Raymond has the same sort of swag
that Obama might have.
(laughing)
"Our Kind of People,"
the book is a documentary
about the so called black elite.
They are a very small,
although widespread in this country community,
of very wealthy people who have been wealthy
over a number of generations.
Our series takes place in Martha's Vineyard,
which is where a lot of these
folks vacation for the summer.
The series essentially is about black women
and about black generational wealth.
I mean, with all due respect,
we are not a series like "Raisin in the Sun."
This series is more about
raising our sons and daughters
in the sun of generational
wealth and opportunity.
And, I think that's what's
so provocative about it.
Unless you do a lot of reading
it's going to be an awakening
for so many people, I think.
Don't you?
I agree.
I think what's great about the series
is we've not seen this before.
I mean, I think a lot of what television
and film portrays in terms of black people
are black people in struggle,
either struggle to just get
their heads above water,
or struggle with equality
in this country.
Struggle because they're in poverty
or whatever it is.
And this is a group of people
who did all of that many, many years ago.
I mean folks have been coming
to Martha's Vineyard since the late 1800s
and they found ways through education
and through accomplishment
to overcome the racial convenance
that were sort of put in place
that they found ways to go around
or go under, or go over.
The Vineyard being one of them.
When people first started coming
to the vineyard,
there were no hotels
for black folks to stay at.
So originally what happened was,
you'd go to the vineyard
and you'd spend time in somebody's house
and you'd have a party in their backyard.
And, this grew and grew and grew
until finally, a lot of people,
black folks who lived in Boston or Philadelphia
or New York, or even as far away as Chicago
started coming to the vineyard
to celebrate and relax in,
as I say, their generational wealth.
And this is such a provocative thing right now.
I think the timing of this show is so great
because there's a national conversation
about us being aware of our collective history
in this country and uncovering all the layers
of this and this is such a different tact to that.
I think that what happens
is when we think about slavery
and all of those kinds of things,
the thing that we forget
is that a lot of those men and women
who were brought over from Africa,
they had skills.
Some of them had raised produce and crops.
Some of them had dealt with livestock.
Some of them had worked with metal or leather.
And then when they got here,
they were either put in the house
or put in the field,
and they used those skills
to make themselves be noticed.
As we've all heard,
its knowing where you come from
certainly helps knowing certainly
where you're going.
You also direct in some of these episodes,
is that true?
And how do you enjoy that?
I'm in prep now for episode seven,
I love directing.
I directed on "Scandal"
and I've directed on other shows
that have been on.
I sort of love it.
I mean for me,
you know as an actor your sort
of concerned with your story
on any particular episode.
As the director,
you're concerned with the whole story.
And, I'm the kind of director
who is completely collaborative,
so I want to hear from the actors
and I want to hear from every department head
in terms of what they can contribute to the episode.
And, I supposed because it's Martha's Vineyard
there are the natural assumptions
that Morris Chestnut's character in this
is very President Obama like.
(laughing)
You've been on the inside of that.
Is Morris, I hope I can ask him directly soon.
But, is he using Obama as any sort
of frame of reference
and do you find that?
(laughing)
You know, I kind of spoke to him
about that last night.
I think he is certainly feels complimented
that people think that's kind of what's going on.
What happened was I think they way
the character was described
was that Raymond has the same sort of swag
that Obama might have.
(laughing)
What a great way of putting it.
Certainly Morris does all of that.
He has all of that.
But when I asked him about playing Obama
or using Obama as a kind
of resource for the character,
He said not in this case.
But, he was very, very complimented
by what people are saying.
Yeah, how could you not be flattered, right?
That's pretty good company.
(wand swooshing)