-Welcome back to the show. -Thank you.
So good to have you here.
Um, there are so many things that you're working on,
and today's one of those crazy days
where I'm sure you're torn
between what's happening in the news,
what's happening in life.
Um, let's start with the news today.
-Mm. -I'm sure you were also watching what was happening,
um, in-in the Supreme Court nomination hearing.
You're somebody who's been involved avidly in politics.
-Mm. -Just from your point of view,
when you were watching what happened today,
what would you say was your visceral feeling?
Outrage. (laughs)
Um... I... first and foremost, uh...
love Dr. Ford for her heroic actions that she took.
Um, I believe Dr. Ford.
Um, and I watched,
as a survivor of sexual assault myself,
a very public display of what happens
-to survivors when they dare speak up. -Right.
And I can't imagine a more credible,
uh, composed woman,
uh, sitting in her position
and doing the amazing job that she did
to-to tell her truth and speak her voice.
And then to watch, um, a man-child sort of...
(laughter)
...blubber through his own testimony is enraging.
I'm so sick of seeing competent, intelligent,
credible women come up against men-children
and-and be suppressed.
It's-it's enraging, and it's...
And what happens tomorrow or tonight--
um, it's not just a vote.
It's a... it's a referendum on what we are as a country.
-Right. -What are we willing to accept?
Where are we really?
And how much longer are women's lives
and women's dignity going to come secondary
to the needs of powerful men?
(applause and cheering)
Wow.
The...
The story of America is...
so beautifully contained in this book.
And off what you were just saying now,
in many ways, for many people, it feels like America's
in a space of multiple referendums now.
You know, the midterms are coming up.
People are saying that's going to be a referendum on Trump.
Every single election feels like the people speaking out.
This book is really something different.
American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures.
You've collected a group of really amazing people--
everyone from Uzo Aduba to Lin-Manuel Miranda, Roxane Gay--
and you got people to write really personal accounts
of just who they are, what makes them who they are,
and how... being different
has helped them find who they are,
but also how it's excluded them from the world.
How did you even begin this journey,
and how did you get these people to write in the book?
Yeah. Um, well, you know, I... the more and more I think
about... our country,
the more I believe that this American experiment,
it's a storytelling experiment.
It's sort of whose story gets told.
You know, and who has control over which stories get told
and which stories get believed.
And... and, you know, for me,
I-I... I grew up feeling...
100% American.
-Right. -I mean, I could have bled red, white and blue
as a nine-year-old child.
I believed everything I had been taught,
that this is America, and in America
all you have to do is work hard and believe that you're equal
to everyone else, and that everyone else is equal to you,
-and nothing is impossible. -Right.
And I believed that.
And-and it wasn't until other people let me know
that I wasn't American like them
that... that my eyes were open to that.
-Right. -And-and...
and the space that I have inhabited for a lot of my life,
the place between feeling 100% American
but being told that others saw me not as that,
and then also feeling Latina
and-and deeply rooted to my family's culture and history,
um, but also being told that I really wasn't that either.
-Right. -So I sort of lived in a no-man's land.
And I felt so alone and isolated in that experience,
and when I realized that so many other people
felt that way, too, I-I...
I realized that it was because our stories never get told.
-Right. -We never see our experience
woven into the narrative of what this...
who is an American and what is an American.
And I have to say, I am so upset
that patriotism has been hijacked.
Because I am a patriot.
-I am an American. I love this country. -Right.
I have always loved this country.
-(applause) -And... and...
my story is American.
It's not "immigrant American."
-No, I am an American. -Right.
And-and, so I-- for me,
it was not just about telling my story,
but it was about inviting all these other
incredible activists and writers and athletes,
and people who have contributed
to the American culture in phenomenal ways,
who, um, who don't get to tell that part of their story.
And so I reached out to them and so many of them said yes,
which I was so honored by.
And now we have this gorgeous book
that a young person can hold in their hands and see
what it means to be reflected by Americans like them.
It really is a wonderful paradox to try and absorb,
because as you're reading through the stories,
on the one hand, you're absorbing a world
that has maybe told people repeatedly that they cannot be,
but you're also speaking to people
-who've managed to overcome that. -Mm-hmm.
And I guess the moral of the story that I took from the book,
is really that no one should have to face
that obstacle in the first place.
But it really is inspiring to see all of these stories,
to see all these people coming forward.
You are somebody who's done it in your life in multiple ways.
You know, you've gone from being America Ferrera,
people go like, "Oh, you're this type of actress,"
or "you're this type of person," or "this is what you mean."
And we've seen you just grow
and blow up in multiple different roles.
I mean, like, on Superstore now, you're directing.
You know, you're getting to direct episodes.
A new season is coming up.
Are we seeing more of you in these roles?
Are you gonna be exploring more of that?
Yeah. I mean, yes, absolutely.
I have started directing.
I'm directing this season as well.
I directed in the past two seasons.
You know, I think that so much of what this book
and these stories are about, and so much about where I am,
and where I think women and people of color,
and all kinds of marginalized people
in this country are feeling is we should be able
to walk into spaces as our whole selves.
We shouldn't have to strip away the pieces of us
that aren't accepted by the mainstream culture to exist
and be accepted in spaces.
And so, for me, that means I'm an actress,
that means I'm a director, that means I'm a producer,
that means I'm an engaged citizen.
And I get to be all of those things,
no matter what room I walk in to.
You're dream...
(cheers and applause)
...is carried through in the book.
We love watching you grow.
Congratulations on the new little one in your life.
-I appreciate you so much -Oh, thank you.
for being on the show again.
American Like Me is available now.
And the fourth season of Superstore
will premiere October 4 on NBC.
America Ferrera, everybody.