Colman Domingo echoes Tyrese‘s viral comment: Black men cry.
Domingo is currently promoting his partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to promote racial healing. He’s also promoting Sing Sing, a movie that came out in July that challenges traditional imagery of Black masculinity.
Recently, Domingo and WKKF CEO La June Montgomery Tabron spoke to rolling out about the community collaboration and what masculinity looks like.
Colman, you’ve been the talk of 2024 with your red carpet looks; you’ve been putting it on.
Colman Domingo: I put it on because I know I’m representing a lot of us. Images like what I look like, how I stand, and what I wear [are] significant. I mean, I’m very intentional about all of it because I know I represent all these Black and Brown men. I make sure when they see me, they see grace, they see love, they see us being meticulous. I know I represent so many of us, and I know that people may have images of us that are not true. So I feel like, for me, I have to stand tall for you, Rashad.
What is Racial Healing Day about?
La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the Kellog Foundation: The day was envisioned by the community, and it is a day of taking action toward creating a society where the color of your skin doesn’t determine your outcomes, where you can dream and have opportunities and access to capital to become entrepreneurs, whatever your heart’s desire.
We know we need racial equity in this nation, and we believe the pathway to that is through racial healing. [Racial healing] is about connecting people, sharing our stories, our backgrounds, speaking about our humanity, and creating a level of empathy amongst us so that together, we can do the work to create a society that works for all of us.
The date — the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day — [is intentional]. It is the day following hearing of such a great visionary leader. … We wanted it to be … the day that we all take action, that we do our work in our communities, and we create the vision that MLK shared with us, where every person thrives.
Colman mentioned how his latest film, Sing Sing, challenges traditional masculinity. Tyrese went viral this week on “The Breakfast Club” for saying Black men cry. It’s also a big discussion whenever Van Jones cries on CNN.
CD: Because we have this whole stigma attached to Black men, that whether we impose it upon ourselves or whether the world has imposed it on us, that takes us away from being human.
We have all these feelings, and for us to acknowledge we have all these feelings and to be tender and soft has nothing to do with your masculinity. If anything, it makes you a bit more human. I think that’s the way we heal ourselves. When people come and see Sing Sing, they’ll see these hyper-masculine dudes allowing each other to have all the feelings and all the heart. It has nothing to do with sexuality whatsoever. It has to do with being human. And that’s the beauty. And I think that’s revolutionary, and the revolution does what? It starts within.
