What Actress Yaya DaCosta Wants Latinos To Learn About Race From 'The Butler'

What Actress Yaya DaCosta Wants Latinos To Learn About Race
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 05: Actress Yaya Alafia attends the press conference for The Weinstein Company's LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER at Waldorf Astoria Hotel on August 5, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for Lee Daniel's THE BUTLER)
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 05: Actress Yaya Alafia attends the press conference for The Weinstein Company's LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER at Waldorf Astoria Hotel on August 5, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for Lee Daniel's THE BUTLER)

“The Butler” has catapulted to the top of the box office largely because of the poignant way the film addresses black-white race relations in America, but actress Yaya DaCosta – who plays character Carol Hammie – says the movie has plenty to offer Latino audiences as well.

“The world isn’t simply black or white,” says DaCosta, a Brown University graduate who is of Brazilian and African-American descent. “And racism is still prevalent, both in subtle and more insidious ways. My child’s reality will be different from mine, but I think that makes knowing our history that much more important.”

As a mom-to-be – the former model proudly rocked her baby bump at the film’s premiere – DaCosta looks back on “The Butler” as a project in which she was able to re-enact several aspects of her own family’s history.

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