Colman Domingo pens powerful guest column for Deadline

Colman Domingo declares that “There is no time for easy anymore” in his essay.

Fear the Walking Dead star Colman Domingo wrote a powerful essay titled “There Is No Time For Easy Anymore” for Deadline on Tuesday that connects legendary musician Nat King Cole and the tragedy of George Floyd.

While working on a musical about the life of Nat King Cole, Domingo and his writing partner Patricia McGregor discovered that what Cole was feeling in the 1950s is still very much alive in the hearts of black people today. Cole was quoted in a 1958 Ebony magazine article as saying “Madison Avenue is Afraid of the Dark” and there was no mistaking his message back then just as there is no denying it today.

The death of George Floyd hit Domingo hard. He describes waking up in tears over the past week, and that his “soul aches” as a result of what’s happening in America. The tears, though, are giving rise to action, and a call to action. “I am holding everyone who is trying to stay silent in this fight accountable,” he wrote.

As Domingo brought his powerful message to a close, he ended with a call to action:

"I am coming at you with as much love and grace that I can muster, but the fires that are burning in the streets are the fires that have been burning in the hearts of all of your fellow citizens who have demanded to be treated fairly by our system for centuries. This is 2020 and the time is now. Stand with all of us. Taking a knee didn’t work. It is time to stand."

AMC and members of the Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead cast joined in the movement, posting black squares on their social media while some, like Alycia Debnam-Carey, offered a list of organizations to support.

There are a number of ways you can support Black Lives Matter, from donations to volunteering to showing up for peaceful protests. What matters more than anything, though, is that you do something.

Domingo’s essay was published on Blackout Tuesday, a day where social media was filled with black squares in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Hashtags were left off these posts so that important messages could rise up through the noise of social media to reach those who need them the most.

Though the Black Lives Matter movement is so much more than a social media hashtag, seeing so many people joining together in a sign of support and solidarity was inspiring. But it must be more than inspiring. It has to be.

Now, as Domingo says, it is time to take a stand.