From wbztv.com: Celebrities Descend On Denver To Show DNC Support

Prime Buzz reporting on the DNC: Sean Penn, Ashley Judd, Lou Gossett Jr., Charles Barkley: Okay, we’ll do this once: Celebs flock to Dem convention

As shown on YouTube:

Rootswire caught up with Mr. Gossett at the Democratic National Convention.

At the DNC

From Yahoo: Actor Louis Gossett Jr. walks through the lobby at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008.

…by Louis Gossett, Jr.

For Newsweek / Washington Post

My childhood was preeminently dominated by teachers and children of the Jewish faith. I am a product of the successful union of what I call the Afro-Judaic culture. If it were not for that I would never have entertained the thought to excel the way that I have.

I want to seize this opportunity - the first time an African-American is addressing the congregation in the National Synagogue’s 122-year history - to say thank you, the process works. The process of the synagogue and Shabbat and the support Jewish teachers and parents bestow upon their children - that support has stayed with me all this time.

I have had dialogues with many wonderful people around this country, and they have asked me to talk about my dreams, my inspiration. It was from these teachers, by being inspired in my childhood, that I learned how to inspire children to dream. If you get the nurturing, the mentorship during childhood that I received living in that kind of Afro-Judaic neighborhood, you grow up to believe anything is possible.

It is a sin not to dream.

My affirmation, which I have used across this country and recently in Kenya, is to have children repeat three times: ‘There is no such thing as impossible.’ The third time, they have to mean it. If we as adults believe it, the children will follow our example.

Children don’t need much, but they do need our undivided attention. In addition to my heritage, I was equally influenced by the way that the Jewish families encouraged their children to succeed. Growing up in Coney Island, there were strong bonds between the African-American community and the Jewish community and those bonds remain today.

These bonds also set an example. Because of our similar histories it is only natural for us to continue our collaboration at all levels, as a shining example of what America should definitely be striving for.

Our successes and this kind of support can show others that different cultures can live together in peace in one country. That is my dream. We need to fuse our cultures in America, to show the world that a successful society can be made up of many different parts. We need to showcase our successes to the troubled nations around the world rather than go out and drop bombs.

Then and only then will we be able to talk about democracy.

We can live without violence. We can live without prejudice. When we achieve this, we will truly be able to live by the precepts of our Pledge of Allegiance as “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Louis Gossett Jr. is an Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy award winning actor. He will be the featured speaker Saturday, Aug. 23, at Ohev Sholom — The National Synagogue in Washington DC. Gossett is the first African American to address members of the historic synagogue in its 122-year history. He adapted this guest column from his speech.

Mr. Gossett was featured by The Washington Times in the August 19th edition of Inside the Beltway.

Actor Lou Gossett Jr. this Saturday will become the first black American to deliver a Shabbat morning sermon at the National Synagogue in Washington. Actor Lou Gossett Jr. this Saturday will become the first black American to deliver a Shabbat morning sermon at the National Synagogue in Washington.

LOU’S SERMON

That will be 72-year-old Oscar-winning actor Lou Gossett Jr., making history this Saturday by becoming the first black American to deliver a Shabbat morning sermon in the 122-year history of the National Synagogue in Washington.

“To him whom much is given, much is expected,” Mr. Gossett remarked in anticipation of his 11:30 a.m. appearance. “I see myself as a vessel that God uses to do the work I am on the planet to do.”

It was in 1886, when Grover Cleveland was president, that a group of devout Russian immigrant Jews founded Ohev Sholom Congregation in Washington. The first services were held on the second floor above Myer Fisher’s clothing store in the 1100 block of Seventh Street Northwest.

Today, the Orthodox synagogue on Jonquil Street Northwest has more than 350 families as members.

We might point out that Mr. Gossett will be showcased Monday in the HBO documentary “The Black List,” a collection of portraits surrounding 20 influential black Americans.

Article about Mr. Gossett, entitled:

Can values from a ’40s Jewish area help kids in ghettos? Actor Louis Gossett Jr. to give Shabbat sermon

Read the full text here.

Excerpt:

Gossett, 72, grew up in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, N.Y., where many of his neighbors were Jews.

The warm relations with them and the sense of community they shared was “a beautiful thing,” he says.

“If my parents were late, I had the choice of [eating] gefilte fish or sauerbraten” at a neighbor’s house, said the actor, interviewed last week by phone from Kenya. He was slated to go on Safari the following day. (He began the interview by saying “boker tov,” Hebrew for good morning, and ended it with “erev tov,” good evening.)

Gossett credits his experiences as a youngster in Brooklyn as providing the “nurturing” that helped him succeed. And with his foundation — which he founded in 2006 to fight racism through education, programs that foster cultural diversity and anti-violence initiatives — he hopes to initiate programs for kids that will re-create the values he learned.

He wants to help kids in the most distressed areas to combat racism, sexism and violence. “I want to protect them [young people] against the evil of the streets,” he said.

He wants them to learn “self-respect, so they know where they come and what is expected of them, respect for the opposite sex, respect for their elders.”

This article was also picked up by:

• The Canadian Jewish News