- So, is it true that when you won,
I just found this out,
that when you were nominated for your first Tony Award,
you didn't even know what a Tony was?
- No, no. That's, that's a true story.
You know the Tony Awards are the big, prestigious award
that they give every year. - [Kelly] Yeah.
- And you know, I got in this business for work.
You know, I wanted a job,
and I didn't go following award shows
and things of that nature, so,
I'm doing "Jesus Christ Superstar"
and the knock comes on the door,
and the guy says, "Mr. Vereen, you have an envelope."
I said, "Give me the envelope." He goes like this.
I said, "Give me the envelope."
Man says, "No. This is The Envelope!"
I said, "Yeah, yeah. Just give me that damn envelope!"
(Kelly laughs) (audience laughing)
- I take the envelope. - It's mine!
- I'm reading it, right?
And I'm realizing it's from a guy named Tony.
(audience chuckles) (Kelly laughs)
So, so I turned to this guy and I go,
"Who's Tony?" (Kelly giggles)
- And why does he love me so much?
- "And, what does he want?"
And then I read it,
and found out these are my peers.
Who said you got something,
and matter of fact I have that letter today.
There's tears on the, on the letter.
- Oh, that's so cool. - Yeah.
'Cause you, you get it that, you know,
you're in this, you don't think about it
'cause we do it because we love what we do.
- Yeah! - You know, you just,
you know, what you do. - And you're just hustling,
you're grinding, you're doing it.
- It's part of you doing your thing,
you're doing your thing.
And then somebody says, "Hey you got something."
Now I'm just a kid from Brooklyn.
I was like, "Wow, they like me?"
- Oh that, it is cool.
It's not about the awards, I always say that.
- [Ben] No it's not. - Like, it's not about it,
but it is validating to like,
you know, do all this hard work,
and then somebody'd be like, "That was pretty good."
- Yeah, yeah. - That's nice.
- Yeah, your peers saying, "Yeah, you got something there."
- Did you always wanna do Broadway? Were you always?
- Uh, I wanted to do employment.
(Kelly laughs) You know?
- Me too. - Yeah, yeah?
- I was looking to pay that electric bill.
- I didn't, I really didn't set out
in my beginning to do Broadway.
'Cause I didn't know what Broadway was all about.
I'm this kid from Brooklyn
running around the streets, you know,
learning how to dance and running from the cops.
You know? (chuckles)
Somebody knows, yeah. - It's a different movie?
(both chuckling) - Somebody knows.
And somebody said to me one day,
"Why don't you go to the High School for Performing Arts?"
And I said, "Okay, cool." I said, "Where is it?"
He said, "It's in Manhattan."
In those days you said Manhattan,
I thought I needed a passport
to get over to Manhattan. (Kelly giggles)
I mean I was like, "Oh, okay."
And I would go to the school,
and I see dancers for the first time.
And I was like, "Wow, wow! There's another world out here.
It's called the Arts."
I fell in love. - And it's called opportunity
too, for kids that love the Arts you know?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - That's a great opportunity.
Not every kid gets that.
- I had some great people to teach me,
and learned from some fantastic people.
A woman named, Dr. Rachael Yocom,
was the principal in the dance department.
She saw me there with all these dancers
and I was just sitting there with my Bermuda shorts on,
and my US kid sneakers, and my t-shirt,
and a little skinny-brim hat, and I was sitting,
and made up a little dance to "Killer Joe" by Quincy Jones.
I'm sitting there, get up and do my little dance
and I get up in front of the people and I do my little
♪ Daaa-da-daa-da-daa-da-da ♪
I thought it was very cool, right?
But I didn't know the people sitting at the table
were people like Martha Graham
and George Balanchine,
and all the greats of that time.
- Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
- I didn't know who they were,
they were just a bunch of white people.
- Yeah (cackles). (audience laughs)
- I was just doing my thing, you know?
- Who are these people? - And I come off stage
and she said, "How'd you do?" I said, "I did a'ight."
She said, "What's your name?" I said, "Benjamin."
She said, "What?" I said, "Benjamin."
She said, "You mean Benjamin?"
I said, "Yeah, Benjamin. What's wrong with you?"
- (chuckles) Do you, do you hear me?
- Yeah, I tried to. - Is this thing on?
- She said, "Would you like to go to school?"
I said, "A'ight!" - A'ight? (laughs)
- Here I am, folks. (chuckles) - I love that!
(audience applauding and cheering)
One of the things that you're best known for
is your role in the miniseries "Roots."
- Yes. - And, I mean,
that changed people's lives.
Now, I will tell you this,
I didn't tell you this when I saw you.
But like, that is the,
that is how I found out about slavery.
- [Ben] Really? - And it was horrible.
It was in sixth grade,
it was in Mr. Pesnell's class, and he showed us.
It was like science class.
I didn't even know what we were watching,
but he played it and we watched it,
and I was just, it destroyed me.
It was like, I think, I feel like it was
the day that like the whole innocence was gone
'cause I was like, "Oh, there's like pure evil."
- Yeah. - Like there's,
and I had no idea before that,
that that existed.
- Well, what's so sad is that slavery
still goes on today. - I know.
- And it was so wonderful to be able to be a part of that.
I remember when Alex wrote that book.
I was, I used to go out with a singer, song and dance man,
which, I still consider myself a song and dance man.
And I heard about this book, and I called my agent.
I said, "I wanna be a part of this book."
Because when I was growing up in school
there was only one paragraph,
you were a slave and Lincoln freed you.
I said, "No, that's not the whole truth,
and this guy has written the truth."
He went back to his home in Africa
and came across on a freighter
to assimilate what it must have been like
to be in that ship.
And I said, "I wanna be a part of this story,
to tell our history."
And so anyway, he said, he looked at me and he said,
"Ben," he said, "you're, you, oh come on, man!
You're a song and dance man. They're looking for actors."
He said, "Don't, don't even think about it."
So I go to Chicago, and I'm doing my show in Chicago
and there was opening,
a group was opening for it called Sister Sledge.
- Yeah. Oh, Yeah! - These little girls
with their song.
And so I go down to Savannah, Georgia to do the show,
and they used to do a character called black,
in blackface called Bert Williams.
Which is a true story,
Black people weren't allowed on stage in America
unless we blacked up, at one point, in America.
- Yeah. - So I was telling our story,
and after the show was over,
this guy comes backstage and he says to me,
"Uh, we're here in Savannah shooting 'Roots,'
and I want you to be my Chicken George."
And that's how I got the show.
- That's ah, that, it's- (audience clapping)
it's just such an amazing thing
to love acting, to love what you do,
but to also be a part of something
that's- - That's history.
- so historical- - It touches people's lives.
- that's so, and it changes people's lives.
- Touches peoples lives.
It does! - For better or worse,
you know, 'cause it definitely destroyed me.
- And for me, I got the opportunity, Kelly,
to go back to Gambia, and actually stand in the cell
where Black people were enslaved and caged.
I mean, this, the cage is no bigger than right here.
And hundreds of people, sitting in there like this,
were stuffed in there.
It was called the door of no return.
At that time was it called St. James Island.
Because of an actor who goes down,
a painter went down and talked to the government,
they changed it to Kunta Kinte Island.
That's where they called it the door of no return.
Where we, and I stood in the cell where Kunta Kinte stood.
And I put my hand on the wall and tears came down.
I said, "This is my wailing wall, Lord."
This is where we, cried and, you know,
it's where we suffered.
And it was quite an experience.
I think everyone should,
if you have the opportunity, to do that.
I mean, my Jewish brothers and sisters do it in Israel.
But in Gambia, right there on Kunta Kinte Island,
for us African Americans,
the wailing wall, right there.
- And I can't even imagine
like what that, what it felt like.
- And may you never have to imagine.
And may our children never have to imagine again.
- Yeah. And you know- - Again.
- You know how- - You know, it's important
that we, that we realize
this thing is not about you being Black,
you being white, you being yellow, red.
No! It's a God thing.
You see God's bouquet is all sorts of beautiful colors.
And once we realize that,
we'll begin to realize the divinity within us
and the love that exists.
- Yeah, I love that, God's bouquet.
- Yes! We're all God's bouquet.
There's no difference,
I mean, we are breathing the same air,
and call it God, Allah, Buddha, Jesus,
whatever you wanna call the Great Divine,
it exists, but only exists when you recognize it,
and you and me, you and me.
- Absolutely. - You and me.
(audience clapping) - And I wanted to say, too,
it was amazing 'cause it,
it taught like, for such a young kid like me,
and I think all kids, honestly,
it's a tragic thing to watch,
but it's a tragic thing that happened, so.
- Oh, you must watch it.
You must watch it. - But you have to,
and it, and it was cool 'cause it,
it actually taught me compassion, empathy,
all these things. - Yes.
- You know, not just the negative things.
It was all these things of like,
"Oh my gosh, this can exist."
- Yes! - And it's good
that you see that, so we don't repeat it.
- Yes, yes. - And we don't continue it
where it's happening now.
- I constantly say,
"If you don't know where you came from, you don't know
where you're going." - Where you're going, yeah.
- You might repeat the same thing over and over again.
And a lot of that's happening today.
- That's insanity. (laughs) - Today, it's happening today
because we forgot who we are.
You see, we think we're human beings having,
seeking for a spiritual experience.
No, we're spiritual beings having a human experience.
- Oh, my. Write that book!
- [Ben] Ah! - Yeah!
- You know, once you realize- - Oh, my God!
- that we're all spiritual beings
having a human experience,
then we begin to recognize each other
as spiritual beings.
And stop looking at each other as, as,
as race or, or different genders.
No, you're my brother, you're my sister,
you're me, I'm you.
I see you, I see me in your eyes. We are one.
- I love that. (audience clapping)
- We are one. (audience cheering)