Gossett

ASM: Tell us about the period in your life when you realized your connection to the African continent?
LGJ: That is a deep question. I heard a lot of stories from my great grand mother who was ironically a slave. She did not know too much about Africa but she knew there were people called The Africans. This is similar to the show Roots, where Kunta Kinta was called the African. She was a slave at about eight or nine years old when people were transported straight to the plantations of Georgia from Africa. Later on, I got to know more when I ran into people from Africa in Brooklyn, New York. Then I did not hear much about it until I did a play called Raisin In The Sun where I met Babatunde Olutunji. However, it was while shooting my first motion picture in Tanzania in 1969, I really started getting involved with how important it is for us-young and old to know where we come from. I really and truly encourage it for it is extremely important.

ASM: Due to your experience in Tanzania, can you explain the difference between being the person you were in America and the person you became upon returning from Africa?
LGJ: I had a pretty good childhood. There was a pretty good combination of ethnicities after the depression. We relied on one another in those days; but the concern that lingered in my mind was the lack of heroes on the television screen who looked like me until Jackie Robinson emerged. However, as I hung out with some of the people, students, government officials and the Maasai during filming in Nairobi, I started to feel I had an identity because these were people I could relate to. I am not finished with getting to know my people. I want to know more about various cultures and people in Africa- like the Senegalese for instance. There was complete civilization before slavery. There was marketing and exchanges that I wish I had known but I do know now. I highly recommend that every young person learn about the cultures of Africa.

"…as I hung out with some of the people, students, government officials and the Maasai during filming in Nairobi, I started to feel I had an identity because these were people I could relate to…"

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ASM: You mentioned Civilization and Culture before slavery. Can you share the differences between the cultures you investigated in Tanzania/Nairobi and those of Brooklyn, New York?
LGJ: First of all, in the Maasai and various other African cultures, everybody takes care of everybody. As soon as you can get up and walk, you have got a job to do and you will be expected to do it- from taking care of the baby goats to helping raise a child. At the next stage, you learn something else such as becoming a Shepard or a farmer; and after that you become a husband, wife, father or mother and the cycle continues. So from an early age, an individual is thought responsibility. There is also the marketplace where all the different tribes meet two, three to four times a year to showcase their s product from food to carvings to exchange and barter. When foreigners came to the lands, they had nothing to exchange with the tribes and so money became the source of exchange between the tribes and the foreigners. So I became fascinated all of the African cultures from Egypt to South Africa-the similarities, the tribes, the symbiotic relationship of the wild animals and the earth. We need to learn more about where we live, how we should live and some of the things that we abandoned. We need to reach back again.

ASM: It seems like African-Americans try to emulate the communal family, market place community as it is in Africa. However, what do you think is missing?
LGJ: I may be wrong but in my opinion, but I think what I see is a struggle between the cultures with one culture automatically assuming that it is more superior than the other. There is a gap between them. We are still grappling with that. When an African-American person becomes famous, he or she changes their thinking to be a part of the many. I won an Oscar but still, I am considered a minority. However, the immediate response would be I am not a minority. I am an American. But I would advice that one should not abandon our original roots because the original is going to be more important later down the road than what we think we are accepting in society. It will lead to being more homogeneous and find that which we have lost.

ASM: So do you think things we can find in these African cultures can help save us as a universal community?
LGJ: There is something about our African brothers and sisters that I was not told for some reason. But from the television series Roots to meeting different people, I have been and still am curious to know more. I have traveled to Africa and continue to be amazed by my findings. People are starting to recognize and understand how important and prolific we are and have been for many centuries- including our African brothers and sisters in the Caribbean and South American countries.

ASM: You mentioned groups taking care of one another and everyone having a place, position or job. It seems like most of the world from Europe to America struggles with phenomenon that you would not necessarily see in those cultures like the idea of unemployment. Do you think some of that has something to do with the introduction of money that has kind of alienated the fundamental barter system?
LGJ: I think the society has to do with class-upper and middle class. In those days, it was the royalty, the constituents and then the slaves. The weakest link then was America. Everybody needed to have something to do in order to keep things going. In Africa, there were the kings, queens, constituents, warriors, shepards, farmers and so on; however, along with the responsibility of taking care of each other, it was the responsibility of the kings to take care of their people.

"…People are starting to recognize and understand how important and prolific we are and have been for many centuries- which includes our African brothers and sisters in the Caribbean and South American countries…"

ASM: You have developed some personal strategies to connect with the Africa. Can you name some of them?
LGJ: There is the clothing for one- an Afrofusion clothing line. The youths are told of the clothing of Greeks, Romans, French the Vikings and many more in schools and through movies and television. But they know very little about the African roots from the Ibos, Buntus to Maasai, Yorubas and more. Transporting those roots to America we have Blanche Kelso Bruce, Jean Baptist Du Sable, Langston Hughes, Anne Aldridge and many more ancestors. The youth need to connect the dots because it is very good for the psyche to walk the streets and know whose shoulders they stand on and what is expected of them.

ASM: And these clothing and personal presentation gives you a window?
LGJ: I think that is why I am doing it. A friend introduced me to Mr. Ibra- a Senegalese man and my dear friend who is behind the sewing of the clothes. We came up with the idea of calling it the Afrofusion line because it is symbolic that we are of two different cultures fusing together our ideas, our thoughts despite our differences. It is an African culture being fused with the other culture. We hope are able to take it far and beyond.

ASM: Can you elaborate on why it is important to present yourself in the Fusion way? What is it about this clothing that changes you?
LGJ: There is the element of pride. It is a style born from our people from Senegal to Ivory Coast. It is very handsome and attractive to wear. It feels good to put on. So we feel it is a good time to put it out there for people to be aware of and try it them for themselves. I think they would be happy with the line. I think it seems to fit because people are now mentioning it.

"…By making this clothing line a five to six piece suit, it is identifiable because people can compare Fusion suit to the regular three or four piece suit from Europe. This further shows the impact and contribution Africa has given the world…"

ASM: There are different variations of the style out there. What makes this clothing line different and a cut above the rest?
LGJ: Economically speaking, people get to save money because in one outfit, there is the vest, pant, jacket, shorts and shirt. So you have a five to six piece suit that can be interchanged for any given event. The wearer can go from a casual to a formal look or vis versa at any time of the day. There are so many varieties that are unique and attractive that someone can buy two or three suits to mix and match. It is comfortable, adjustable and acceptable to wear it own on any given day. So now they are saving money and looking good at the same time.

ASM: Can you explain further how deeply rooted the clothing line is to Africa? What are the primary materials used in sewing the clothes?
LGJ: This style is known in Senegal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast. However, the way it is sewn depends on the country, the region and ethnic group. Materials used to sew them are gabardine, cotton, wool, linen and brocade in any color. Still worn up to this day, people are familiar with the high collar long shirts and famous Dashiki which people were hard to accept for it was considered a Black National Statement. By making this clothing line a five to six piece suit, it is identifiable because people can compare Fusion suit to the regular three or four piece suit from Europe. This further shows the impact and contribution Africa has given the world.

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ASM: So in essence, your clothing line represents something larger than what you put on your body. It seems to represent a lifestyle and presence of mind.
LGJ: Exactly!

ASM: Thank you very much for interviewing with us. We wish you the best.
LGJ: Thank you for having me.

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