Friday, March 29, 2024

‘Queen Sugar’ Cast Talks Most Explosive Season Yet and Healing (EUR Exclusive!)

Kofi Siriboe , Dawn-Lyen Gardner, and Rutina Wesley listen intently to questions at OWN in New York. (MMoore Photo)

Queen Sugar” begins its most explosive season yet on June 12th when Nova (Rutina Wesley) exposes family secrets in her memoir.

The popular and heralded show on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) looks inside the tumultuous lives of the Bordelon siblings Nova, Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), and Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe).

At the OWN offices in New York, family secrets were among the discussion with the cast. In that discussion the healing process was also mentioned.  I asked the cast how has the heartfelt “Queen Sugar” saga helped audiences to heal since we, as a people, have been trying to heal for over 300 years?

RUTINA WESLEY: I think it’s healing for people, from what I’ve learned just from hearing back, is the way in which we unpack some of these stories. How we really dig to the deepest level and keep going until you get to that bottom. People are recognizing that bottom. They are like, ‘Oh that’s familiar. I didn’t know that anybody else went that far.’

Also, we honestly haven’t seen in television stories unpacked in this way. They’re nuanced, and they are detailed. We’re careful with these stories and we walk in truth with them. I think that’s what’s been so beautiful that people are seeing themselves and really feeling like they can sit in with us, that they can belong with us. And to see so many families crying together and laughing together, watching our dinner scenes and things like that has just brought joy to me.

WENDY WILLIAMS COULD CARE LESS ABOUT CRIMINAL RECORD OF NEW GUY FRIEND [VIDEO]

“Queen Sugar” siblings Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe),  Nora (Rutina Wesley), and Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner).

Growing up I don’t remember seeing on television stories that unpack in this way about our skin and our communities. I’m grateful to be a part of a show in the time we are now in because I feel like people really need it. So it’s a special kind of privilege, and I feel a huge responsibility because of what it’s doing for people.

KOFI SIRIBOE: People have told me, ‘I’ve cried and laughed with you.’ But for me, I just go to work every day as a journalist or a scientist would. It’s like an exploration. One thing I feel I’m hearing is that there’s a lack of safe spaces for us to reveal our traumas,   talk about what we’ve been through, and get to a place of peace. I feel like if, if there were more spaces that were curated for us, and if we had more access to resources, we wouldn’t feel the need to internalize everything and live with that weight or that baggage. So I think those of us who have the privilege of a platform and resources should share those spaces. With ‘Queen Sugar,’ it’s like a safe space that we get to sit and talk about these things, broadcast it to our communities, and hopefully there is healing through that.

DAWN-LYNEN GARDNER: I think that’s an audience question. However, ‘Queen Sugar’ occupies a space that is not like any other show for me. It is literally a healing space for me. It’s been healing as an act to be a part of it. I just think we need more spaces, safe spaces that are specific to us in our trauma and our history and our transformation.

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