painful, irrevocable consequence for their evil acts and behaviors and for those consequences to scare the shit out of every other racist still clinging to their small, stupid minded hate," she wrote.
"There may have been a time when I cared to try to change the mind of a racist. To show them through example and just the right words they are wrong. I don't care anymore," she added. "What I want is for them all to be so scared by Officer Chauvin's consequences that they are afraid to breathe in the direction of a black man, woman or child. Let alone try to hurt them. I want them to shake in their beds at night for fear that they too could end up like Chauvin. I want him to be an example of what happens to a racist in this country."
As she brought her impassioned post to a close, Heigl wrote that while many questions remain, the one thing she knows is that racism must end. "All I know is that I want it to end. Today. Forever," she wrote.
Source: Read Full Article