Im supposed to be somewherebarbecuing, he chides me in mock accusation.
I make a run at deflect.
Hey, listen, I didnt choose this date!
which, of course, is true.
Withcelebritiesof his stature, you sort of take the dates their teams offer.
Yes, you did, you wanted this, he teases me, deadpan.
And it was here that I understood one thing about Samuel L. Jackson.
If he makes a joke, its because its something that maybe needs saying.
In other words, hes a little impish.
Jacksons oeuvre is as varied as the hairstyles hes sported in hisfilms.
But he has little shame about doing what might generously be called lighter fare.
His list of one-star movies is longer than most actors entire IMDb pages.
He famously agreed to doSnakes on a Planebecause he liked the title.
Jackson was summarily shipped off to live with relatives inLos Angeles.
Fewer and fewer people are alive who experienced segregation firsthand.
What was that like?
It was a village.
I could go to different places in town and be safe because people knew who I was.
And they were safer with us than we were with them.
And they knew I had to go to college.
That was the expectation.
I knew what a subject and a predicate were and all that other stuff.
They protected us, and they gave us the information we needed to go into the world.
They gave us our history too.
Her mom was a slave.
Tell me more about her.
She worked for white people.
One year, I didnt write a thank-you card fast enough, and they asked for one.
They said, Pearl, did Sam get that gift we gave?
Shes like, Yes, he did.
