As Lynn stop looms, Gossett Jr. speaks out on society’s woes

LYNN – Like many people, Academy Award-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. is expecting the country to turn right politically when they go to the polls today.Gossett, a longtime Democrat and activist who will be coming to Lynn next week as part of his Eracism Foundation, believes Republicans have made some inroads with the electorate.”I think they’re going to go a little more right wing,” Gossett said during a wide-ranging telephone interview on Monday. “I think they’ve (Republicans) swayed the people’s feelings away from Barack Obama and he walked into the White House inheriting a lot of problems.”But he believes Obama will recover in time to win re-election in 2012.Regardless of the election’s outcome, all of us have to change the way we’re living, Gossett said.”Financially, life cannot be the way it is or the way it was,” Gossett said. “We do have to sacrifice to keep as one country. We have to get used to having less trappings of success and sharing with one another. The secret is you get what you give.”Gossett will speak to about 2,000 middle-school students at the Lynn Auditorium on Nov. 9 at 10 a.m.The 74-year-old actor, who won an Academy award for his role as Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” said even as a young-and-upcoming actor he faced racism.Gossett recalled how Universal Studios flew him out to Hollywood in 1968 to star in the first movie of the week that it made.The Brooklyn-raised actor remembers being treated “like a king,” on his flight out and how the studio rented him a Ford Fairlane to drive while he was in Beverly Hills.But things changed dramatically once he got behind the wheel.”I put Sam Cook on the radio and started driving and it took four-and-a-half hours to get to my hotel,” Gossett said. “I got stopped by every policeman on the way to the hotel.”The ride should have taken 45 minutes, Gossett said.Later, when like any other tourist he went to see the stars’ homes, a cop handcuffed him to a tree for three hours.”They just couldn’t believe a black man would have a car like that,” Gossett said. “I think they thought I was a pimp.”Gossett said the issue of race relations is now dealt with out in the open, which he considers a “very healthy thing.””If you can get young people before they’ve formed their ideas ? that’s the key,” Gossett said.The actor said racism “is like a disease,” and by reaching children at a young age and teaching them to “practice being successful together,” it will eventually become a thing of the past.”I talk about creating a society where racism isn’t allowed to exist,” Gossett said.Likewise, his Eracism Foundation works to reach out to gang members and show them there’s another way to lead their lives.”We can’t blame those kids, because no one taught them it’s wrong,” Gossett said. “The gangs are their families and they’re very faithful to one another.”It was Gossett’s appearance in the landmark miniseries “Roots” that first brought him to the attention of many Americans.Gossett played “The Fiddler,” in the 1977 miniseries that told the story of a black American’s family journey from slavery to freedom.In the days when there were only three major networks, it’s hard to overstate the impact the series had on the nation.”It was overwhelming, it had an overwhelming impact. It stopped the nation and the world,” Gossett said.But ironically, Gossett maintains that the number of African-American actors hired for movies and television roles initially dropped after the miniseries premiered.And Gossett said despite significant improvements compared to the way things used to be, Hollywood still does not cast enough African-Americans in movies and television roles.He believes Hollywood still punishes actors like him who speak out to bring attention to the problem.Despite his long career, Gossett said most of the movies he’s appearing in now are low-budget films.”I’m never considered for the roles like Denzel’s uncle or Denzel’s father or whatever,” Gossett said.Asked w