Angela Bassett is an award-winning actress with more than two decades of acting experience, and while the Black Panther actress is a mainstream celebrity, she …and her twins are no strangers to racism.

During an interview with PEOPLE, Bassett disclosed that her 12-year-old twins, Bronwyn and Slater, haven’t been spared from experiencing racism.

“Even from the age of four, from preschool, they’ve had to deal with — and as crazy as it seems or sounds — color issues,” she tells PEOPLE. “Or because they were African Americans, and whether other kids will play with them or have issue with that.”

The 59-year-old actress maintains that children aren’t born racist.

“It can’t come from their young minds,” Bassett continues. “It’s something that they’ve heard somewhere.”