June 3 (UPI) -- Phoebe Robinson wants others to know that black people are "not just the trauma they endure."
The 35-year-old actress, writer and comedian said on Tuesday's episode of The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon that she wants others to see black people as "multi-dimensional people" following George Floyd's death.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died last week in Minneapolis, Minn., while being restrained by a police officer who knelt on his neck. A bystander filmed the incident and the footage circulated online.
Robinson said she "can't watch" the video and warned against how such footage dehumanizes the victim and replaces the person's identity in some people's eyes.
"Outside of this moment, outside of the uprising that's happening, what I want on a day-to-day level to happen going forward is to see black people as not just the trauma they endure but as multi-dimensional people who have jobs, who have kids, who have family members," Robinson said.
"I think on a day-to-day level, we need to have conversations with each other, we need to listen to black people ... and sort of just remembering that we are full people that are happy," she added. "And yes, we deal with a lot of adversity in terms of racism, but that's not my entire life."
Robinson said watching the video of Floyd's death or similar footage ends up being "harmful" to social change.
"I think not seeing us as human allows these videos to constantly just stay on loop every few years, and I think that's really harmful," she said. "I really want the takeaway to be ... that you see black people for all that they are."
Robinson encouraged people to educate themselves on social justice and become more involved in their communities.
"We really, truly have to look at our institutions that we so blindly trust in some ways, whether it's local government, federal government or the police," the star said. "I think we really have to start being more active in our communities ... instead of just only being shocked and awed when things really go haywire."
"In the workplace, if you hear of a job listing, make sure you're not just referring it to your white friends but your black friends," she suggested. "I see a lot of people on social media ... they may donate, and I'm like, 'That's fantastic, but if you aren't having conversations about race with your children, that's also part of the problem.'"
Robinson co-hosted the podcast 2 Dope Queens, which inspired a 2018 HBO special. She recently appeared in the Michelle Obama docuseries Becoming and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race.
