Rights Action recommends Democracy Now!’s 3-part report honoring the life, vision, work and resistance struggles of Harry Belafonte.
“[Democracy Now!] remembers the remarkable life of Harry Belafonte, the pioneering actor, singer and civil rights activist, who died at his home on Tuesday in New York at the age of 96. The son of Jamaican immigrants, Belafonte rose to stardom in the 1950s and became the first artist to sell a million records with his album Calypso. He was also the first African American actor to win an Emmy.
“Along with his growing fame, Belafonte became deeply involved in the civil rights movement. One of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest confidants, he helped to organize the March on Washington in 1963 and frequently raised money to bail activists out of jail and fund their activities throughout the South.
“Belafonte was also a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy, calling for an end to the embargo against Cuba, supporting the anti-apartheid movement and opposing policies of war and global oppression. He spoke out against the U.S. invasion of Iraq and once called George W. Bush the “greatest terrorist in the world.””
Part 1 “Sing Your Song”: Remembering Harry Belafonte, Who Used His Stardom to Help MLK & Civil Rights Movement
Listen/Watch: https://www.democracynow.org/2023/4/26/remembering_harry_belafonte_democracy_now
Part 2 - Harry Belafonte in His Own Words on Opposing Iraq War & Calling George W. Bush a “Terrorist”
Listen/Watch: https://www.democracynow.org/2023/4/26/rip_harry_belafonte
“This is not the first time that we as a people have been misled by the leadership. We were misled by those who created the falseness of the Bay of Tonkin, which falsely led us into a war with Vietnam. We lied to the American people about Grenada and what was going on in that tiny island. We lied to the American people about Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba and many places in the world.”
Part 3 - “Get Down to Business”: Harry Belafonte in 2016 on Trump, Socialism & Fighting for Justice
Listen/Watch: https://www.democracynow.org/2023/4/26/harry_belafonte_life_and_legacy
“The Ku Klux Klan, is not something that has been out of our basic purview of thought. The Ku Klux Klan, for some of us, is a constant — has a constant existence. It isn’t until it touches certain aspects of white America that white America all of the sudden wakes up to the fact that there is something called the Klan.”
“But we blew this thing a long time ago. When they started the purge against communism in this country and against the voices of those who saw hope in a design for socialist theory and for the sharing of wealth and for the equality of humankind. When we abandoned our vision and vigils on that topic, I think we sold out ourselves.”
