A Man from Another Land: How Finding My Roots Changed My Life (37 page)

My work lobbying on behalf of Sierra Leone often took me to Capitol Hill and to the United Nations. I met with Senator Kempthorne (R- ID) and Alphonso Jackson, former HUD secretary
(above)
, and received a United Nations ID Badge
(below)
.

CONTENTS

Front Cover Image

Welcome

Dedication

Acknowledgments

1 “What Part of Africa Are You From?”

2 Shades of Darkness

3 Aren’t You Wolof?

4 Notes on Namibia: My First Trip to Africa

5 Moza Cooper and the DNA Test

6 Now What?

7 Power People

8 DNA Has Memory

9 Reversing the Middle Passage

10 Heart of Darkness, Ray of Light

11 Chief Gondobay Manga

12 A Changed Man

13 “A Diamond Is Forever”

14 Lobbying to Save Lives

15 The Gondobay Manga Foundation Is Born Amid Crisis

16 Blood Diamonds

17 Denial

18 Cease and Desist

19 It’s Raining, It’s Sunny, the Devil Is Beating His Wife… Again

20 Making History

Notes

Photo Insert

About the Author

Copyright

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Actor, producer, and human rights activist Isaiah Washington is an NAACP Image Award– and Screen Actors Guild Award– winning
American actor. A veteran of four acclaimed Spike Lee films,
Crooklyn, Clockers, Girl 6,
and
Get on the Bus
, Washington is best known for his role as Dr. Preston Burke on the ABC medical drama
Grey’s Anatomy.

Washington’s other feature film credits include
Hurricane Season, True Crime, Romeo Must Die, Out of Sight, Ghost Ship, Welcome to Collinwood, Bulworth, Love Jones, Dead
Presidents, Stonewall, Strictly Business,
and the acclaimed
Dancing in September,
in which his performance earned him an NAACP Image Award nomination for outstanding actor.

On television, he has guest starred in several series, including
NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Ally McBeal, New York Undercover, Living Single, Soul Food,
and
Touched by an Angel
.

Washington acted as master of ceremonies for the first White House Summit on Malaria to fight the war against malaria in fifteen
African countries. In September 2008, he attended the 63rd United Nations General Assembly in New York City as an adviser
to President Ernest Bai Koroma of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

Isaiah is the recipient of several international awards: Planet Africa’s 2009 Marcus Garvey Memorial Award, The Daily Voice
2009 Hope Award, Oliver Hill Foundation 2009 Speakers Award, Reverend C. T. Vivian 2009 Passing the Torch Award,
the African Achievement 2009 Philanthropy Award, National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in America 2009 Diamond Award, the
African Focus 2009 Goodwill Award, Who’s Who in Los Angeles 2009, Satellite Award, the Black Oscar Family Tree Award, the
Noble Johnson Legendary Award, the Harvard College Sierra Leone Initiative Award, and the first person given a full African
citizenship based on DNA.

Isaiah Washington will also become the first African American to lead the Africa Alternative Investment Fund designed to rebuild
the infrastructure of Sierra Leone with his new company HIRA International Investment Group, LLC, overseeing a multibillion-dollar
investment fund.

Copyright

Names and identifying details of some of the people portrayed in this book have been changed.

Copyright © 2011 by Isaiah Washington

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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ISBN: 978-1-599-95426-4

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