Sterling K. Brown breaks down Black freedom on theGrio’s ‘Juneteenth Live!’
As a part of our “Black and Proud” series, Brown joined celebrities and politicians like Rep. Maxine Waters, Billy Porter, and Vedo to share the Black experience and what June 19 means for them
This year, Juneteenth became a national holiday and another celebration that honors Black history and our ancestors.
During a recent conversation with theGrio for the Juneteenth Live! special, actor Sterling K. Brown shared how he celebrates his cultural heritage.
“I celebrate my Blackness by celebrating my Black children, by celebrating my Black wife, through the art that I take in, through the art that I put out into the world, where we are front and center, our presence being front and center is normalized, and not regulated to the comic relief, ” said the This is Us actor.
As a part of our “Black and Proud” series, Brown joined Rep. Maxine Waters, Billy Porter and Vedo to break down the Black experience and what June 19 means for them.
Brown goes on to say the change he hopes to see when it comes to Black people being represented in entertainment.
“The humanity of Blackness is being seen, exemplified and lifted up to where not only Black people find joy in the depictions that they see on camera but white people, Indian people, Latinx people, LGBTQ see themselves and a reflection of who they are in our humanity.”
He added: “What Black Panther did for the comic book world is what we are looking to do on a macro level.”
As reported by theGrio‘s April Ryan, this year marks a special moment in the holiday’s history as President Joe Biden signed a law making Juneteenth a federal holiday earlier this month.
The holiday is a direct reference to June 19, 1865, when the enslaved people of Galveston, Texas found out two-and-a-half years after the fact that President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
The date is now viewed as the symbolic end of slavery in the United States.
Additional reporting by Jared Alexander
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