Sterling K. Brown talks about power of representation on TV

Sterling K. Brown is well aware of the impact a TV series like his hit show This Is Us (which is expected to return for a drama-packed fifth season this fall) has on an audience—the Emmy winner and current double nominee is continuing to laud the impact and power of onscreen representation.In a chat with The Daily Show (Monday to Thursday 2:05ET on CTV) host Trevor Noah, Brown recently revealed that playing Randall Pearson for four seasons on the family drama has opened the door for teachable moments when it comes to depicting differences, and similarities, onscreen. Noah asked Brown if the writers on the show consciously tell stories in a way that helps viewers empathize "without making them feel like they’re being blamed as opposed to the system being highlighted." Sterling says he hopes that's the way viewers feel and explained, the real trick it to always keep in mind that each character is a full human."Randall Pearson—just like his brother and sister and mother and father—is a human being first and foremost, right, and I think so much of the power of media is that people learn through exposure, whether it’s through travel, whether it’s through books, whether it’s through the representation of people they see on screen," Brown said.The 44-year-old added that This Is Us has a “vast” demographic but 80 per cent of the audience is white, “and so there’s opportunities I have to make conversations with people who may not have those conversations with someone that look like me, and by virtue of them seeing me in their home 18 times a [season], they can say, like, ‘That dude Randall, he’s just like me. He loves his kids, he loves his wife. I understand part of his struggle even if I don’t understand the totality of it.’ So hopefully the next time they see me, or anybody who looks like me, they can lean in rather than step away.”Brown explained the power of representation is exactly what he had in mind when launching his production company, Indian Meadows, which is named after the predominantly Black neighbourhood he grew up in in St. Louis, Missouri. “Seeing yourself on screen validates your life, and so I want to tell stories where people of colour or in marginalized groups are front and center, they’re not necessarily the sidekick or the goofy friend, but their story is about them. Because when you see yourself you know that your story is as important as anybody else’s,” he said, also noting that the recent announcement of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden's vice president pick is another big moment for representation. "It's a reason to celebrate," he said.[video_embed id='2012026']RELATED: From Oprah to Regina King, the stars continue to demand justice for Breonna Taylor [/video_embed]Brown also spoke about his appearance on Finding Your Roots earlier this year where he learned that his fifth great-grandparents were born in Africa and brought to the United States as slaves. He said growing up in a white school system where every February, the message that slavery was "ancient history" was reiterated, this newfound ancestral knowledge confirmed a previously inexplicable "defensiveness" he's felt since childhood."How do you show that the repercussions of what happened in the past are still reverberating in the present? And then you see documentation of your ancestors listed as property... and you recognize that it's not that long ago," he said. "You realize that other people could list your family as property so that they could expand their wealth, their reach. We had nothing. It's a completely different starting point and it just validated for me this level of defensiveness that I've always had to prove something. I don't have to prove it—I can see it."In fact, showing the real stories of Black people across America is the exact purpose of Brown's latest project, 1milliontruths.com—a centralized place for Black people to share their experiences with racism and for interested allies to see that these experiences are not just one-offs.

This is my truth & now's the time for Black Americans to share theirs. Visit https://t.co/fb8OjTHwN0 to be featured w/ me at launch. For a sneak peek at One Million Truths: A testament from Black America, join me, @Trevornoah, @TheDailyShow & @ComedyCentral tonight at 11/10c! pic.twitter.com/8MPG9weAca

— Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) August 12, 2020

“It’s not just something that happened in an isolated incident—these isolated incidents are happening over and over again all over the country,” he explained. “Maybe by having one place where people can go and see, like, ‘Oh, life for Black people in this country is not the same as it is for me.’ Right? And then there’s a development of empathy and hopefully a wave of support that we can ride right now to make some real change to systemic racism in this country.”Watch the full interview here and watch The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Monday to Thursday at 12:05ET on CTV.[video_embed id='2011820']BEFORE YOU GO: Mike Johnson calls out 'Bachelor' franchise’s 'atrocious' diversity efforts [/video_embed]