USA Today: Will Smith: Personal reflections on a historic moment
I’m not a fan of Barack Obama’s. I haven’t made any secret of that. That doesn’t mean I don’t realize the cultural and historical significance that his inauguration as President of the United States brings with it. While I am ideologically opposed to his political agenda, I understand that the symbolic nature of his election is truly an awesome and significant step forward for minorities in our country, and I hope they can gain from it the hope and understanding that this is not the America of yesterday. Actor Will Smith superbly imparted his thoughts on how President Obama’s election impacted him personally. Of the hundreds of such opinions I have heard of the last couple of months, his, I think, are the most astute.
Here are his reflections, as he related them to USA Today, when he was asked : “What does Barack Obama’s election mean to you?”
Photo by Sergio Perez, ReutersWill Smith
Academy Award-nominee Will Smith’s latest movie is Seven Pounds.
For me, it was something that I’ve always believed. I’ve read the Declaration of Independence. I’ve read the Constitution. I have the preamble memorized. It’s something I’ve always believed in, and when Barack Obama won, it validated a piece of me that I wasn’t allowed to say out loud – that America is not a racist nation.
I love that all of our excuses have been removed. African-American excuses have been removed. There’s no white man trying to keep you down, because if he were really trying to keep you down, he would have done everything he could to keep Obama down. Yes, there are racist people who live here, absolutely. But they’re not the majority anymore.
I’m an African American, and I was able to climb to a certain point in Hollywood. On that journey, I realized people weren’t trying to stop me. Most people were trying to help me. Before Obama won the presidency, it was like, I’m the exception. Tiger is the exception. Michael Jordan is the exception. Bill Cosby is the exception. But there’s something about being the leader of the free world, with every other position on earth below that. You can’t argue with that. If Barack Obama can win the presidency of the United States, you can absolutely be the manager at Saks.
Come on. It was such a fantastic experience for me to be able to say out loud that I love America and not be called an Uncle Tom. That I can stand out, and I can say out loud that I love this country and not get funny looks.
I don’t think we are African Americans, Irish Americans or Japanese Americans anymore. I think Americans are a new race of people. We are Americans of African descent. We are Americans of Irish descent.
It’s a whole new world.
Good for him.
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January 24th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
I just read a powerful article about Will Smith at http://www.ebmpublishing.com. The article was wonderfully written and showed a different side of him. It discussed in detail his approach to life and commitment to improving the community. It’s an engaging, thought provoking article that gave me a new found level of respect for him.
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