Wendell Pierce is one of my favorite actors, and this is a powerful story about him and the white conservative he hired to write his family history. Read it all:
Driving home over the western edge of Lake Pontchartrain, I phoned my wife to tell her how it went. “It was just two middle-aged Louisiana guys, swapping stories about why we love it here, despite everything,” I said. “I didn’t expect that.”
I told her some of Wendell’s family stories and how nervous the thought of writing about them made me. “These stories are sacred,” I said. “I told Wendell that I would be honored if he chose me as his collaborator but that above all he should think about what would best serve these stories. I’m not at all sure that’s me.”
Why not? Because I am white. Because I come from a part of Louisiana in which, well within living memory, the Klan brutalized black people and the law was on the side of the lawless. Wendell had good reason not to trust me.
“If he does pick you,” said my wife, “I think you should do it. It would be good for you spiritually to work with him on this.”
He picked me. I agreed to do it. And so we began.
Very interesting story. Thanks for sharing it.