Kerry On

- Judith Newman​​​

“Magical.”

Kerry Washington’s eyes are closed and she breathes evenly as I quietly panic. We are at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; the Scandal star wanted to check out the Gamelatron Sanctuary, which involves a lot of hypnotic chimes and gongs. While she is peacing out, I notice looming nearby an electric sign by the artist Sam Durant. It reads, simply, “END WHITE SUPREMACY.” We are having this interview the day after Charlottesville, and now I am supposed to be talking to one of the leading African- American actresses of our time about, um, moisturizer. This is very awkward for one of us. That one is not Kerry. I mention this to her.

“I’m glad you said that,” she says warmly. She admits it has been a tough 24 hours—let’s face it, a tough year— for anyone as politically minded as she is: “I have to dip in and dip out, because it suffocates me. Like, I become unable to function. So it’s a tricky balance between staying aware and also staying connected to a sense of hope and productivity and showing up for life.”