The #JusticeforJada campaign has been sparking discussions over the treatment of women and now Jada Pinkett Smith is making light of it herself after her niece was slipped a date rape drug.
image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com
First on July 11th Smith shared information via her Facebook page concerning the rape of the young girl who chose to be associated by the name ‘Jada’ with the statement, “This could be you, me, or any woman or girl that we know. What do we plan to do about this ugly epidemic? #justiceforjada.” Jada was later humiliated as photos of her naked and unconscious were uploaded to social media and then went viral.
Weeks later Smith recently spoke with Us Weekly about how important this issue is to her following the attempted rape of her niece. The weekend of Jada’s incident, her niece was at a party at the age of 20 when someone gave her a date-rape drug and realized it before falling unconscious.
“She said, 'oh my god I can't feel my…' she was losing consciousness. Thank god the people she was with put her in a room, closed the door, and she didn't come to for three and a half hours,” shared Smith and following the situation shared the story with her own daughter Willow, 13. Smith and her niece sat down with Willow and a few of her friends to explain what happened to shed light on how dangerous it can be to be a woman.
While Smith does not put all of the blame on women, she rather stated, “There is an epidemic going on out here in regards to the treatment of women,” which is why she makes it clear that she wants her daughter to feel confident enough to make decisions for herself and remain safe.
Smith explained, "What I do with Willow is I give her the opportunity to be empowered by having herself first because when you allow a person to be an individual and you allow a person to have power within and have confidence on who they are, you'll never have to look into the eyes of a man and question whether it's a yes or a no.“