Jeffrey Wright Goes Beyond the Photo Op in Sierra Leone
Still, “Sierra Leone’s post-colonial success story should be celebrated globally,” he said. “Attitudes toward charitable work in Africa have been borne of this idea that Africa is poor, which is too often the message that we receive through the media. Africa is the wealthiest continent on the planet.” (Speaking strictly in terms of mineral wealth, this is true.)
Wright is active as co-founder and chair of Taia LLC’s charitable arm, The Taia Peace Foundation, whose aim is to help African communities take better economic advantage of their natural resources. “I used to look down my nose at businesses,” Wright said. “But now I have a greater appreciation for the positive impact properly shaped business practices can have on society.”
The Taia Peace Foundation most recently built a road providing access for a village—the last one to disarm in the conflict—to secondary healthcare and other previously unavailable necessities. “It’s also a metaphorical road providing a connection between the interests of these communities and our own interests. The most valuable resource—and the most difficult to extract—is trust. It’s taken years to gain the trust of the communities we work with.”
Wright is well aware of the cynicism harbored toward celebrities involved in humanitarian efforts. “One of the shortcomings of being an artist is that you can raise awareness for a particular issue, while leaving the work required to address the issue to others.” While Wright commends sincere and engaged activists like George Clooney, he is understandably skeptical of the potential shallowness and glamorization of American humanitarian efforts in Africa.“Photo ops are not the answer to positive engagment in Africa, and often there is too little incorporation of African ideas. If we are not careful as Westerners, we can bring too much cultural arrogance to the table. The irony of sons and daughters of colonialists believing ‘we have the answers’ should not be missed.
Still, he is realistic. “I fight through the cultural biases as well. Just because I’m African-American doesn’t mean I’m immune. It’s a complex and layered situation.’”
Wright can’t pinpoint exactly how or why he became an actor, but he recalls with fondness his undergraduate years at Amherst College, where he was a political science major in the 1980s. “The rallying cry on campus was about divesting of Apartheid South Africa… Well, next to protesting fraternities, of course.” To observe Wright in any of his roles is to know that he is a deeply committed actor, but to hear him talk about the ideas from his student days that shaped his work in Sierra Leone, one might interpret his stage and screen work as a decades-long diversion. “There is a great deal of original sin to overcome,” he said of imperialist history in Africa. “It’s personal to me.”