Don, have you seen that sort of political momentum come from anything you’ve worked on or been a part of?
Cheadle: My entry point to a lot of activism that I got involved with came after Hotel Rwanda, and having congressmen and women, Democrats and Republicans, come to a screening at MGM. [Then US House of Representatives members] Ed Royce and, I want to say, Donald Payne asked me to accompany them on a congressional delegation to Chad, because we couldn’t get into Sudan or Darfur, to discuss what was happening there, and they thought that the film was—not a one to one, but it had a lot of similar dynamics to what was happening inside of Sudan, and they wanted to bring attention to it, and they said they think this film could do it, and would you come with us?
And I was like, Of course.
So I went and Paul Rusesabagina, who I played in the movie, came, and John Prendergast. We all went and then snuck into Darfur after the congressmen and women left, and actually went to a couple campsites, and saw what was happening there. And then we were able to get Nightline involved, and they came and shot, and they just started this ball rolling, where I was really not leading anything, but I was pulled into the current of activists and advocates, and mostly young people, that really do work in this world and had been doing this work for years before.
And then I really saw the usefulness of celebrity. I realized I am being put out front as this bright, shiny object, to get people’s attention, to throw the attention where it deserves to be. And I was like, “Oh, there is a usefulness in this. There is actually something more to this than just cutting lines and getting a table at whatever restaurant.” There’s a real currency for this.
I always spoke up, and I was always willing to stick my neck out for the things I believed in. I think it came from my parents, who always told me, “You can finish fights. We don’t want you out there just starting dumb fights, but you can finish any fight. And show up for people and speak up for people.”
I should say, now, in some ways, it’s devolved further than it was before we got involved. It’s in complete disarray now. But the pressure was real. I knew how strong what we were doing politically was when I was asked to testify at the Senate, and the State Department got wind of me coming. So Condoleezza Rice said, “Oh, you’ve got to come meet with me.”
So I went, met with her, and she introduced me to her African Affairs person, and she told me a bunch of stuff about what they were doing, and it sounded just, like, gobbledygook to me, and she said, “Let’s take some pics.”
