Randall Pearson's Black rage fatigue is the realest thing This Is Us has ever shown

Mashable

"While this show has never shied away from portraying the difficulties Randall experienced growing up as a Black adoptee in a white family, the Season 5 premiere showed what happens when that Black adoptee reaches the natural conclusion of his experience: the f*ck-’em plateau," says Alexis Nedd. "The f*ck-’em plateau is an emotional state reached when a Black person lives every day in their body while constantly dealing with microaggressions, institutional barriers, fear of bodily harm, pain when that harm arrives, loss when another one of us is wrenched from our community, and the added pressure of having to function in a white-dominated society despite these feelings, and realizes that one more second spent focusing on other people’s perceptions is one second he doesn’t have to waste. The f*ck-’em plateau is the space where Randall’s priorities shifted from 'appearing okay because minding white people’s emotions is his thing' to 'taking care of himself at the cost of other people’s feelings, because f*ck ’em.'"