How Finding My Roots Changed My Life
April 1, 2011
In the search for his heritage, a former Grey's Anatomy star finds a greater purpose.
After a DNA test revealed ancestral links to Sierra Leone, Washington finally felt he is able to connect to a part of himself that had evaded him since childhood. Chronicling his journey from the rough streets of Houston, Texas, to the silver screen and beyond, the actor lays bare his transformation from Hollywood insider to philanthropist and activist. His travels to Sierra Leone, originally undertaken to discover his roots, resulted in his transformation into an outspoken crusader against diamond mining. Washington skirts erratically from topic to topic, cursorily touching on a multitude of issues in both the African-American community and Sierra Leone, providing the reader with no real understanding of the causes he so doggedly supports. The language is often trite and oversimplified, and the story line jumps around erratically. There's also a litany of name dropping, with folks as diverse as Obama, Oprah and Ossie Davis making appearances here, among many others. Though the author hints at the salacious details of his Hollywood career, including the controversial incident that led to his dismissal from Grey's Anatomy, none are given due attention, leaving the reader unsatisfied. Washington lays the framework for a follow-up, and readers can only hope he'll expose a richer, more vulnerable self the next time around.
A quick read that creates more questions than it answers.
(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
Starred review from April 1, 2011
Since his childhood in Houston, Texas, Washington had been visited by a recurring dream of an African village. By young adulthood, through a brief stint in the air force and a struggling actors career, hed been told countless times that he looked African. It was an intriguing observation for a dark-skinned man who had weathered the derision of whites and fairer-skinned blacks, gotten involved in the antiapartheid movement, and found few roles other than the stereotypical black thug. When an acting industry award offered the chance for DNA testing, Washington learned of his specific African heritage as a descendant of the Mende people. That knowledge inspired him to create the Gondobay Manga Foundation to provide development assistance to Sierra Leone, his ancestral home. The discovery gave meaning and direction to his life and encouragement to his conviction that DNA has memory. But his efforts were set back as he juggled controversy surrounding his alleged antigay remarks to a fellow cast member of the TV show Greys Anatomy even as he struggled with dwindling funds and financial mismanagement in Sierra Leone. This is an intensely engaging account of Washingtons ancestral awakening and his struggles to maintain a career in an industry with limited range for black male actors.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)