CW Stars Vanessa Morgan, Candice Patton And More Talk Hollywood’s Inclusive Future

The “sisterhood” of The CW are coming together and calling for a more inclusive future.

Asha Bromfield of “Riverdale”, “The Flash” star Candice Patton, Nafessa Williams of “Black Lightning” and “Riverdale”‘s Vanessa Morgan joined Teen Vogue for an important conversation about diversity in Hollywood.

“Black characters being used as these shoulders to cry on, as like, some form of a support system to assist a white character on their journey, and I think that can be really toxic because there’s so much more to Black people,” says Bromfield. “Our existence is just as much a vital fabric of this universe in the same way that other people are. When you start from that point and you start to realize our humanity matters, then you start to see that it’s dangerous to perpetuate this idea that we are just there to support white people through their woes.”

Williams explains how she wants diversity to reach all aspects of a workplace, “I think a way of protecting your employees is representing diversity. I think that’s really, really important. And allowing people to walk truthfully, whether it be wearing their hair a certain way or making sure they’re represented in each boardroom or meeting so that they can have input. And to me, protection is diversity. Protection is an equal-level playing field.”

Morgan says she is so thankful for her “sisterhood” at The CW, “Honestly, during this whole quarantine, I’ve become so close with — you can call it the sisterhood of The CW — with my fellow Black actresses, and even the other women on Warner Brothers. We talk almost every day on group chat. It’s having that community of people that I can relate to, be like, “OK, that’s not just me? It’s happening to you, too?”

Patton recalls making history with her character Melody Valentine on “Riverdale”, “I remember being onsite with Ashleigh [Murray]. We were doing the ‘I Feel Love’ cover and there was a moment where we had to perform it to the audience — it’s the three of us, on stage, performing, and we’re in the costume. And I remember there was a moment where we all just looked at each other, and it was so overwhelming because it was in that moment that we realized like, ‘Guys, we are literally three Black women leading Josie and the Pussycats,’ this is iconic; this has not been done.”