Rodney J. Jackson-Brown and the Empowerment of Owning His Story

Photo provided by Rodney J. Jackson-Brown

Not many people can claim they’ve stood before Terry Crews while he did the peck dance to get them to break character, but Rodney J. Jackson-Brown, a twenty-four-year-old actor, has those bragging rights. Jackson-Brown starred alongside the Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor in an independent film, Bully, written by Jackson-Brown.

Jackson-Brown was born and raised in Lancaster, CA, a city falling within Los Angeles’ jurisdiction, even with the 77-mile difference. Filled with trials and tribulations, his road to acting and screenwriting was not easy, having faced familiar challenges.

Separation and foster care system

Facing eviction from their home, a young Jackson-Brown, along with his two siblings and mother, experienced a traumatic separation as police in full gear broke through the door the night before the vacate date. He shares the memory of his ten-year-old self witnessing his mother’s arrest, “They were in full gear, and they arrested her in front of me. I wanted to do something, but I was afraid of getting shot.” Jackson-Brown was ten years old.

The road to writing and acting

It may have been easy for Jackson-Brown to fall victim to the child welfare system’s systemic bias and discrimination - being termed as “slavery by another came in a report titled, Entangled Roots: Role of Race in Policies that Separate Families - he reunited with his family a year later.

With the support from Ryan Gibson, a writer with 25 years under his belt, and Martin Russell Johnson, a screenwriter and director fighting for diverse representation in the industry, during class focusing on healing from trauma through the art of writing, Jackson-Brown learned the basics of scriptwriting and his short film was greenlit for production. He found his chosen family along his journey, developing friendships and mentors, including director David Mahmoudieh. 

“I’m happy I met people. David has been really supportive, and I know his family. He’s been like a father figure to me.”

Inspiration for Bully

Jackson-Brown experienced bullying firsthand growing up and wanted to tell his story, knowing others may relate to its central themes of loneliness and courage. 

Jackson-Brown dug into their own lived experience, recalling a childhood of torment by other kids and witnessing his father’s aggression, creating a story with central themes of loneliness, courage, and perseverance that others could relate to. 

With his newfound writing skill, Jackson–Brown eagerly put pen to paper or fingers to a smartphone and wrote the script to Bully on his phone.

“I didn’t have a computer or anything, so I had to use my phone,” he laughed. 

Resilience in adversity

Resiliency is a word that is often used to describe when people make it through adversities. It is paired with stories told of people making it out of dire situations. Still, when it comes to the fight against inequities in systems that function as a way to harm a group or groups of people, the word resiliency is conflated with rags to riches as a form of redemption arcs. In reality, 

Stories of rags to riches, mainly when depicting people of color, distract audiences from recognizing the systemic inequalities underlying their adversities while providing a satisfying ending. 

Rodney J Jackson-Brown’s story has not yet concluded, but so far, he’s found empowerment in telling it his own way.

Photo provided by Rodney J. Jackson-Brown