Iskra Lawrence has vowed to "protect her baby in any way" after the death of 46-year-old George Floyd following his arrest by Minneapolis police on May 25.
During Floyd's arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white former-Minneapolis police officer, placed his knee on Floyd's neck for a total of 8 minutes and 46 seconds, state charge documents reveal.
This has sparked protests around the world and reignited the Black Lives Matter movement, prompting widespread calls for an end to police brutality.
Derek Chauvin was charged over the death of George Floyd on Friday:Now, the model, who shares a baby with Philip Payne, has taken to Instagram to explain how skin color impacts people's lives in a way that she as a white woman will never be able to understand.
She wrote: "This is my beautiful innocent black baby. As your mother, I will protect you in any way I can. But I know that will never be enough. Your skin color will impact your life in a way I will never be able to understand.
"Your father @philipapayne will have to teach you things as a privileged white child I never had to learn. Your friends will need to be allies and speak up for you at times when simply being you could get you hurt or killed. Now it's on all of us to educate ourselves.
"I’ve asked far too many questions to my black loved ones when they are already exhausted and grieving for their community. It's not on them to educate us privileged folk. We need to do our own research into the deep-rooted history of racism."
The model then called her 4.6 million followers to ask themselves why they see "graphic videos of black people being murdered", but no similar content featuring white people.
"There are many ways in which systematic oppression is used every day, especially to continue to spread fear and separation between races," she continued.
Iskra said that she is now going to make an effort to educate herself by reading sources from black journalists and authors, asking her followers for recommendations.
"If you're not outraged and trying to figure out how you can do your bit ask yourself if your daughter or son, sister or brother was at risk every day of being murdered for the color of their skin would you not be doing everything you could,’ she wrote.
"Every opportunity, every microaggression, constant racial profiling all feeding into oppression. Signing petitions, donating, and calling to support is the least we can do.
Iskra concluded her post by writing: "Let's have the discussions with our families, campaign to get police reform and continue to learn more so we can combat systemic racism every day. We must use our white privilege to do better in memory of all those who’ve had their lives ended, futures taken, and have to fight discrimination every single day…"
