All language subtitles for MasterClass LeVar Burton Teaches the Power of Storytelling - 13 Who Tells Your Story

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I believe representation
matters because it's really

difficult to form a healthy
self-image unless you can see

yourself reflected
in popular culture.

I grew up in an era where it
was rare to see Black people

on TV and in magazines.

The places where I saw
Black people represented

were on the news, especially
during the Vietnam War era,

where the majority
of our soldiers being

sent into the theater of
war were young Black men,

and, you know, on TV in
less than elevated positions

in society.

Representation matters.

You know, Alex
Haley used to say--

and I know people have said it
before him and many after him--

history is written
by the winners.

He who controls the
narrative controls reality.

Right?

So the notion that
there are voices

that are a part of the
conversation that are absent

is exactly why
representation matters.

This experiment that we
are currently engaged in

was designed, I believe,
to include all of us,

that we would not get the
full value of being human

unless and until we were able to
value everyone's contribution.

And we haven't gotten there yet.

There have been flashes.

And so representation has
to be at the forefront

of our experience of
storytelling and communicating

because we aren't meant
to leave anybody out

of the conversation.

When I was growing up,
it was almost unheard of

to see people dealing
with physical challenges

as a part of a
narrative storytelling

in popular culture.

You just didn't
see, necessarily,

people in wheelchairs.

I think Raymond
Burr as "Ironside"

was the first time
in my lifetime

that I can remember a
person in a wheelchair,

not that the wheelchair
defined the character.

But what I was
experiencing was a person

who lived their life
from a wheelchair

and how it was possible to
live a completely fulfilling

existence from a chair.

Those kinds of examples
in our storytelling

normalize the vast breadth
of human experience

that can tend to
be put aside, that

can tend to be marginalized by
the virtue of the infrequency

with which we encounter them.

Being someone who represented
the sightless and the visually

challenged on "Star Trek"--

it gave so many people-- you
have no idea how many times

a week I hear from someone that
they felt seen and represented,

that Geordi was important for
them because he spoke for them.

He was a proxy for them.

They could see
themselves in him.

Absent representations
of ourselves,

it is hard as a human being to
develop a healthy self-image.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

By not limiting our
individual voices,

we are contributing to
the great tapestry that

is storytelling on this
planet at this particular time

in our history.

By not allowing our
voices to be silenced

by ensuring that we
speak up and speak out,

we are staking a claim to a
piece of the conversation.

Right?

The idea that no one
can silence my voice

that I don't give permission
to in the silencing.

I have to cooperate
with your ability

to silence me today in order
for my voice to be unheard.

Now, that's important to
me because, personally, I

feel like I have value.

And I feel like I
have something to say.

What's more, I feel
like you have value

and that you have
something to say.

And she has value and
she has something to say.

I believe we all are a
piece of this puzzle.

And the only way we're going
to put the puzzle together

in total is by welcoming all the
disparate voices to the table.

There is more
commonality in humanity

than there is difference.

We have the same hopes.

We have the same dreams.

We want safety, security
for our families.

We thrive on clean air, clean
water, and enough nourishing

food to eat.

That doesn't change based
on where you were born

or what color your
skin is or the gender

you were assigned at birth.

We have this amazing opportunity
as human beings to choose--

to choose our own path,
to choose our direction,

to choose our experience.

And that's God-given.

You can't take that away from
a person and claim to be human.

We all have a
contribution to make.

And it's incumbent upon us
as a society to make room

for all of those voices.

And further, if you don't
find that there's room,

if you don't feel like
there's room for your voice,

then dammit, get
your elbows going

and forge a place for yourself.

Get active.

Get loud.

Get in there.

And express yourself anyway.

Because the act
of self-expression

is an affirmation
that I am here,

that I am alive, that I am
vital, and that I matter.

Using one's voice is a
radical act of humanity.

Because the first thing that
one does in trying to dominate

and trying to enslave
is to take away

a person's voice, their agency,
and speaking for themselves.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

For me, it's important
to expose ourselves

to stories that don't
emanate from our experience

so that we can learn and grow.

I recently had a
conversation with a friend.

And I've known this person
for a long, long time.

And I love this person.

Our families have shared
experiences together.

There is a history that we have.

However, I have
been very disturbed

with some of the things
that this person had

been posting on social media.

And I sort of--

I held it in.

I held it in.

I held it in.

And in this new effort of mine
to really walk what I talk,

right, I decided that it was
important for me to safely

and as successfully as
I was able to engage

in a conversation.

And so I wrote in the
comments, we need to talk.

And this person wrote back
very quickly, any time.

And so I took some deep breaths.

And I dialed the number,
remembering, of course,

that I wanted to communicate.

I wanted to be effective.

I didn't necessarily
need to be right.

But what I wanted
to know was, what

was it about the idea of
Black Lives Matter that seemed

to disturb this person so much?

And I was able to, in a very
open and nonjudgmental way,

explain to her that when
I said Black Lives Matter,

it comes from a
place of never having

mattered before in this
culture, in this country.

And that the idea that when
I say Black Lives Matter--

your response is all
lives matter or blue lives

matter is yet another way
to ignore my humanity.

What I was able to take
away from the conversation

was her point of view.

And her point of view was
that even though there

is such a thing as
systemic racism in America,

she didn't have the
experience that I

have had of what it means,
practically speaking,

to be othered in this society.

It's not an experience
she was familiar with.

So she had no real
frame of reference.

Intellectually, she
could understand.

But on an emotional level?

On an emotional level, she
didn't have the ability

to get to where I was
coming from until I was

able to break it down for her.

Conversely, I truly understand
that her life of privilege,

as I interpret it,
was not her fault.

And she said something
really interesting to me.

She said that I feel like I'm
being blamed for something

as a white person.

And my response to her
was, I'm not trying

to blame you for anything.

I simply want you to understand
where I'm coming from.

Right?

And it's the simple act of
being civil to one another

that really makes
the difference.

Right?

I know that these necessary
conversations are hard.

I know it's going to take a
lot of patience and courage

and listening to one another.

And that really requires an
ability to put aside one's ego.

Again, do I want to be right?

Or do I want to be effective?

I have decided in my life that
I want to stand for what's true.

I want to engage
in ideas, feelings,

actions that are true.

And that's the North Star
that I use when storytelling.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Stories like "Roots" can
help further the conversation

about justice and
equality in this country

by the very nature of the truth
that they bring to the table.

Right?

Again, I don't
believe that America

has done a very good
job of telling ourselves

the true nature of our story.

We lie to ourselves
an awful lot.

The story of Black
people in America--

we didn't come here
because we wanted to.

We didn't immigrate willfully.

We were brought here in chains.

And then we became
an inconvenience

to white normative culture.

And they didn't know
what to do with us.

And so they continued
to oppress us

because it made them feel
better about their lot in life.

It made them feel better
about their existence

to have someone that
they could rely upon that

was beneath their stature.

That's on you.

That's not on me.

Yeah, we're all human.

We're all fallible.

We're all capable of inflicting
tremendous pain on one another.

And it is never
appropriate to ignore it

when we do engage in
that kind of behavior

because we learn nothing from
it if we don't acknowledge

the truth.

We have not
acknowledged the truth

in America of the systemic,
the generational damage that

was done.

Why?

Because it reminds us
that we haven't always

been at our best.

It reminds us that there
has been an imbalance

and unfairness that has been
enacted in our lives that

is inappropriate.

It is, in fact, shameful.

It's shame-inducing.

But America has not indulged
itself in the shame necessary.

We haven't acknowledged it.

We'd rather ignore it in the
hopes that it'll go away.

But it won't.

I think that the
job of a storyteller

is that of a truth-teller.

You got to bring the truth.

You have to be willing to stand
in your truth and express it.

Because if you don't,
it just gives people

permission to forget,
to ignore, to obfuscate,

to change the narrative.

I think, in part,
I feel like a part

of my journey in
this lifetime is

to remind us of the truth of
the Black experience in America.

Part of my journey
is to remind us

of the power and potential
of our imaginations

as they are expressed in
science fiction and thoughts,

contemplations on the future.

I feel like part
of my destiny is

to be here and stand for
literacy, for knowledge,

for learning, especially
where children

are concerned because they are
the most vulnerable among us.

And they are what
this is all about--

those who take over
when our time is done.

So that now, at this point in my
life, this point in my journey,

I feel like I have
valuable stories to share.

[LAUGHING]

And when I do this,
when I do my job,

I really feel the rightness
of who I am and why I'm here.

And there's no better
feeling than that--

not for me, anyway--

to feel the rightness of
who I am and what I'm doing.

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