Sandra and Tony Gentry welcomed Antonia Gentry into the world on September 25, 1997, in Atlanta, Georgia. Sandra is Jamaican and Tony is American. Gentry didn’t have an easy childhood growing up multiracial in Atlanta, but she had her mother as a confidante and source of guidance. There is no one in Ginny’s life with whom she can discuss race. Gentry stated to Teen Vogue:
“My mother is Jamaican and Black. My mother was someone I could trust when I was growing up because, despite being a Black woman herself, she understood how I felt about my identity. Ginny and her mother don’t truly have that.
By sharing her experiences as a young biracial woman, Gentry contributed to the Black Lives Matter campaign.
She sent an emotional post on Instagram imploring followers to not only admit that racism is a problem in the USA but also to take action to end the scourge. She wrote, in part:
“I have dealt with racism my entire life. For a black girl, you are pretty. Whether it was white students at school making jokes about my father marrying a “monkey,” calling me a “mixed-mongrel mutt,” using any colorful nickname under the sun, or receiving comments from white boys like “you look better with your hair straight” or comments from white girls like “I’d love to have a mixed baby, but I don’t want to deal with all that nappy hair.”
