Terrence Howard’s ‘Crash’ Moment
CVK
(Thanks to Edwards-Dechet for this!) I hope I can catch a rerun of this, but on today’s episode of Oprah, she interviews the cast of the movie “Crash.” Terrence Howard shares a horrible incident that changed his life. This is one of the most sickening things I’ve ever read. It’s a sobering reminder of exactly how far we still have to come in this country.
Terrence experienced his own “Crash moment” at an extremely young age, and says it radically changed his life’s course.
“I’m the product of a mixed marriage: My father’s actually mixed and my mother is mixed but my father looks more white than my mom,” Terrence explains. “We’re at a department store in 1972, right before Christmas, and my mom’s taking us all around to go get clothes and my dad’s standing in the Santa Claus line. … My dad is 5-foot-8, weighs 125 pounds. There’s a guy standing behind him [who is] 6′-4″, weighs about 260. The man said, ‘Why did you let those niggers cut you?’ And my daddy said, ‘This is my wife.’ … The man turned around and my father turned back to talk to us.
“The next thing you know, this guy has picked up my father by the throat from behind and takes him over to the wall and has my father pinned up on the wall like a rag doll. And my father turns around and tries to get away and the guy picks him up again and is holding him on the wall, strangling my father. … Now, this man didn’t come there to do that. This man was in the Santa Claus line with his family. My father, after the man had kneed him in his groin enough times that blood was streaming down his leg, finally grabbed something and started sticking the man, trying to get him to let him go. He stuck him in his legs but the man still wouldn’t let go. And all I remember is my father standing over him, the man collapsed [the man later died, and Terrence’s father was sentenced to prison], and my father screaming, ‘Please don’t die! Please don’t die!’
“And so the police come [and take] my father away, to prison. My father was an insurance salesman at the time, and we lived in the suburbs. But when my father went to prison, we were forced to move into the projects, which subjected us to more racism. Here I was this light-skinned, green-eyed kid in the middle of the projects in the 1970s when being light-skinned and green-eyed wasn’t good in the black community. And that family lost their husband because we got in front of him and he thought we were cutting him because my father was in line.”
drew wrote:
Boy, that’s a truly heartbreaking story. I can’t believe I missed this Oprah episode, Crash is my fave flick of ‘05! And between Hustle and Flow and Crash, Terrence Howard has solidifed himself as one of the top actors in American cinema right now.
Posted 06 Oct 2005 at 3:40 pm ¶
tony wrote:
Wow, that was a horrible miserable story…but at least he’s a successful actor nowadays.
The film ‘crash’ is excellent BTW and I recommened everybody interested in race issues to go see it…
Posted 06 Oct 2005 at 4:44 pm ¶
Magali wrote:
Very sobering story. It does show an extreme reaction of people to mixed marriages.
Happy though that Terrence Howard told it. Its a story that really made me think.
Posted 07 Oct 2005 at 9:48 pm ¶
April wrote:
Damn. ((sigh))
Posted 07 Oct 2005 at 11:37 pm ¶
Lennon wrote:
Did that really happen, I mean did he really say that on Oprah? I just can’t believe that story…sorry need more proof
Posted 17 Oct 2005 at 6:17 am ¶
Ron wrote:
Story is full of lies. DO not believe him. guy in killing was only 5′8, 175lbs-not 6′4, 250. And, the item he was ’sticking’ him with was a knife. who brings a knife to see santa claus? plus after checking cleve records, mr. howards father was convicted of another stabbing several years earlier. he forgot to mention that.
Posted 18 Oct 2005 at 10:02 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:
i know this story very well and what ron (above) says it true. how can you have sympathy for someone who stabbed a man in the chest 10 times killing him in front of his children 4 days before christmas? terrence’s dad should have served more than a year in jail. here’s a link to one article from the newspaper.
http://www.cleveland.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/living/1129023116111780.xml&coll=2
Posted 01 Nov 2005 at 3:45 pm ¶
andrea wrote:
i find that story very heartbreakin and for a kid like terrence who had to witness that incident he was trumatized. and for all those non believers get over yourself you were not there and by this experience terrence howard has become a great black as he is and will be for a loooooooog time just like his great grandmother minnie gentry was.
Posted 02 Nov 2005 at 2:40 pm ¶
andrea wrote:
just leave terrence alone hes a great actor he has a life like everyone else and tellin his story prove that people who dont believe him racism still exist now
Posted 02 Nov 2005 at 2:45 pm ¶
mean one wrote:
HOW CAN SOME OF YOU PEOPLE BE SO DAMN STUPID. THE BOTTOM LINE IS THE BIG MAN WAS OUT OF ORDER WHEN HE DISRESPECTED TERRANCE HOWARD’S DAD LIKE THAT. IT WASN’T EVEN ANY OF HIS CONCERN WHAT THE HELL HE WAS DOING ANYWAY. HE WAS DISRESPECTED TO THE FULLEST. NOW HOWEVER I AM NOT SAYING THAT KILLING HIM WAS FINE B/C IT WASN’T. AND HE SHOULD HAVE SERVED TIME FOR IT,WHICH HE DID. BUT PUT YOURSELF IN HIS SHOES. NOT BLACK OR WHITE. BUT IF SOMEONE WOULD HAVE APPROACHED YOU IN THAT WAY, MAYBE OR MAYBE NOT IT WOULD HAVE WENT THE SAME WAY. BOTTOM LINE KILLING IS NOT RIGHT. BUT NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO BE TREATED THAT WAY. AND IT WAS SELF DEFENSE. SO NOW WHAT.
Posted 08 Nov 2005 at 2:50 pm ¶
MayFair wrote:
Who bring a knife to see Santa Clause? Well the article posted by Anonymous states it was given to him by an unknown bystander, a woman to be specific.
Bottomline Terrence was a child he remembers what his 2.5 mind “saved”. You cant blame him or call him a liar. If he said something less than what we all claim to know then he might need to get some research done.
Plus am sorry for the attacker’s family but you just dont go attacking people even if its not racially based. If he wasnt killed Terrence’s father would have been. It sad but he got what he deserves. The hunter got hunted
Posted 24 Dec 2005 at 11:00 pm ¶
MEEEKE wrote:
If you think you are safe when you got to the mall to see santa you really do live in a fantasy land. you could be mugged walking to your car, run over by a drunk in the parking lot, a plane could crash into the mall(happened out here a few years back).
I’m small so I usually have a knife on hand, one should be able to protect themsevles shouldnt they?
Something tells me that Ron and Anonymous are rascists, something about their tone… maybe its me.
Posted 28 Dec 2005 at 3:11 am ¶
E wrote:
so sad!
Posted 28 Dec 2005 at 3:35 pm ¶
MaryJ wrote:
I feel sorry for Terrence having to see his father killed someone liked that and what his family had to go through during the time his father was in prison…..no one deserves to be treated like that ever, whether you’re black, white, hispanic, asian, or etc……… and for some folks who don’t believe Terrence story….would you had done better if you were three years…i don’t think so
Posted 28 Dec 2005 at 9:02 pm ¶
Jack Petro wrote:
The untold story is what happened in the Jury Room. I was the foreman of this jury, and my audio tape notes of the trial brings some of the most chilling moments into full view.
Posted 05 Jan 2006 at 10:18 am ¶
Kaonashi wrote:
Really? Do share.
The whole situation was messed up. One man died, another man went to jail…just because some asshole couldn’t mind his own freaking business and just enjoy being with his own family and enjoying the whole “Kids seeing Santa Claus” bit. Not saying that stabbing someone ten times wasn’t extreme, but when you have some asshole who just JUMPS on you after calling for wife and kids a nigger, whose to say that the crazy fuck wouldn’t also try to kill his wife afterwards? Or little Terrence, for that matter?
Posted 16 Jan 2006 at 11:41 am ¶
CJ wrote:
If you really care about facts, do the research, it’s all there. Terrence’s story is totally inconsistent with the facts, some of which have been called out by others (the victim was really 5′8″, that’s a fact - he may have seemed like he was 6′4″ to a 3-year old, not one witness said he used the “n” word - he said cutting in line gives black people a bad name)…..Again, if you really care to know the facts, don’t believe me or a 3-year old Terrence; go read about the case.
Posted 26 Jan 2006 at 12:23 am ¶
medical doctor wrote:
if u were in the same situation and u believed your life was in danger, i believe u would have done the same thing. i would have. when it was a white boy who just saw some black boys and killed them, this racist society said you had a right to defend yourself white boys from those blacks on the subway. this society is not fair to blacks, mixed or not. as a black doctor i have worked in some seedy surrounding areas and have been scared to death, i would for sure use everything in my control to get home to my babies, but the point is this system is so racist. his lawyer did him no favors since his dad was jailed as the writer of the above link says. hell, my husband is lawyer if your client serves time that is failing your client. terrence owes no compliments to the lawyer. he was a child and that was his interpretation. why are you tripping about a child’s view. obviously the white boy instigated and brother was just trying to defend himself and family. if in the 70’s a white boy was trying to kill me i would have no reason to reason otherwise that once he done with me, my nigger wife and kids would be next. i was the only “nigger” in my classes , neighbor, etc in the 60’s and 70’s and it was not a pretty scene in mt. vernon, ohio-the same state and not too far from terrence howard’s dad.
solution please read to your kids, learn-speak-teach proper english to your loved ones and children. intergrate but don’t lose yourself in this racist society. and of course support your owe.
Posted 27 Jan 2006 at 4:28 am ¶
medical doctor wrote:
oh yea, about any prior stabbing, if this is true, in reference to a self defense case, this would more than likely be ruled not significant to this particular case. don’t want to wake my husband, but i am sure there is a legal term for it. love you blacks, no matter your shade!!!!
Posted 27 Jan 2006 at 4:36 am ¶
Babs wrote:
How could Terrence make something like that up. He was a small child and it affected him & his family. I believe him and that his life’s experiences show thru in his acting. That edginess in the characters that he plays, and the tenderness & emotions that you see on the screen when his eyes fill with tears in the scene in the church listening to the woman singing a Spiritual in the movie Hustle and Flow.
Posted 29 Jan 2006 at 1:14 pm ¶
panda wrote:
I know Terrence well enough to know that this isn’t hype or a sob story to promote the proverbial “triumph over tragedy”. The facts may be skewed but it has affected him to the core his entire life. He smiles and LAUGHS with everyone, plays guitar, drinks, chills out — but he has a real private serious side when you hang with him alone. It’s unbelievable how obvious it is that he carries a lot of sadness in his heart and believe me when I say he taps it into it when he works. This is a good guy and I’m not so sure the facts really matter unless his story has sold 10 million copies and is on the n.y. times best seller list (hahahaha)…And I think people have the right to be a little bias when defending their father…You know my dad was the strongest man who ever lived?
Posted 01 Feb 2006 at 12:40 am ¶
Jasper wrote:
I read about the case and the son’s version and his dad’s lawyer seems pretty consistant with the news accounts of this mess. The elder Howard only served a year and was not judged to be the aggressor. The jury felt he went too far and convicted him of manslaughter rather than murder as he was charged. It seems possible that the holiday tension was a contributing factor. Isn’t it about time we stopped celebrating Christmas with an orgy of ugly consumerism. It only makes the unfortunate feel worse and its would appear to be a perversion of Christ’s teaching.
Posted 04 Mar 2006 at 3:37 pm ¶