Speaking through a raspy voice from shouts of protest, Trevon Carr, an actor based in North Carolina, sat down with us last week to discuss his experiences with racism and social justice.

 

How long have you worked with Theater Delta? 

I actually started a year ago – another actor dropped out at the very last minute and one of my best friends was in the performance and referred me to Lyn. It was nearly 5:00pm when I received her email and I knew her office was closing at six. I was jogging when I heard from her and I just ran straight to my car and drove an hour to make it! A week of four rehearsals later we were on our flight.

What kinds of roles have you played with us?

I played Shawn in “What’s Your Problem?” – his character is a new kid at school, kinda a guy who wasn’t raised to respect women, but he also faces discrimination in the scene due to his race.

He has to have a lesson, he really brings up the topic that no one really wants to talk about… the reason the other two characters have a conflict is because of him. [His character is in the unique position of being targeted for his identity and perpetuating microaggressions based on gender and observing microaggressive behavior between other characters.]  He brings out all three problems in the scene.

Were there ways in which you identified with Shawn?

When I first read it, I could relate to the role (well part of it, my mom would kill me if I ever disrespected a woman – if that ever happened she would appear out of nowhere!) 

In the scene, the female character assumes he’s on the basketball team because he is black. While I was an athlete, I also faced instances where assumptions were made because of my skin tone. I felt very connected to this part of the character, and felt I could bring it to a place where the voice wasn’t hollow. 

In what ways have you been personally affected by racism?

Oh yeah. When I was 14 or 15, me, my brother and our cousin were just walking around the electronic section at Target. Something made them suspicious – I had no idea why, I had on a bright yellow hoodie, ha – but they had the security guards follow us around the store. I didn’t even realize it until I got to the front of the store and my mom pointed him out. She later sat me down and shared: You have a target on your back just from being black. I haven’t stepped foot into the store since.

I got my driver’s license at 18, when most of my friends got theirs at 16. My parents sat me down and shared about the dangers of driving – and I’m not just talking about car accidents and speeding.  When we get our license we have an automatic target on our backs. Being black is the first strike against us. 

How do you cope with these experiences? 

It’s hard to. I was mad at the time, I’m still angry today, but we have to numb it because if we don’t, we live in more fear than we already do. 

Education is the way our community is going to work together. 

What do you wish other people could understand about race in America?

Everyone knows there is a problem, everyone knows it, I don’t want people to be colorblind. That’s not what our country needs. Our country is a beautiful place because it has so many cultures and colors.

I would like others to want to walk in someone else’s shoes, to see how they are affected, what the day-to-day is for a black person. If they could understand where someone else is coming from, it can help them respect how we have to live. 

I can speak on being black in America… when I go jogging at night I can’t wear a black shirt, my black nike pants; if I am wearing black it turns into – “he might be a threat.” And, being in the theater world, after performances when the cast wants to go out to eat to celebrate but it’s 10 o’clock at night, I say no because I don’t feel safe going out that late.   

Just think of what America would be without:

– Alexander Miles – the inventor of the elevator.

– Philip Downing -made the mailbox. Before that, everyone had to drive 15 minutes or more just to get their mail.

– George Crum – HE MADE CHIPS! His parents were slaves, he had a fifth grade education, but now every time you go for a snack, you can thank him!

– Garrett Morgan – added the yellow in between the green and red to traffic lights. Think about the amount of deaths he has prevented. 

These are just the few things that came from our culture. Educate yourself and see what your everyday life would be like without us, and you would appreciate where we stand now.

Is there anything else you would say to someone who is digging into these issues for the first time?

I want people to know : It’s not black vs. white, this is everybody vs racism. That’s where we stand. 

A lot of people don’t want to look up documentaries because the pictures are so gruesome. You will see Emmett Till, the Freedom Rides, bus raids with bullets. But it is important.

One movie I would recommend is Just Mercy – this movie will tell you exactly what it was like to live in Alabama and be black.