Saturday, January 30, 2021

In Her Words: Cicely Tyson

The legendary actress
Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times

By David Marchese

"I smile when I feel like smiling, and I don't when I do not."

— Cicely Tyson, the actress

The actress Cicely Tyson died on Thursday. She was 96.

Ms. Tyson had a remarkable career that spanned seven decades. She refused to accept roles that demeaned Black people and urged other Black actors to do the same. Her shattering of racial stereotypes in the 1970s propelled her to stardom and fame, our writer notes in Ms. Tyson's obituary. She won Emmys, a Tony, an honorary Oscar and multiple awards from civil rights and women's groups.

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Just days before she died, The New York Times Magazine published a Q&A with Ms. Tyson to coincide with the publication of her memoir, "Just As I Am."

Today, In Her Words brings you an excerpt from that conversation.

You're 96 years old. You've had a full life. What advice do you have about how to do that?

Oh, I don't know that I can say it now. Maybe at the end of the interview.

A cliffhanger!

That's right. It makes sure you stay with me.

I like it. Let me ask a question that has to do with race and acting. You remember Pauline Kael, the feisty and influential longtime film critic for The New Yorker?

She also had an essay about "Jane Pittman," and I want to read you something from it. She wrote: "I'm comparing Tyson to the highest, because that's the comparison she invites and has earned. She isn't there, but she's on her way. She's great, but she will be even greater when she can relax and smile without feeling she's Uncle Tomming." That's a pretty big, fraught assumption Ms. Kael was making, that you were playing to racial perceptions. What do you think about that?

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That's a surprise! I don't Uncle Tom to anybody. I don't care who it is. When I smile, I smile. I do not grin. There's a difference, OK? And I would say that to Jesus, do you understand? White people always think that when Black people smile a lot or laugh a lot, they're being Uncle Tom to white folks. Well, that is not me. Absolutely not me. I smile when I feel like smiling, and I don't when I do not.

But what about Ms. Kael's fundamental assumption? That your characterizations were informed by off-the-screen racial dynamics. Did you ever approach your work on those terms?

No. I never worried about what people think about my performances. I work internally, and then when I'm not working on a character, I don't think about them at all.

In your book, you write about some problematic people who were in your life. One is Bill Cosby, with whom you were close. But in the book, you don't mention what has happened with him over the past few years or how you feel about it. Are you comfortable sharing your perspective on that?

I think about it all the time. To tell you the truth, I can't believe it. We were close. Miles and I were married in his home, you know? It's hard for me to talk about, because I don't know this person that is incarcerated and I never experienced anything that resembled the behavior that he is incarcerated for. I don't know that person of whom they speak.

What does it say about human nature that this person you were close to had this other side?

That you don't know anybody. You think you know them, but you don't. I mean, that a person could have a personality so far removed from the one that you know? How can you account for it? You can't.

At your age, you must think about death now and then. Does it scare you?

I'm not scared of death. I don't know what it is. How could I be afraid of something I don't know anything about?

It's something a lot of people are scared of.

They just think they know death because other people say it is something to be scared of, but they don't know that it is a frightening thing. Do you?

Nope.

No, you don't know what it is. People say it is this and it is that. But they don't know. They've not been there. I've not been there. I'm not in a hurry to go, either! I take it a day at a time, David, and I'm grateful for every day that God gives me.

What's the most interesting thing about being your age?

Holding on to your mentality. I have known a few people who lost it, and that to me is the saddest thing in the world. Because when you can look at your child and say, "Who are you?" or "What's your name?" — that's the worst that can happen to anybody. I can't believe this medical science that looks at trying to give you more time when you don't know who you are, don't know who your children are, do not know anything. What's the point?

Can we go back to the cliffhanger?

I can tell you now: To thine own self be true.

That's what you left me hanging for? I mean, it's good advice but —

Yes, that's what it is. Do that, and you'll have no regrets.

Have you ever not been true to yourself?

I have tried not to. [Laughs.]

I think I'm confused by the double negative. Does that mean —

You didn't get that did you?

I don't think I did.

[Laughs.] I know it is confusing. Follow me, David.

You're just playing with me now. Help me out.

It's simple. I try always to be true to myself. I learned from my mom: ''Don't lie ever, no matter how bad it is. Don't lie to me ever, OK? You will be happier that you told the truth.'' That has stayed with me, and it will stay with me for as long as I'm lucky enough to be here.

Read the full conversation here.

Write to us at inherwords@nytimes.com.

What else is happening

Here are three articles from The Times you may have missed.

Lenka Perron, a former QAnon supporter.Erin Kirkland for The New York Times
  • "Someone is having fun at our expense." What will happen to the followers of conspiracy theories that bend Americans' perceptions of reality? We follow one woman's journey out of QAnon. [Read the story]
  • "Why shouldn't I run? New York City's a mess, and we need to save it." Barbara Kavovit, entrepreneur and occasional "Real Housewives" friend, is running for mayor of New York City. [Read the story]
  • "If you do not speak, you leave an upside-down world." In France, Camille Kouchner is pushing the country to a painful reckoning with incest, and with the elites who excuse one another's sins. [Read the story]

In Conversation: Julia Gillard

Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia in 2019.Lukas Coch/EPA, via Shutterstock

Please join the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society and The New York Times for a conversation between Julia Gillard, 27th prime minister of Australia, chair of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership and Francesca Donner, the editor of In Her Words, as they discuss Ms. Gillard's new book, Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons and what political leadership could look like in a post-Covid era.

Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 2.30 p.m. ET

In Her Words is edited by Francesca Donner. Our art director is Catherine Gilmore-Barnes, and our photo editor is Sandra Stevenson.

Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here to get future installments. Write to us at inherwords@nytimes.com. Follow us on Instagram at @nytgender.

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On Politics: Trump’s Shadow Lingers Over a Divided G.O.P.

In Washington, Republicans seem more focused on attacking those who break with the former president
Author Headshot

By Lisa Lerer

Politics Newsletter Writer

Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your wrap-up of the week in national politics. I'm Lisa Lerer, your host.

Illustration by Antonio de Luca

In the days after the attack on the Capitol, hopes began rising among some Republicans that their party would make a clean break fromfrom Donald J. Trump once he was no longer president.

The speculation wasn't all the fault of Twitter punditry: Even Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader at the time, seemed to stoke the idea, carefully nudging his party toward an impeachment trial.

Well, Mr. Trump has now left Washington. And, yet, Republicans remain scared of his shadow.

As the former president putts around Mar-a-Lago, the vast majority of his party has stayed faithful to his lingering political legacy.

The Senate hasn't even begun Mr. Trump's second impeachment trial and an acquittal already appears preordained. This week, 45 of 50 Republicans in the Senate backed an objection raised by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, arguing that trying an ex-president would be unconstitutional — essentially trying to invalidate the entire process.

The party's rush to judgment is even more surprising given that Senate Republicans are all witnesses, as well as jurors, in this trial. Most were in the chamber during the attack, eventually fleeing to shelter within the Capitol complex. A few could even be considered co-defendants for stoking the baseless claims about election fraud that incited the riot.

Of course, new information about the attacks could emerge, prompting Senate Republicans to change their mind about the former president's culpability. But while the country still reels from the bitter division, baseless claims and armed militias that marked the last election, politicians have already begun casting their eyes to the next one.

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In the House, the 10 Republicans who supported impeachment face primary challenges, censures and other rebukes from their party. Others who offered mild criticism of Mr. Trump's role in the attack are now trying to hustle their way back into his good graces. Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader and a staunch Trump ally, notably added a stop at Mar-a-Lago to his schedule during a fund-raising swing through Palm Beach, Fla. — an effort to try to repair his relationship with the former president.

A third group is expected to opt out of the dance all together. Some senior Republicans worry that Senator Rob Portman's surprise announcement that he would not seek a third term in Ohio could be a harbinger, as more mainstream members grow weary of navigating the G.O.P.'s rightward shift. As Mr. Portman put it: "This is a tough time to be in public service."

There was always reason to be skeptical of the idea that the right would sever its ties to the divisiveness and conspiracy mongering that defined Mr. Trump's tenure. Mr. Trump conquered not only the presidency but also Republicanism, shifting the ideology of the party and taking over large swaths of the national, state and local infrastructure. Trumpism, after all, is largely an extension of his unique blend of populist impulses, resentment politics and cultural division. Even if a number of Republicans in Congress turned their backs on the former president, their party would remain behind him.

So far, that's what seems to be happening: Recent polling by Monmouth University found the party standing firmly behind the former president, with 72 percent of Republicans still attributing President Biden's victory to voter fraud.

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There's little sign of any effort from Republican elected officials to try to unwind the damage done by that kind of conspiratorial thinking. In Washington, Republicans seem more focused on attacking those who break with Mr. Trump, than members who continue to push violent conspiracy theories that flourished under his leadership.

"Cut the crap," Mr. McCarthy warned his members in a phone call this week, as some in his caucus were trying to oust Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, who voted to impeach Mr. Trump, from her leadership position.

Notably, there's been no similar effort to eject Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who was vocal about her support for the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, after news broke that she repeatedly indicated support for executing prominent Democratic politicians and mocked the killing of students in school shootings.

A short-term decision to accommodate Mr. Trump and his baseless charges may not define the party's fortunes in the long run.

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There's plenty that will happen over the next two years and it's impossible to predict how much votes on impeachment today will matter tomorrow. But clearly, most Republicans are eager to send some early signals to their base and one newly retired Floridian.

Drop us a line!

We want to hear from our readers. Have a question? We'll try to answer it. Have a comment? We're all ears. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com or follow me on Twitter at @llerer

Jim Jordan, Trump loyalist, decides not to run for Ohio Senate seat.

Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, who was Mr. Trump's foremost defender in his House impeachment proceedings, has decided not to run for an open seat being vacated by the retirement of Mr. Portman, in 2022, an aide said Thursday.

"Mr. Jordan believes that at this time he is better suited to represent Ohioans in the House of Representatives, where, as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, he can advance an America first agenda, promote conservative values and hold big government accountable," Russell Dye, a spokesman for Mr. Jordan's congressional campaign, said.

Mr. Jordan's high-profile defense of Mr. Trump made him widely considered to be the Republican with the best chance to win Ohio's 2022 Senate primary. While more than a half-dozen other Ohio Republicans are weighing Senate bids to replace Mr. Portman, none has the national profile or Trump bona fides of Mr. Jordan, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom five days after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

Mr. Jordan has long had ambitions to lead House Republicans and has hoped to become speaker if his party takes a majority in the chamber after the 2022 elections. But the conservative firebrand lost a bid for minority leader to Representative Kevin McCarthy of California following the 2018 elections.

Mr. Jordan's decision not to run was first reported by The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

Ohio Democrats who have expressed interest in running for the Senate include Representative Tim Ryan, who was among the early field of candidates vying to unseat Mr. Trump in 2020; Mayor Nan Whaley of Dayton, who is also considering running for governor in 2022; and Dr. Amy Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health, who received encouragement on Twitter from Connie Schultz, the wife of Ohio's other senator, Sherrod Brown.

Mr. Portman is one of three Republican senators who has said he will not seek re-election in 2022. Senators Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania and Richard M. Burr of North Carolina are also retiring, leaving the party to defend three seats in what are expected to be competitive states next year. That list could grow. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has not yet said whether he will seek a third term, nor have Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who is 87, or Richard Shelby of Alabama, who is 86.

Senators Mark Kelly of Arizona and Raphael Warnock of Georgia — two Democrats who joined the chamber after winning special elections — will face voters again in 2022 for full six-year terms.

— Reid Epstein, national politics reporter

By the numbers: 54 percent

… That's the percentage of Americans who approve of Mr. Biden's performance at the start of his term, according to a survey by Monmouth University.

… Seriously

What do you wear in -54°F? One little girl has the answer!

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