Young Randall of ‘This Is Us’ pens essay about being a young Black actor

'My life matters, but does it?'
June 18, 2020 11:09 a.m. EST
June 22, 2020 10:35 a.m. EST
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Lonnie Chavis’s character Randall on This Is Us brings the waterworks practically every week on the small screen as Sterling K. Brown’s younger counterpart. But the 12-year-old actor’s real-life experiences with racism, which he highlights in a new essay for People, are all the more heartbreaking.“My life matters, but does it?” he writes. “America paints a very clear picture of how I should view myself. America shows me that my Blackness is a threat, and I am treated as such.” Chavis goes on to recall first learning about being Black when he was seven years-old, and his parents using books, many talks, and films like Amistad and Malcolm X to prepare him for the world he was growing up in. “I was overwhelmed with confusion, fear and sadness,” he writes. “I had to lean on my faith in Christ for hope, protection and understanding.”
 
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‘America Needs To Change’ - LC @people #FixYourHeartAmerica

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The actor, who also starred in Jay Pharoah’s 2017 TV series White Famous, goes on to detail being mistaken for fellow young Black actors on series like Black-ish and Stranger Things, being racially profiled by security at work events, and the time he and his Black costar and her cousins were at a restaurant with their parents, and a server accused them of trying to steal money out of her tip jar.“It was a huge ordeal that almost led to police being called on us while we were with our parents—until some wonderful fan who happened to be white told them that I was a professional actor on two television series currently airing and argued that he doubted I would need to steal her few dollars,” he writes. “My mother never played the ‘he’s an actor’ card. She definitely knew and argued that we were being targeted merely because we were a group of young Black children. Can you imagine someone thinking you are a thief just because of the colour of your skin? I can.”[video_embed id='1979188']RELATED: Ruth B hopes 'If I Have a Son' can be a force for change [/video_embed]It doesn’t stop there. Chavis tells the story of a time his mother was pulled over for driving the family’s new BMW and the police officer questioned whose car it was. Chavis recalls watching from the backseat as his mom went into the trunk to find the proper paperwork, and the policeman palmed his holster the entire time he waited. “I was scared for her; I was scared for me. I didn’t know what to do in that backseat, but just to get on the phone with my dad,” he recalls. “It became clear to me that the other three times we were pulled over in Hollywood/L.A. areas after that were because we were Black in a nice car. Can you imagine it being normal to start recording with your cellphone as soon as your mother is pulled over for a traffic stop? I can.”The actor and anti-bullying advocate then goes on to recall his 10th birthday, when a Long Beach police officer twisted his father’s arm behind his back and pulled him from the family doorstep with the door open, claiming he was being detained for a traffic ticket. “My mother ran to my room and told me with fear in her eyes to go into my little brother’s room and stay away from the windows. She put my new baby brother in my arms and told me that no matter what I hear from our front yard to not come to the door—no matter what,” he writes.“I held my baby brother and cried as I could hear my mother yelling outside of our home. I thought my parents were for sure going to die going up against the police. By the grace of God, they are both still with me, and that racially motivated harassment against my father was dismissed. Can you imagine holding on to your three little brothers while thinking that you are all going to be orphans? I can.”
 
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As Chavis points out in the essay, these are common occurrences and a part of his everyday life—regardless of the fact that he’s welcomed into living rooms across the world as an actor on one of the highest-rated shows. He wraps the note by calling on Americans to #FixYourHeart (a new campaign he’s launched on Instagram), and to help end systemic racism.“If you don’t understand what’s going on in the world, then understand this: This is what the world looks like for me. A 12-year-old Black boy. This is my America,” he says. “Policies need to change, laws need to change, the police need to change, Hollywood needs to change, hearts need to change, America needs to change. Change has got to happen for unarmed Black citizens to not live in fear of being murdered. Can you imagine being me in 2020 and wondering what the future holds? I can’t.”[video_embed id='1977908']BEFORE YOU GO: Megan Thee Stallion, Tiffany Haddish and more support BLM at Pride events [/video_embed]

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