Centering the Margins: Gabrielle Union Speaks on Racial Equity, Trans Visibility, and Advocating for Change
By Leo Adam Biga
Gabrielle Union/depositphotos: Ron Harvey
Identity and equity advocacy cut close to the hearts of Omaha-native Gabrielle Union and husband Dwyane Wade. The Hollywood power couple intersect in the domains of entertainment and sport owing to Union’s work as a screen actress-producer (Being Mary Jane, L.A.’s Finest), Wade’s legendary NBA career (three-time world champion) and their many entrepreneurial pursuits.
The pair leverage their high-profiles to deliver a loud and proud message of inclusion resonating nationally and locally with the LGBTQ+ community and other disenfranchised groups. That message is amplified amid the ongoing pandemic and social justice movement.
“Those of us with privilege, means, and resources have to not only shine a light on those disparities but actually contribute to rectifying the situation,” Union told NOISE.
“If you’re a person of privilege and means and you’re okay with disparity for your fellow human beings, then you are part of the problem and system we are actively fighting against. I live amongst folks of privilege and means who are very open and active in closing those gaps and using their voice and platform to scream from the rooftops that we cannot leave anyone behind. There’s no one we should be willing to sacrifice, not to COVID, not for social justice, not for maternal health. We shouldn’t be comfortable sacrificing any part of our population.”
Last fall that message turned personal when the couple publicly embraced their trans daughter Zaya in posts and interviews. On Twitter, Union said: “She’s compassionate, loving, whip smart. It’s okay to listen to, love, and respect your children exactly as they are.” The couple earlier supported her attendance at the Miami Pride parade and defended her wearing acrylic nails in a family photo.
In a recent NOISE interview covering identity and justice issues, Union confirmed she finds Zaya courageous and inspiring, “Seeing the beauty of living your full truth is probably the biggest thing I’ve learned from Zaya. I’ve learned just how many of us in this world are not living our truest and most authentic lives. So many of us behave and make decisions and identity based on fear.”
“Conformity pressures can cause individuals to conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity and thus feel less than whole, which is why unconditional acceptance is necessary,” Union said. “Older folks marvel we’ve created this space for her to exist in full freedom and feel sad they didn’t have those spaces to create the lives rooted in truth and authenticity that this next generation has,” she added, “Adhering to society rules is not always what is in our soul’s best interest. A lot of us get to the end of the line and realize we’ve lived a life we never wanted and were never passionate about because it was not true to what was in our heart.”
Union concedes she and her loved ones have had to check some attitudes in order to be more accepting of differences.
“Both sides of our family are deeply religious. What we’ve seen with our own family is an unlearning of some of the oppressive doctrines used to oppress marginalized communities.”
To be woke, she said, means “releasing the more harmful discriminatory thinking that me and a lot of people subscribed to and didn’t think twice about.”
“It shouldn’t take someone living their full truth and being a part of your family or friends. These are things that should be spoken on across the board for all of us to live our most authentic, true lives. But rarely does that happen. As parents, we think the best way to keep our child safe, to ensure a successful, happy healthy life, is for them to be a twin of you or to do exactly as you say to do.”
One’s “very essence,” she said, is for the child to determine, not the parent. “Most often we like to think of ourselves as having made all the right decisions and we want our children to follow our footsteps and be mini-versions of us. But part of that is just ego and feeling like our kids are our property, and that comes from history. We need to break with that line of thinking.”
The couple sent another message of acceptance by paying for Texas teenager DeAndre Arnold and his mother to attend the 2020 Academy Awards in February after Arnold was suspended from school for wearing dreadlocks. Union and Wade are part of the producing team behind the short film Hair Love about a black father tending to his daughter’s natural hair. The film won the Oscar for best animated short, with Holland sharing the red carpet spotlight.
Leaning into differences for inclusion rather than holding them at bay for exclusion, Union said, is where all of society needs to move in order to be more democratic.
“I would challenge us to enlighten ourselves and to unlearn a lot of the things used to oppress us because we should not then use these same prejudices to oppress anyone else.”
In April, the couple made another proactive gesture by donating through the CAA Foundation (the philanthropic arm of Creative Artists Agency, which represents the couple) to five healthcare operations around the country, including Omaha-based OneWorld Community Health Centers. The major donation targets care for the LGBTQ+ community during the coronavirus pandemic. Donation recipients such as OneWorld scored high in the Healthcare Equality Index of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
“We’ve been partnering with the HRC to identify groups big and small doing effective work in the LGBT+ community,” Union said.
“That’s really important to us. In Omaha they identified OneWorld as not only talking the talk but walking the walk. They overachieve in leaps and bounds. That’s just an added extra bit of pride I take in my hometown.”
OneWorld received $25,000 to support a wide range of services it offers LGBTQ+ patients.
Andrea Skolkin, OneWorld CEO
“It’s quite a tribute to us to get that kind of gift,” OneWorld CEO Andrea Skolkin said. “It came about because of our heart. Our core value is it shouldn’t matter where someone is from, what language they speak, what their sexual orientation is, what their gender is. We’re here to provide healthcare, period. Everyone should have access to the care they want and need, and we want to be that place. That’s who we are. It’s what we’ve been doing.”
While OneWorld already did well in this arena. Skolkin adds, “We really hadn’t done enough to embrace lesbian, gay, transsexual people. We wanted to do better and be more present in the LGBTQ+ community and make sure people got taken care of. Part of that has been updating and changing some of our practices and doing some education. It’s embraced by everyone, including our board. We wanted to be a friendly, warm, welcoming place for the community – and we’ve been fulfilling that.”
Union looks forward to visiting a OneWorld facility and meeting frontline providers.
“Absolutely. I want to be able to look someone in the eye and shake their hand and thank them for putting their lives on the line and really providing respectful trusted healthcare to a community that’s often forgotten,” Union said. “The work they’re doing is so vital. To do it with dignity and respect is really key.”
OneWorld is intentionality is being noticed.
“It’s a growing population we’re serving as word gets around that we’re a trusted resource,” Skolkin said.
The way the Wades see it, the oppressed will only find equality when the dominant culture stops confining them to the fringes.
“The work we do fighting for social justice is all about centering marginalized communities,” Union said. “Basic humanity is about embracing all of us, not some of us. If we’re really trying to address the oppression of Black people with the hope of true equality and a redistribution of wealth, resources, knowledge and access. We have to include all of us. You absolutely lose nothing in embracing all the members of your community and not leaving anyone out. We do a disservice to the movement to categorically exclude anyone.”
Not only is inclusion “logical,” she said, “it’s the right thing to do.”
“If you only amplify the voices and needs of the most privileged,” she adds, “that’s who eats, and everybody else gets crumbs. That’s what history has shown us.”
If in-person school restarts with COVID still a threat, Union rejects any calculus that accepts “some people aren’t going to make it.” “I’m not okay with sacrificing chunks of our population. I don’t know anyone personally okay with that. No one should be disposable. That’s never been an option for our family. It’s not who we are.”
In addition to financially supporting LGBTQ+ healthcare needs, Union and Wade invest in narratives and products that advance inclusion. Her production company, I’ll Have Another, acquired the rights to George M. Johnson’s bestselling memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue to develop as a series with Sony Pictures TV. Wade launched the Wade of Way 8 “Pride” sneakers line as a tribute to Zaya and as a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
The work of these diverse allies is being noticed by members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“It’s well-respected and I think pivotal for several reasons,” said Black and Pink and Heartland Youth Pride founder Dominique Morgan of Omaha. “You have Gabrielle, a staple in Black culture for over 20 years. Dwyane Wade coming from his hetero-normative space in basketball. This beautiful Black couple is unabashedly supporting the queer community, specifically at the intersection of folks who are bi, trans, or non-conforming, and it’s without any compromises. That’s really powerful for them to do that.”
Dominique Morgan, Executive Director of Black and Pink/Photo: Anna Finocchiaro
“The fact that Gabrielle comes from Omaha and still has family here is something that speaks to folks locally. When you look up to folks and they make the declaration they have, then you have to be challenged about what your values are. They’re issuing folks a challenge in how they show up for people who may be LGBTQ+ or within all of those intersections. For them to be so very clear and not have any negotiables about it is dope.”
Union’s happy to use her industry-insider position to actively give diverse, under-represented talent more opportunities.
“What we’re doing with my production company is centering the voices of marginalized content creators. Every time we are able to close a deal and allow someone’s dream to come to fruition I feel so much more fulfilled than any personal victory I’ve ever had.”
“This beautiful Black couple is unabashedly supporting the queer community, specifically at the intersection of folks who are bi, trans, or non-conforming, and it’s without any compromises. That’s really powerful for them to do that.”
Union takes satisfaction, she said, “in providing jobs for people in front and behind the camera by doing things to use my platform, my space, my privilege to create more and better opportunities for marginalized folks.” “That’s hopefully going to be my legacy. I’m really proud of the work we’re doing. I’m just looking for ways to do more because there’s always more we can do.”
“We have our nose to the grind trying to create more opportunities for creatives who have never had an opportunity to shine or who got put out to pasture prematurely. It’s time we center those voices and their own narratives. That’s hugely important. As is making sure they get paid and respected the same way other creatives are.”
The larger social justice struggle is also much on Union’s mind. She feels meaningful change will only follow truth-telling that involves
“coming to grips with actual U.S. history, not some idealized version of it, including the impact of colonialism, the massive disparities in healthcare, education, career, access to resources and opportunities.”
Gabrielle Union/depositphotos: Ron Harvey
“Having a real reckoning,” she said, “comes with healing from 400 years of systemic anti-Black racism and white supremacy that has such deep roots in every institution. It means truly working to dismantle oppressive systems, which we’ve never seen. We’ve seen a lot of lip service, hand-wringing, and cancel culture. But the people who are truly canceled are the ones who never had the opportunity to begin – not privileged folks being held accountable for their actual problematic behavior.”
Getting there, she said, “is going to take a lot of uncomfortable conversations, de-centering of privilege, redistribution of resources.” “If everyone in positions of privilege does that then you’re able to empower others and narrow those gaps and disparities. But a lot of people consider that a non-starter, which is wild. It’s going to take a lot of real radical reeducation. That is the only way we’re going to begin to address all of this. Those are my hopes.”
She doesn’t see the movement losing momentum anytime soon.
“I think people underestimate the rage, the sorrow, the pain, the trauma, the harm caused to marginalized communities and their allies and the commitment to make change, I think you’re going to see people in the streets protesting, demonstrating, demanding change until it actually happens.”
She dismisses “the notion you’re going to wear down folks,” noting, “You can’t wear down people who’ve already been worn down.” “As a people, we have endured harm and trauma for over 400 years. For those people committed to change and to doing different and walking different, we will not be deterred, we won’t be, and you should not be surprised. I’m encouraged that what we’re seeing with diverse young people in this movement is not going away. If anything, it’s going to pick up steam.”
For Union, Black Lives Matter is a historical imperative.
“We have a lot of history to show that phrase is necessary to be repeated and shouted. There’s a reason why Black Lives Matter has galvanized the world – because it’s true. It’s not saying anyone else is less valuable, it’s saying we all see what’s going on and we’re all going to work together to rectify that because we keep showing Black People that their lives really don’t matter – not with COVID, not with education, not with healthcare.
“More people are going to understand Black Lives Matter is not about the oppression of anyone else, it’s about the reality that our very breath and bodies, our safety and protection, is not valued. If you feel somehow negatively about the phrase it should cause you to do some introspection about what exactly about people speaking truth to power bothers you. Going back 400 years our lives, our bodies, our futures, our education, our healthcare – none of that has ever really mattered. The proof is in the pudding.”
Union hates when critics of the movement say “you’ve got to move on from that.” “Well, if we want to move on then proof needs to be in the dismantling of these systems that have worked to create this global situation where people have to assert that Black Lives Matter. Historically and currently we’ve been shown that they don’t.”
She is keeping close on the movement’s progress in Omaha. “To see my hometown leading in this effort and watching our young people take control and be the motor for this fight is just beautiful to see and wildly inspiring. What makes it so powerful is that everyone feels empowered. It’s not one or two people, it’s a collective of voices, and it’s just beautiful to see, including how inclusive the movement is of so many marginalized people.”
Hometown recognition is coming her way courtesy of Heartland Pride.
“Heartland Pride is honoring the entire Wade family with the Martha P. Johnson Award this year,” said Morgan. “I’m hoping we can get them to do a video for our young people because what they’ve done is groundbreaking. I’m seeing Black parents ask questions and talk about things I never heard before simply because of their representation.”
Gabrielle Union, Kaavia James Union Wade, Dwyane Wade/depositphotos: Paul Smith
Union’s activities and stances are closely followed by legions of family, friends, and fans in Omaha. She belongs to the history-rich Bryant-Fischer family, whose annual reunion is more than 100 years strong. It’s never missed a beat despite floods, droughts, depressions, wars, thus a global pandemic won’t stop it this year. But she and her immediate family will physically sit this one out due to concerns about traveling in this time of COVID-19.
“Hopefully in 2021 we can return with all of our traditions,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Wades are consolidating family on the west coast.
“Given everything going on in the world, my mom’s age, and the kids getting to the teen years and definitely wanting our village to be a part of helping to guide young impressionable lives, we’re in the process of moving my mom, sibling and niece out here from Phoenix. We already moved Dwyane’s mom from Chicago here.”
Omaha’s never far from her thoughts though. She even looks to discover new stars in her hometown.
“There’s a lot of talent coming out of Omaha, specifically the north side, that I always keep an eye out for. We seek to amplify those voices and projects as well.”
Make no mistake though, her eyes remain firmly on the prize.
“As the matriarch of this Wade household our family is going to continue to be very outspoken and to lead not only with our voices but with our resources and finances to rectify as much as we can – and we’re going to encourage other families to do the same.”