West GS ’80 holds discussion with Tony-winning Rashad

Racism can prevent intellectual growth, Rashad explained. “How can you access the beauty of your own mind if you’re knotted up with anger or with fear?” she said.

The lecture, inspired by a graduate seminar co-taught by West and religion professor Eddie Glaude GS ’97 in 2005, took the structure of an intimate conversation at Richardson Auditorium, with Rashad and West discussing issues of identity across a coffee table.

“The main thing we have forgotten is the power of our own being because we don’t sit with it long enough,” Rashad said as the audience slipped into a murmur of agreement.

“I say this to young people all the time, too many echoes, not enough voices,” West later added, stressing the importance of the voice as an expression of identity.

Rashad tied her notions of identity to her acting experiences and explained how her career has helped her learn to “[discover] access to a human being through my own voice,” referring specifically to her role as Aunt Ester in August Wilson’s Broadway play, “Gem of the Ocean.”

West noted that Rashad’s use of joy to connect with the character of Aunt Ester had ties with the experiences of African Americans.

Finding their joy was what “black people had to do to keep sane in America,” West said.

Rashad agreed, expanding the statement to encompass all Americans. “That’s what everyone in America has to do today,” she said.

Recalling her first experience under the spotlight as a child, Rashad commented on her realization of the “beauty of communication from the heart.”

Many listeners found the discussion and personal anecdotes intellectually stimulating.

“I thought it was very rich and thought-provoking; not all conversations are able to draw that kind of self reflection,” Marquis Brown GS said. “Ms. Rashad and Brother West brought together a healthy mixture of intellectual discourse and practical relevance.”

“I think the sheer wisdom and knowledge was just kind of radiating from the stage,” Kristen Coleman ’10 said, adding that the two speakers “prompted me to think about my existence not only at Princeton, but my existence in the greater world after graduation.”