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The woman who was once voted America’s favorite mom for her portrayal of a glam and wise working mother on The Cosby Showwent on to win a Tony Award and so much more. actress and activist Phylicia Rashad takes a break to tell A&U’s B. Andrew Plant about her AIDS work and her passion for the PRASAD Project
Because of her cadence and demeanor, almost everything Phylicia Rashad says sounds profound. Of course, the actress knows that sometimes the simplest gestures and the simplest statements are the most profound. She alludes to this in talking about how every human being can make a difference.
“There are things happening globally that would make you think you won’t live another day, simply because of the actions people tend to perform,” she says. “Just imagine if we could all get in accord with a great effort to be of service to each other. If we start thinking like this, then the world changes.”
Rashad says this what-can-I-as-an-individual-do? philosophy is the very approach that can solve energy (crisis) issues, educational disparities and health concerns—from malnutrition in the remotest parts of India to AIDS, anywhere.
And, again, she thinks starting simply and close to home—actually, close to the heart—is what is most effective.
“We’ve got to think outside of the box. Think with our hearts!” Rashad says, demonstrating a trademark burst of energy when her eyes light up and she gestures, well, theatrically. Most of all, she flashes that knowing, killer smile. Then she seems thoughtful, introspective again.
“And there is nothing wrong with thinking with the heart,” she says, adding, almost conspiratorially, “and I understand it is a lot less confusing than thinking with the brain!” Again, that hearty laugh. “The heart holds the truth. And we say this all the time: ‘I know in my heart,’ or ‘I felt in my heart.’ See, we’re inclined to lead with the heart because the heart holds the truth.”
She says all this while posing for our cameras, perched on the edge of the bed in a hotel suite in midtown Atlanta. The Tony award winner (Best Actress in a play, 2004) was in Atlanta for the city’s Black Arts Festival. Rashad is wearing what can best be described as a glamorous sari—a traditional garment of India. And she wears it well because it is both artistic and regal. The woman many came to love as Clair Huxtable on the long-running Cosby Show has her hair up and braided and her makeup is flawless; you wouldn’t be surprised to learn she is a princess.
But there are no airs today. Rashad has just come from doing an interview for public television, but quickly shifts gears, announcing that she is “all yours.” She is prepared and on topic and thanks our small motley crew—writer, photographer and stylist—for the opportunity. “Thanks for talking about this very important
topic,” she says.
Soon thereafter, she is making friends with the camera (she is even more attractive in person than
on film and TV) and talking into my tape recorder, pausing occasionally to make sure I am comfortable. What are her first recollections of HIV/AIDS?
“Well, of course, I was—am—an actress in New York,” she says. Shorthand for the fact that she works around a lot of creative people in television and theater; one of the places AIDS first showed itself. “This was early on in the 1980s. The first instance that I really recall when [the presence of AIDS] was very clear to me was running into an actor that I knew and asking, ‘Well, how are you?’ He said, ‘Well, I have had pneumonia, but I am going to be better.’
“Some time passed, then I was made aware that he was in the hospital and he was near his end,” Rashad says. “That was the early [days] of AIDS…just the early social awareness of AIDS. Most people, even in the medical community had not figured out the connections…how this disease could mask itself as stomach cancer, as pneumonia…as anything. Then they began to really understand more about it. Soon they knew what we all know now: AIDS is a doorway to a plethora of ailments.
“At that particular time—when I knew that man and knew him to be so terribly ill with ‘just pneumonia,’…that connection, this understanding, had not been made,” she says. “It was a short time between when I saw him and he said he had pneumonia and when he was really very, very ill…and passing.”
She goes on to recall other things about the early days of AIDS; things that frustrate her. Things she says we’re not completely past. Attitudes that have implications for other worldly, worldwide challenges.
“As the general public became more aware of HIV/AIDS, there were all sorts of stigma attached to it,” Rashad says, shaking her head. “The first was kind of a homophobic attitude. That this was a homosexual male disease. These people [who perpetuated the stigma] put a lot of shame on people with AIDS. You remember those days when people thought like that?”
Though she is refined and so well put together, this lady is also strong and straightforward. You get the impression that she has little patience for people with uninformed or prejudicial attitudes. Still, her weapon is a quiet dignity that tells you she is educated, informed, and fully willing to do her part—and then some.
In fact, Rashad calls herself not only an actor, but also an activist. It’s amazing in some ways that she has had time to lend her name and time to great causes, but she does.
Not only did she become the first African-American actress to win the Best Actress (in a play) Tony for her 2004 performance as Lena Younger in a revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, a role for which she also won a Drama Desk Award, she went on that very same year to star in Gem of the Ocean on Broadway, for which she was nominated for a 2005 Tony. Other Broadway credits include The Wiz, Dreamgirls, Into the Woods, Jelly’s Last Jam, and A Wonderful Life.
This fall, Rashad recreated her Tony-winning role as Lena Younger, filming a television movie version of A Raisin in the Sun for ABC, along with Sean “Diddy” Combs, her Broadway-version costar. Interestingly, both the Broadway revival and television versions of Raisin were directed by Kenny Leon, Rashad’s friend; she has served on the board of his Atlanta-based Alliance Theater. As of our publication date, ABC had not announced an air date for the movie, but promises Raisin among its 2007 lineup.
But back to the actress and her experience with and outlook on AIDS. “Surely enough—and sadly—women and children and heterosexual men and women began contracting the disease through blood transfusions. [Tennis legend] Arthur Ashe, for instance,” she says.
“At some point—still relatively early on—I was invited to a program that was held in a church; it was about living with AIDS,” Rashad says. “This was my first encounter [to speak of] with people who had it or whose family had it. Mothers with children; I remember those the most. The people I was meeting at this event did not come forward with that profile, that misconception. They were not [only] gay men. “These were people from all walks of life, every economic status,” she says. “Most of all, they were vibrant people, with purpose….Meaningful, purposeful lives…with dignity, with humor, with perseverance. That experience and ones like it put a new face [of AIDS] before other people.
“For a while, throughout the years, prior to this invitation, there were a number of friends I worked with in theater who were contracting AIDS and dying,” Rashad says. “Some of the greatest dancers. Some of the most beautiful human beings. Some relatives….”
Remembering those who have been lost, she says she feels the need to state what should be obvious: “AIDS is a very serious epidemic and we have not conquered it. It is [still] spreading at an alarming rate. We do ourselves a great disservice by clinging to myths and to stigma.”
Much of Rashad’s own philanthropy and altruism flows through The PRASAD Project, a New York-based nonprofit organization that does work internationally. “‘Prasad’ is a Sanskrit word that means ‘the gift that carries blessings,’” Rashad says, “and this word also serves as an acronym for ‘philanthropic relief altruistic service and development.’”
PRASAD, she says, is committed to improving the quality of life of economically disadvantaged people by honoring human dignity and fostering self-reliance. It was initiated in 1992 by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, the spiritual head of the Siddha Yoga path; thus, the work of PRASAD manifests core values of Siddha Yoga: selfless service, enduring commitment and respect for all people, regardless of their race or belief.
“It is an organization that provides services in many areas,” she says, noting that PRASAD’s endeavors are in health, education and sustainable development.
There is a dental van in upstate New York for kids whose parents can’t afford dental care, “because we know that toothache is the number one cause of absenteeism,” Rashad says. PRASAD also has programs in Mexico that focus mostly on eye care. Much of the organization’s work, though, is in India’s Tansa Valley.
“There is a route [through the Tansa Valley] for truck drivers and migrant workers,” she tells me. “The route is associated with the spread of HIV/AIDS. In one year there was a sixty-two percent increase in the diagnosis of [HIV disease]. So, we [PRASAD] began to address this issue.
“We developed a plan to prevent the spread [of AIDS], to treat those cases that had already been diagnosed and to educate people,” Rashad says. “To educate people so we could dispel the myths. We are providing antiretrovirals so the disease is not communicated to the unborn child because we know you can stop mother-to-child transmission. We’re providing counseling and nutrition…and more….”
With this, Rashad becomes animated again, talking about the many diverse projects of PRASAD, from relief for tsunami and hurricane victims to the cleaning and maintenance of wells in socioeconomically depressed areas “because of the high rate of infant deaths due to unclean drinking water.”
Whether she is talking about roof repair in remote villages or a mobile hospital that delivers care to people who would otherwise receive no medical attention, the actress and activist casually reveals that she is not just well-briefed on this work—she has seen it firsthand. She has been part of it.
“I have been on that van, been privileged to serve milk to school children and seen up close that some of the simplest ailments can be avoided with just a little help from us,” she says, noting vitamin-fortified milk as a small effort that reaps great rewards.
Most of all, Rashad seems pleased that PRASAD’s work is done in such a way that all recipients of help retain their dignity and that they have an opportunity to become a bit more self-sufficient. For instance, a microlending program “encourages women to start their own businesses so they can provide a better life for their children, which lifts the lives of the whole community….It’s a great cycle and we can help them help themselves change it.
“It is truly the gift that carries blessings,” she says, again evoking the Sanskrit word Prasad. “It’s really heartwarming to see when people approach people with the dignity that is inherent in every human being. When people are doing this kind of work because they are people too. There is nothing high-falutin’ associated with this. There are no grand postures being assumed. You do it because you are a human being and you do it with enthusiasm.”
We proceed to talk about several great Atlanta AIDS service organizations with which she is familiar, but wend our way back to “Mother Hale,” who Rashad reminds me, “began that beautiful program in New York for babies being born with AIDS. People used to volunteer just to come in and hold them. Just to go there and hold these children because babies need to be held because one woman could not hold them all—but she tried!”
She references the work of what is today Hale House Center as a way of making a point that seemingly small efforts can make a huge difference, and that everyone has something they can do. “We owe it to ourselves to really educate ourselves about this disease,” Rashad says.
“I would suggest that, in whichever community we are living, we seek to find organizations that are already providing services in counseling, nutrition, childcare…whatever, and add what we can to it. Do whatever
you can do as an individual. As people, we can make so much progress in simple-but-powerful ways that serve and protect the future.”
And, with that, she thanks us again and sweeps out the door, leaving an atmosphere that is…enthused and hopeful.
To find out more about The PRASAD Project, visit www.prasad.org.
Atlanta stylist Richie Arpino was on hand for Ms. Rashad’s hair and makeup. Visit him on the Web at www.arpinosalon.com.
B. Andrew Plant is an Atlanta-based freelance writer and is Editor at Large of A&U. He interviewed Anthony Azizi for the March issue.
December 2006
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