Mariah Carey’s mother, Patricia Hickney, recalled the time that she was shot at. She discussed this in a very candid interview with Mariah on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” back in the day, and the details she described are really sad and frustrating at the same time. It gives us a lot more insight into what Mariah, along with her brother, sister and parents went through.
THEIR FAMILY WAS UNDER CONSTANT RACE-PROVOKED ATTACK
“Initially we moved into a White neighborhood. […] There wasn’t anything overt that happened at that house. But then I looked and I said ‘What a way to raise to children, there are no Black people here,’ says Patricia.”
They then moved into a mixed neighborhood and that didn’t work either, because neither the Black kids, nor White kids accepted Mariah and her siblings as one of them. But then things really got bad…
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE DAY MARIAH’S MOM WAS SHOT AT
Then Patricia and her husband decided to move their family into a more “affluent” neighborhood, with the hopes that their children would face less ridicule for being biracial, she explained. However, according to Mariah’s mom, they quickly realized that was the wrong move…especially after Patricia was almost shot over it. Some racists shot at Patricia through their home’s window when Patricia was standing in their dining room:
“Then we moved into another neighborhood and I thought, ‘Well…this is a more affluent area, maybe we’ll be accepted by this group of people, and of course, that was the worst.
“That was the beginning of a nightmare,” Patricia says. One of our dogs were poisoned. And we had a bow window in front of the house, and when we were eating one night– I was clearing the table and someone shot through the window. Luckily, none of the children were in the room.”
MARIAH’S MOM EXPLAINS HOW HER FAMILY DISOWNED HER
Patricia said that her family disowned her for marrying Mariah’s Father. They didn’t want her to marry a Black man. When she’d told her Mother she was in love with him, Patricia says her Moms hated it, and never allowed Mariah’s Dad into her home. That ultimately drove a wedge between Patricia and her mom. Mariah’s parents eventually divorced; her dad passed away some years ago and they had an estranged relationship for a while, but before he passed, they were able to make amends.
