#StayWoke: Audra McDonald Gets Candid About Race On The Nightly Show

“I also feel so badly for Trayvon Martin’s family, because every single time this shit stain comes back up and he tries to gain notoriety from this horrible thing that he did they have to relive [it] over and over and over again!”

These were the words six time Tony winner Audra McDonald delivered passionately on Comedy Central’s “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore”. The Broadway actress, who is still making promotional appearances for her current show, Shuffle Along Or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, took part in a panel discussion. Here, Larry Wilmore along with two Nightly Show contributors and McDonald, discussed the hot topic of George Zimmerman, murderer (we know he wasn’t convicted. We don’t care) of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, and the auction he started to sale the murder weapon used in that particular crime that was soon taken down.

It’s no secret that McDonald is passionate about equality across race, gender and sexuality. In fact, if you follow her on Twitter, she is very vocal about her stance on these subjects. But, rarely do we hear the Broadway Queen speak so candidly about Race in actual interviews. There could be many explanations for this. One of them being that the Broadway community, specifically media outlets, are predominately white and therefore aren’t quite sure of how to initiate or cultivate a conversation on Race with her. Women’s rights? Yes. LGBTQ rights? Yes. Race? Not so much. This is no fault of the actress. She simply can’t answer questions that aren’t asked and there is always the chance she may come off  as “too militant” if she spoke on the subject too often (re: predominately white community).

During the round table discussion, McDonald delivered her most woke statement, saying, “I tell you what. I know this much. That if Trayvon had been a white child and George Zimmerman had been a Black man, and even IF he had ended up being acquitted with the Stand Your Ground law, they would never in a million years have given him back the gun!” (This is where I shouted and damn near threw my shoe at my television, because the Truth she had just delivered made me catch the Holy Ghost. Even now in this coffee shop I’m rocking like a deaconess on the front pew whose obnoxious church hat is barely holding on! MY GOD!) Those words delivered by THAT woman with that amount of certainty gave a feeling too powerful for words.

Her appearance on The Nightly Show was definitely one for the books and her words are very much appreciated. To you, Audra McDonald, we say– #StayWoke *insert Black Power fist*!

Click here to catch Audra along with Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Joshua Henry and Brandon Victor Dixon in one of the most spectacular musicals on Broadway, Shuffle Along! A behind the scenes and aftermath story of the American classic that introduced jazz to theatre directed by George C. Wolfe and choreographed by Savion Glover.