Stanford grad Sterling K. Brown blasts Trump’s DEI attacks at NAACP event

Sterling K. Brown, the multi-award-winning actor and proud 1998 graduate of Stanford University, used his acceptance speech at the the NAACP Image Awards Saturday to warn about the dangers of the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion programs throughout the federal government.

Brown had been honored with the trophy for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series in the post-apocalyptic drama “Paradise” when he took the stage Saturday, TV Insider reported. 

“Thank you to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. I spend a lot of time in predominantly white spaces, so it’s always a joy to be in a room with us,” the three-time Emmy Award-winning actor said. “We are living under an administration that has an attack on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, that’s trying to erase critical race theory. But like (Samuel L. Jackson) said, they can’t erase us because there is no country without us.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in July directing the Office of Management and Budget, the Attorney General and the director of the Office of Personnel Management to coordinate the termination of what he called “discriminatory” and “illegal” diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preference and activities in the federal government.

Earlier in the evening, Brown also spoke about such threats to DEI programs as he honored the late civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, TV Insider reported.

“All of us in some degree or another have spoken out, marched, protested, raised holy hell inspired by a man who now I’m sure resides with the good Lord in heaven,” the “American Fiction” star said. “And even though we can no longer hear his voice, whenever we see that a wrong must be made right, all of us can ask ourselves ‘WWJD’ — what would Jesse do?’”

“Now, I know he inspired me and changed my life,” Jackson continued. “I was lost, poor, trying to find my way. But he made me believe in myself and realize I am somebody. It doesn’t matter where you live or who you are. You matter because, say it with me, ‘I am somebody.’ You can overcome any obstacle because ‘I am somebody.’ And we will continue his mission and carry the torch he lit and keep hope alive. And we will not be erased from this country’s history because we are somebody.”

In Brown’s speech, he also expressed paid tribute to some women in his life, including his wife and “better half,” Ryan Michelle Bathe, and his mother, Aralean Brown, TV Insider reported. Brown said his mother has been “living bravely with ALS for the past eight years. Mama, I love you so much, and I wouldn’t be here without you.”

When the St. Louis, Missouri, native attended Stanford, he initially majored in business, thinking he needed a career that would allow him to “make bank” to support himself and his family, he said as the university’s 2018 commencement speaker. But he always loved acting and switched his major to drama. After getting an MFA at New York City University’s Tisch School of the Arts, he worked steadily in TV, film and theater.

Brown’s breakthrough year as an actor came in 2016, when he starred in the FX miniseries, “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” playing Richmond native Christopher Darden and winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He won his second Emmy Award for his starring role in the TV drama, “This Is Us.” For that role, as Randall Pearson, he also became the first Black actor to win both the Screen Actors Guild award and Golden Globe for best actor in a dramatic series.