For Sanaa, it’s as plain as black and white
Let go, let flow.
That’s the theme of the romantic comedy “Something New,” starring Sanaa Lathan as an affluent black woman who falls in love with her white landscaper.
And in many ways that’s the theme of Lathan’s personal love life as well. The single, 34-year-old actress talks about interracial dating, on screen and in real life.
Q. Why did you decide to take this role?
A. We have not seen an interracial issue dealt with from a black woman and white man’s perspective in this way. … I loved the fact that it wasn’t about the couple being against the world or the couple against the family. I loved the fact that it was her dealing with her own prejudices that came up, her own guilt, her own shame and embarrassment about what her peers thought.
Q. Have you been involved in an interracial relationship?
A. I’ve been in a couple with different races like Latino, white, Middle Eastern.
Q. Did you find any major differences between the cultures?
A. Yeeesss, there is. There really is a difference. But you know what? Everybody is different. I can think of three black men I’ve dated, and they couldn’t be more different from each other.
Q. How does your family or friends react when you date someone who is different from you?
A. I remember after I dated this white man, nobody said anything, but there was a couple of men in my family that joked after that, ‘Oh yeah, we had a party when y’all broke up. Hee hee hee.’ And, you know, they laughed, and it was like light and a joke. But, you know, that’s real. That was real and they let me know.
Q. Do you think interracial dating is on the rise for black women, particularly black professional women?
A. I think that has to be, it has to happen, if we don’t want to be alone. … (T)he inspiration for this movie was this Newsweek article that came out a couple of years ago that talks about 42.4 percent of black women in America aren’t married. Black women are shooting up the corporate ladder way faster than our black male counterparts. And (black men) are either dating outside their race, in jail or dying. And so if you want to have a family, you want to be married, you have to look at other options.
The birthday bunch
Comedian Red Buttons is 87. Actress Charlotte Rampling is 60. Actress Barbara Hershey is 58. Actor/director Christopher Guest is 58. Actor Tim Meadows is 45. Actress Jennifer Jason Leigh is 44. Actress Laura Linney is 42. Singer Bobby Brown is 37. Country singer Sara Evans is 35. Actor Jeremy Sumpter (“Peter Pan”) is 17.