Viola Davis makes a Pittsburgh stop for Black and brown men voter summit

Actress Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder,” “Fences”) took the stage Tuesday night at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty not to discuss her latest project, but to discuss trauma and healing.

“We want an America as good as its promise, though that is a promise that we have never been part of,” Davis said.

The Summit on Black & Brown Men and the Vote featured respected figures in the Black and brown community who came together to make a plea for voting. The bipartisan event, presented by 1 Hood Media and the Hip-Hop Political Education Summit, focused on political education, opened with interviews of public figures in the Black and brown community and continued with a panel discussion between Black men.

Speakers included Davis, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, rapper Fat Joe, rapper Cordae, New York City Council member Yusef Salaam, rapper Bun B, Etna Mayor Robert Tuñón and others.

Throughout the summit, speakers analyzed trauma, what it means to live in America as a Black or Hispanic person, and how — despite the pain and sorrow within that ancestry — it underscores the urgency for these communities to vote.

“We often talk about Black joy, but there is no joy and pain exists at the same time throughout life, and if you don’t reveal the parts of yourself that have been damaged by this country, then you can’t get on the business of healing,” Davis said. “Generation after generation, we make the same mistake of not revealing that sorrow.”

Davis spoke about the maternal mortality rate of Black women, environmental racism and the loneliness of Black men.

“I’ve had a big revelation in these last few years: There is beauty in being at rock bottom, and everything you have ever dreamed of is in the pain you don’t want to feel,” she said.

She noted that any apathy Black and brown people may feel toward voting often is due to the dismay and discrimination that come with being Black or brown in this country.

“We haven’t healed yet; there is no healing if there is no acknowledgment of the pain,” Davis said.

For those considering not voting, she said that cannot be an option.

“We have the opportunity to make this country work for us,” she said.

The event was a collaboration between 1 Hood Media, the Hip-Hop Political Education Summit, National Urban League, Black Voters Matter, Hip-Hop Caucus and Rolling Sea Action Fund.

“We really have to believe that our time is now, and the election is so important this year. Democracy is truly at stake,” said Jarrod Williams, director of development and external relations at the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. “Organizing in this way is crucial, telling our story as to why voting is important and why we are important.”

Shayne Coles, 24, of Penn Hills attended the event to show her support.

“I want to stand with Black people,” Coles said.

Derrick Lee, 41, of Fox Chapel attended because he wanted to learn more.

“This election is not looking good, and you want to be in the middle and pick the lesser of two evils,” he said.

But as he reflected on the election cycle, he sighed. “It’s a little hectic, chaotic and feels more like a show and less about the politics and policies,” Lee said.

Tuñón, the first Latino mayor of Etna, said he took racist comments about Puerto Rico made at a pro-Trump rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden personally, seeing them as disrespectful to the Hispanic community.

“The entertainment has been at our expense,” Davis said.

Carlos Thomas, communications and community engagement specialist at Operation Better Block, attended the summit.

“It was very powerful,” Thomas said. “I think Black men in this city and in this region need to hear these conversations more often, especially about the trauma that exists around why we don’t vote and how we vote … those conversations need to be unpacked.”

He left feeling more energized than when he arrived.

“There’s always more work left to do,” he said. “I feel more energized to fight just because now I have the visual of people fighting with me, which sometimes does not always happen.”