Lou Gossett Jr. says Thank You...

What an amazing story....I couldn't help but post this....

This week, actor Louis Gossett Jr. will fly to Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama, where he will celebrate with an inner circle of African American celebrities who campaigned for the president-elect. But in between those festivities, he will make a more personal stop — to deliver the toast at the National Inaugural Jewish Ball sponsored by Ohev Shalom — the National Synagogue, a thriving Modern Orthodox congregation in the capital.

The 72-year-old actor — who recently spent six days in the hospital due to a near-fatal pulmonary episode — is determined to make the trip, even if he has to traverse airports in a wheelchair.

“I want to say, ‘Thank you,’ to the Jewish community,” he said of the toast. “My childhood in Coney Island was overwhelmingly influenced by teachers and classmates of the Jewish faith. They expanded my horizons and encouraged me to excel. Because of their nurturing and mentorship, I grew up believing that no one could tell me I couldn’t accomplish something because I was black. Despite the racism of the time, they taught me that anything is possible.”

Gossett (“Roots,” “An Officer and a Gentleman”), who is famously bald and 6-foot-4, sat for an interview in his sprawling Mediterranean-style home in Malibu, wearing a sequined Obama victory T-shirt. The milieu was light-years away from his working-class roots in Coney Island, where his mother worked as a maid and his father as a porter, chauffeur and gas company employee.

There is a sparkling indoor pool, several indoor and outdoor fountains, courtyards and Buddhist and African art on the walls. A mantle sports Gossett’s Oscar for best supporting actor in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” as well as his Golden Globes and Emmy awards. There are tokens from his work with the late Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the African National Congress, where many of the white leaders were Jewish.

“Even there, blacks and Jews got together,” he said.

Gossett traces his own success to the liberal Jews who moved into his neighborhood after fleeing Hitler’s Europe or McCarthy-era blacklists.

“Because of these brilliant people, there was a Renaissance in all subjects, from sports to music to all of the arts,” he said.

“I was also influenced by how Jewish families encouraged their children, my classmates, to succeed.”