Best known for playing young Randall on the popular NBC drama This is Us, 12-year-old Lonnie Chavis shared his experiences of racism as a Black boy in the television industry.
In an Instagram post, Chavis said that he noticed the lack of Black faces on set and that he was often treated differently than his white counterparts by staff and security. Chavis was often mistaken for other young Black actors, like Caleb McLaughlin from Stranger Things or Miles Brown from Black-ish. He also recalled several instances in which he and his family were racial profiled.
In one particularly scary instance, Chavis’ father was physically harassed by a police officer who claimed to detain him over a traffic ticket.
“I thought my parents were going to die going up against the police,” Chavis wrote. “By the grace of God, they are both still with me, and that racially motivated harassment against my father was dismissed.”
Chavis’ powerful essay highlights that the burden of being a Black person in America starts at a young age. The recent resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted how Black parents are forced to educate their children on how Black people are perceived as threats or criminals, especially by law enforcement.
