Award-winning actor, Sterling K. Brown is ready to make a shift in the conversation surrounding diversity. Instead of ‘inclusion,’ the This is Us star wants to redirect the narrative to ‘celebration.’
Brown, who portrays Randall Pearson in NBC’s hit show, This Is Us is quite familiar with how race plays a role on a big scale but also in the workplace. Each week, the hit drama series beautifully and authentically shares the life of a family, making sure to include the intricacies that come with being a black family in America. The show has received praise from critics and fans with an outpour of gratitude from the black community.
One of the strongest storylines on This Is Us is that of Randall Pearson, the black son adopted into a white family. What keeps the black perspective so relatable and raw is certainly due to the three black writers in the writer’s room as well as showrunner Dan Fogelman’s eagerness to ensure that the black story is executed in an accurate and authentic way. Brown has appreciated Fogelman and the entire team’s efforts to not only making sure there is diversity in the workplace, but that each person is feeling heard and allowed to contribute their input without feeling their opinions or suggestions are unwarranted.
Cast of This Is Us
There has been a clear wave of inclusion and diversity in Hollywood with Orange is the New Black, Parasite, Black Panther amongst many other shows and films reaching high levels of success but it brings up the question, is this just trendy right now? Will the diversity phase wear out? “Besides just the artistic merits of the story being told, Hollywood responds to the color green and these stories are lucrative. We as a community spend a lot of money and we spend money to see things that are not of our community and we will spend money to see things that are of our community as well. I mean Bad Boys took 20 years and we were like, come on, let’s go! I think there is great opportunity to see us in larger things, where we’re in the front. So as long as things continue to be lucrative, like Black Panther which made a billion overseas and in the U.S., I don’t think we’re in a phase, we’re in a new beginning,” states Brown.
Not only is it the job of other races to uplift and celebrate inclusion in and out of the workplace, it is also up to people in the brown and black communities to uplift each other. It’s an unfortunate fact that many black and brown entertainers bypass their black peers when it comes to media or have this ‘there can only be one’ mentality. “I feel you and I hear you. I just try to be that dude that’s like, I see you and you look good,” Brown responds, “I mean even just supporting natural hair. The way you rock your hair on a carpet or on the show can really change how others interact with you, even people of color. So, I hope and try to be like, I see you with your natural hair and you are beautiful.” That is the point, not to be colorblind because seeing someone in their entirety, seeing their skin, their hair and appreciating all that comes with it, is a celebration of diversity.
