Oscar-winning actor and longtime civil-rights advocate Lou Gossett Jr. follows a comforting morning routine in Malibu: Breakfast at Coogie’s, a post-meal stroll around the shopping center and a chat with the Malibu Newsstand vendor.
But on a recent stop at the newsstand, Gossett’s morning ventured far from the norm in an encounter with a local Sheriff’s deputy.
“He gets out of the car and he’s got a shotgun in his hand. He points at me and says, ‘Come here,’” Gossett, a 30-year Malibu resident, recalled in an interview with The Malibu Times. “Now, you know what’s on my mind—all the headlines I’ve seen about the police across this country, like the Trayvon Martin case.”
Gossett, who is African-American, said he knows most of the local law enforcement deputies working in Malibu and was surprised this deputy didn’t recognize him.
“So, I think [the officer] doesn’t understand who I am. I take my hat off, yell ‘It’s me!’ And he still waves his fingers and says ‘Come here.’ Now, my heart’s beating and my mouth is dry. I’m sweating, I’m nervous. I still don’t know what’s going on.”
“Finally I got close enough to the officer, and he said, ‘Somebody tripped the robbery alarm at the bank, they want you out of the way.’”
Recalling the scene, Gossett breathed a heavy sigh and his husky voice went silent. In retrospect, he saw the encounter as a rare positive story about law enforcement officials and their relationship with minorities.
“All my doubts, all my nightmares … disappeared,” he said. “I thought he was against me.”
The close-to-home encounter came during a time when Gossett believes the country is on the verge of making great racial and social progress. Yet he feels America still has much work to do, despite the first election and re-election of a black president.
“Everyone’s talking about racism or inequities of some sort. But this philosophy, this uniting of America, we have to have a better face on it now,” he said. ”We can no longer say, ‘Do what I say, not what I do.’ Our kids are watching.”
Brooklyn-born Gossett, 77, has made his name as a groundbreaking stage, film and television actor for 60 years. In 1983 he made history as the first African-American male to win the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role as drill instructor Sgt. Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman.” In 1977 he starred in an episode of the TV miniseries “Roots” as Fiddler and won a best actor Emmy for the role.
In deciding on roles, Gossett said he has always steered clear of typecasting or exploitative films.
“During the blaxploitation [film era in the 1970s], I didn’t take those parts,” he said. “I think we have to represent people the right way. So most of the choices I make are uplifting.”
By taking on roles in social and racial vehicles like “Roots,” remaining active in the African-American community and pressing for equality among all races, Gossett has received accolades from the NAACP, Urban League in Chicago and the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C.
In 2006, his passion led him to found the Eracism Foundation, a nonprofit vehicle aimed at promoting social, educational and cultural growth among younger generations and eradicating racism. It starts with contributing to the “greater good,” Gossett said, and looking past individual desires in order to improve society as a whole.
His foundation plans on teaming up with the City of Inglewood soon to conduct local outreach as he spreads Eracism’s message. On Dec. 15, he will also MC a benefit in Malibu to raise money for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
“We have to make sure that we don’t plant any of our poisons in the next generation…We’re split up into different factions. Asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’ as opposed to, ‘What’s in it for us?’”
For more on Gossett and his foundation, visit eracism.com.