Black History Month kicked off with a bang at the annual brunch sponsored by UNM Africana Studies. The keynote speech was presented by Levar Burton, known for his starring role as Kunta Kinte in “Roots,” as Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and as the executive producer and host of the PBS children’s series “Reading Rainbow.”
Photo: LeVar Burton
Underlying the many roles Burton has played as actor, director, producer and writer is the fundamental role of educator. He opened his speech with the name of his mother, Erma Christian Burton, who was an English teacher. “Whenever I speak in front of a crowd, I like to mention my mother’s name, because she was my first teacher.” He said among the many gifts she gave him, “at the top of the list is a love for the written word.”
Burton said that most of the women on his mother’s side were educators, while most of the men on his father’s side were ministers. Early on, he had wanted to be a priest, but he later left seminary and transferred his passion to theatre as another “way to express the written in spoken form.”
Burton received a scholarship to study drama at the University of Southern California. “My mother told me I would inherit a world that would sometimes be hostile to my presence… and the best weapon in my arsenal would be a good education,” he said.
It was while studying at USC that he had the opportunity to audition for the role that launched his career. He said he was drawn to Kunta Kinte because he was a warrior.
Because his background was primarily in stage acting, there was some hesitation before Burton got the part. “Everyone was in my corner, but no one wanted to pull the trigger on giving the lead role to the one actor who had never been in front of a camera,” he said. He recalled the moment his persistence paid off: “The producer came out and said ‘pack your bags, kid, you’re going to Savannah.’”
Burton said the network executives were also uncertain about whether the mini series could garner an audience – surprising as it may seem to those who grew up with the legacy of “Roots.” “Back in 1977, we watched ‘Roots’ as a nation,” he said. “The final episode of ‘Roots’ is still the most watched episode in the history of television.”
“When I was growing up, it was really a cause for celebration to see people of color on TV,” he said. “‘Roots’ was very revolutionary in the landscape of television simply for telling the story of slavery.”
“Star Trek” also played a role in revolutionizing the landscape of television. “Gene Roddenberry was a visionary. He fought the network tooth and nail to have a Russian and a black woman and a Japanese man on the bridge of the ship,” Burton said.
Burton stressed the power of television – and the responsibility to use it wisely. “Television is the most powerful tool in the history of humanity for social change,” he said. “All television is education. The question is, what are you learning?”
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593; e-mail: michal@unm.edu