Sterling K. Brown

that with young black men, they were being tracked towards the lowest common denominator.

They weren't being encouraged to make the most of whatever potential they had at their disposal.

And she's like, I want you to maximize whatever it is that God has given you.

So she put me in this environment and I resisted it at first, but after a year of resistance,

It was like joy.

I was student council president.

I was a geek for acting.

I did football, basketball, track.

I did community service.

I got to be every facet of myself.

That's rad.

That's what my friends would say.

So what, you're going to walk around in tights or something?

I was like, there's more than just tights, homie.

There's all kinds of things.

Turn on the TV.

Nobody's in tights.

Some friendships melted because you're like, oh, these people who I cared about and grew up with or whatnot have something that they're dealing with that they're placing on me.

So I'm like, I'm not going to carry too much.

My next door neighbor and I both wound up going to Stanford.