On This Is Us Tuesday, the long-awaited conversation about racism between fan favorite characters Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Kevin Pearson (Justin Hartley) finally took place. In the scene Randall and Kevin are locked out of the house and forced to confront their childhood head-on in a conversation about racism straight on. ‘This Is Us’ has ‘uncomfortable’ conversation about racism
“I want you to admit that you’ve always resented the fact that I’m Black,” says Randall. “And not just as kids, man. Last year you told me to my face that the worst thing that ever happened to you was me being bought home to your family.”
The cult following of the show have been waiting multiple seasons for this exchange, but it bled out on the streets during the Season 4 finale, when Kevin and Randall got into a heated argument on Madison’s front yard, during Randall discovery of his suppressed emotions about being adopted into a white family. ‘This Is Us’ has ‘uncomfortable’ conversation about racism
Randall deals with his emotional anxiety and his mental health journey was a heightening topic that black men, especially gravitated.
“I never wanted to be special, man. I just wanted to blend in like everybody else. But that was impossible in our family, because I always stood out. Everywhere we went. The store, the park, vacations. And the last thing I needed, man, the last thing, was for my brother to use my Blackness against me,” Randall explained to Kevin before admitting, “You had racial blind spots, Kev. Deep ones that affected me.”
After apologizing to Randall for the times he felt alone during their childhood, Randall thanked Kevin for his rehearsed apology. “You’re just glossing over one overt moment of racism with an obviously prepared speech of things that you think I want to hear,” said Randall. “That is not taking responsibility. After all these years, you’re still so tone-deaf, man.”
While the tension of the conversation felt “uncomfortable” to some viewers, it was a necessary one to have on-screen and an important one to have in real life, which is why fans of the show took to social media Tuesday night to commend This Is Us for its progressive, authentic and honest conversation about racism.
“This Is Us” chronicles the Pearson family across the decades: from Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) as young parents in the 1980s to their 37-year-old kids Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) searching for love and fulfillment in the present day.
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