Tom Hanks acknowledges his own guilt in powerful essay about teaching the history of racism

Tom Hanks

(Image credit: Rich Fury/Getty Images)

published 4 June 2021

Tom Hanks expressed guilt over his role in an industry that "helps shape what is history and what is forgotten" in a powerful op-ed for The New York Times about the strikingly overlooked 1921 Tulsa race massacre. In the essay, published Friday, Hanks described himself as "a lay historian," but confessed to knowing nothing about the murder of as many as 300 Black residents at the hands of a white supremacist mob until last year.

"History was mostly written by white people about white people like me, while the history of Black people — including the horrors of Tulsa — was too often left out," he writes. "Until relatively recently, the entertainment industry, which helps shape what is history and what is forgotten, did the same. That includes projects of mine."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Today, I think historically based fiction entertainment must portray the burden of racism in our nation for the sake of the art form's claims to verisimilitude and authenticity. Until recently, the Tulsa Race Massacre was not seen in movies and TV shows. Thanks to several projects currently streaming, like Watchmen and Lovecraft Country, this is no longer the case. Like other historical documents that map our cultural DNA, they will reflect who we really are and help determine what is our full history, what we must remember. [The New York Times]

Explore More

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox