Jada, Will step to the 4front

[MissAshley]

Jada, Will step to the 4front

The Smiths will play a prominent role in this weekend's Philly anti-violence gala

UNTIL NOW, Jada Pinkett Smithand Will Smith have been pretty much silent backers of Charlie Mack's annual Party 4 Peace celebrity weekends.

This year, though, the first couple of black Hollywood has agreed not only to help underwrite the weekend-long series of fund-raisers, but also add their own considerable star power as well.

That will mean appearing at what looks like an exhausting lineup that includes a visit to the Youth Study Center, a VIP gala at the African American Historical & Cultural Museum and a march from 50th Street and Chester Avenue to the Frances J. Myers Rec Center at 58th Street and Kingsessing Avenue.

After the march, there's a youth rally at the center followed by a concert by Young Leek. The day's activities won't conclude until the wee hours at a seafood bowling bash at Adams Lanes which starts at 1 a.m.

When I caught up with Pinkett Smith by phone last week, she told me one reason she's participating is her deep concern about the wave of gun violence in the city. (Three men were killed in just 21 minutes yesterday morning.) This is an issue that hits especially close to home since a close relative of hers is in rehab for cocaine addiction and another was hooked on heroin.

"It's pretty bad everywhere," said Pinkett Smith, 34, who grew up in Baltimore. "I think we're in a worse situation now than I can think of ever. Just the amount of injustice that we're doing to one another. It's such a complicated issue... You don't even know where to begin.

"It's an epidemic," she continued. "If you look at our homes, it's clear why. We need a new reality. The idea that we're supposed to sit back and wait for somebody to do something for us, that's not going to happen.

"I've gone to Africa where kids go to school and share one textbook, [i've met] kids that are walking three miles to school, three miles home because education is valued. What do we value? Nothing."

Jada and Will Smith are long-time friends of their former employee Charles "Charlie Mack" Alston, who moved back to Philly in 2003. Affectionately known as "Charlie Mack," he dreamed up the unconventional idea of bringing the Hollywood stars he met while working for the Smiths to the gritty streets of Philly and using their star power to draw attention to his events.

A former drug dealer turned Hollywood insider, Mack lost two brothers to violence. Mothers in Charge, a local grass-roots, anti-violence group, is to get a portion of the proceeds raised at this weekend's activities. Regina King ("Ray"), Tichina Arnold("Everybody Hates Chris") Tisha Campbell(UPN's "My Wife and Kids"),Karyn Parsons("Fresh Prince of Bel Air),Flex Alexander ("Snakes on a Plane") and Cuttino Mobley (NBA Los Angeles Clippers) are among the celebrities and athletes confirmed to be in attendance this weekend.

"I always get interested in [Alston's] community endeavors. This is a passion that he and I have always shared as far as trying to find ways to solve the issue of violence in our communities," Pinkett Smith said. "He's amazing and he cares about his community. He has real love and he tries to foster that in the community."

Asked why she and Will waited until the third year of the Party 4 Peace Celebrity weekend to become more intimately involved, Pinkett Smith said, "Charlie does a lot of stuff. We said, 'let's see how serious he is.' He has shown us that he's very serious about this cause... This is the first year he really even asked us."

She declined to specify exactly how much her foundation, the Will and Jada Pinkett Smith Family Foundation, has contributed over the years, saying only, "we definitely have helped in that way."

Why? "This is me. Don't think because I'm in Hollywood and that I have a certain amount of success that I'm not touched by the epidemic.

"It affects us all. It's part of our responsibility just being human beings, just being spiritual beings... I can't save everybody. People have got to want it for themselves. You hope that you can inspire people to just want it."

It was while studying theater at the Baltimore School for the Arts with classmate Tupac Shakurthat she heard actor Glynn Thurman speak. He motivated her so much, that she resolved to make her dream of becoming an actress a reality and in 1991 began co-starring on "Different World," a spinoff of "The Cosby Show," on which Thurman played Colonel Taylor.

"I said, 'You know what? I'm going to do that,' " Pinkett Smith recalled. Her big-screen breakthrough was Eddie Murphy's "The Nutty Professor."

"You've got to want it. I'm an example of it. It can be done."

In 1997, she married Philly homeboy Will Smith, who she met while auditioning to play his girlfriend on the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air." (She didn't get the role because she was considered too short.) The couple has two children, plus a third son from Will's previous marriage. Pinkett Smith, who co-starred in three "Matrix" films, also sings in a rock band called Wicked Wisdom.

I asked her if she'd be sharing some of her wisdom in Philly.

"I don't know. I've just got to wait and see if they really want to hear anything from me," she said. "I'm not coming to preach to nobody. I've got to just go there and see what comes out of it."

Hopefully, it will be something good.

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source via google: http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/living/15062338.htm

Edited July 18, 2006 by MissAshley

[Jazzy Julie]

wow Charlie Mack was a drug dealer, i could imagine he would be good at that.

anyway thanx for the article.

[Hero1]

nicely said by jada

[Jonny 5]

haha Julie.... all this seems to be for a good cause, cool to see Karyn Parsons gettin involved :2thumbs:

[Angel Amor]

Thats good 2 hear :2thumbs: