KERRY’S FIGHT FOR CHANGE
EQUAL PARTS ACTRESS AND ACTIVIST, THE STAR OPENS UP ABOUT HOW SHE’S FIGHTING FOR CHANGE – AND WHAT SHE’S TEACHING HER KIDS
Kerry Washington’s mother had a very different plan for her daughter’s life. “She really, really wanted me to go to law school,” Washington says with a laugh of mum Valerie, a former college professor. “She used to say to me, ‘Closing arguments are just like monologues.’ She was terrified to have a starving artist of a child.”
But the Bronx-born theatre kid was destined to be a star. After graduating from George Washington University, she headed to Hollywood, where her turn as political fixer Olivia Pope on ABC’s Scandal made her famous.
Still, the 43-year-old actress never lost her drive to fight for others. It’s a principle she and her husband, football player-turned-actor Nnamdi Asomugha, 39, are working to instil in their three young children.
And her acting choices – including recent roles as a mother seeking answers from police about her missing son in Netflix’s American Son and an artist fighting to protect her daughter in Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere – have been guided by that deeper purpose.
Says Washington, “I’m drawn to work that illuminates our shared humanity.”
For the actress’ latest project, she stepped behind the camera, serving as producer of The Fight, a Magnolia Pictures and Topic Studios documentary about the lawyers of the American Civil Liberties Union. “They’re Avengers in real life – out there fighting for all of our rights,” she says.
She talked with People about her life with her family and her hopes to create positive change.
When did you get the idea to make a documentary about the ACLU?
Seven days into the Trump administration – when he enacted the Muslim ban – one of the filmmakers, Elyse Steinberg, was in Brooklyn, standing outside the federal courthouse. I was in LA glued to my TV, and the ACLU had that incredible victory. [After federal courts blocked the executive order, the Supreme Court eventually upheld a revised version of the policy restricting travel from many Muslimmajority countries.] The ACLU were on the ground, in the trenches, fighting this fight, and I kept thinking, “Who’s with them?” Elyse and I were connected and decided to get to work. There’s something really powerful about how these lawyers are humanised in the film.
Has activism always been a big part of your life?
I don’t remember not knowing about the ACLU. I just grew up in that kind of household. My mum’s a retired professor of education, and we always talked a lot as a family. If we were around a table, we were talking about the issues of the day. It was an intellectual curiosity that was instilled in us. My life as a social justice activist started when I was 12 or 13, doing HIV/ AIDS education and advocacy work in New York City through an arts and education theatre company.
Your mum wanted you to pursue law. How does she feel about your life now?
Oh my God, it’s what she begged me to do. One of the lawyers in the film, Dale [Ho], and I were actually in acting class together 20 years ago. It was right before he went to law school. He made the choices that would have made my mother proud, and I did the other stuff.
As an actress, do you try to take on roles that could have social impact? Sometimes – I think just by the nature of being a woman and a person of colour, that’s a political act. When I read the script for Save the Last Dance, I wasn’t like, “This is a political movie.” I thought, “I’m from the Bronx, I grew up with a lot of teen mums. If I can play this character with the highest level of humanity and dignity, and make her aspirational in who she is, then that’s a political act.” Because people might think of her as a person and not as a statistic, and that’s powerful.
How do you talk to your kids – Caleb, 3, Isabelle, 6, and your older stepdaughter – about race and injustice?
My kids range from ages 3 to 14, so it’s different conversations with different folks. We’re actually doing lots of studying of Africa at home right now. We were just building pyramids out of sugar cubes because we’re talking about Egypt. It’s figuring out how to celebrate Black identity and Black lives outside of a context of struggle. I think the struggle is so important, but so is just planting the seed of cultural value and rich humanity, so that the value of who we are doesn’t come from the limitations that have been placed on us. How has parenting been for you and Nnamdi during the pandemic?
Things are moving fast and everybody’s really busy, and the kids are at home, and you’re working on your computer all day. It’s a lot. No matter your age, we’re all navigating the two pandemics – coronavirus and this sort of awakening around systemic racism. It’s a lot to manage for everybody. When it comes to parenting, I’m trying to be more patient with myself and everybody in my house. We’re all in our process.
What are you doing to help cope with the stress?
I’ve started leading these yoga sessions on Instagram Live. It’s like, “How can I carve out the time to try to breathe and be in my body in a loving and present way?” But I also know how lucky I am. I’m so grateful that I’m able to stay home, that I can afford a mask, that I have running water and soap to wash my hands. These are not things to take for granted right now.
What do you think is the most pressing legal battle that the ACLU has taken on recently?
It’s an overwhelming time. So many of our freedoms and civil liberties are being attacked. But I do think right now the work that Dale is doing around the census and voting rights is what I think about the most. This really is a year where it’s so important that every single one of us counts.
What do you say when people ask you what Olivia Pope would do to fix the US?
I say that every single person reading this has more actual power in a democracy than Olivia Pope. Maybe what you’re able to give is a check or your time making phone calls or volunteering. Maybe you’re able to drive people to the polls or post on social media. Even if you didn’t go to law school, there’s a way that you can be part of the solution. We too can be Avengers.