Queen Sugars’, Kofi Siriboe and Rep. Maxine Waters cover the “Everybody Who Gave Us Life” year in review edition of Essence Magazine.
Inside the mag, Siriboe talks playing Ralph Angel on Queen Sugar, and gaining a deeper understanding of his African roots.
On playing Ralph Angel:
“He was with his son and about to rob a liquor store, but I didn’t see him as aggressive. I just thought he was broken. Even though I have not been incarcerated and don’t have a son, I remember a time when I felt broken. I also know what it’s like to try so hard and feel as if the world is against you.”
On his African roots:
“In first grade I was asked ‘What’s your favorite food?’ I said, ‘Fufu,’ and everybody laughed. I also remember asking my teacher not to say my full name, Nana-Kofi [Nana means’ ‘son of kings’]. Last year I went to Kumasi, in Ghana, for the first time and met the king, whose real name is Nana.”
“I didn’t always understand the roots that are woven into my name, but that realization is happening now.”
Rep. Maxine Waters, has been fighting for us in Washington D.C. for years, and that would explain why when she delivered those now-famous words, “I’M RECLAIMING MY TIME!” in a House Financial Services committee hearing when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin tried to filibuster her, as she says, “it’s the regular order of business.”
“It’s [the] regular order of business,” she told political commentator Angela Rye inside the publication. “I think it was important for me to let him know that he couldn’t get away with that.”
“I have a strong sense of what’s fair and what’s not fair, and for vulnerable people who are being taken advantage of, or who are being bullied or intimidated, I tend to want to be protective or to fight for them.”
“I want to be remembered as a courageous fighter.”
Now that’s how you close out a year!
You can pick up the Dec/Jan issue of Essence magazine on newsstands this week.
