Harry Belafonte - Unashamedly Revolutionary

Richard S. Dunn –  April 29, 2023

“The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.” Those words were spoken by the late Paul Robeson, illustrious actor, singer, sculptor, and twice All-American football player. “Robeson believed in merging artistic excellence with his political, social and moral ideology;” says Paul Von Blum author of Paul Robeson for Beginners, and a senior lecturer in African American Studies and Communication Studies at UCLA. Robeson had admonished us, that those of us in the Arts (and I add  professionals), should use our position to uplift our people.

Harry Belafonte – The Artist as Revolutionary

The consummate artiste, revolutionary and humanitarian the late Harry Belafonte, brought the above theories of Paul Robeson to life, and made them his lifelong modus operandi. Belafonte passed away at the age of 96 on April 25, 2023 at his home in Harlem, New York. According to our cultural and philosophical teachings of Maat and Kawaida, Belafonte did not become an ancestor just because he passed away, but moreso; he lived a life of struggle and commitment in actively uplifting his community. Harry Belafonte did exactly that and more; he lived an exemplary life worth emulating by those in entertainment, politics, sports, and just ordinary everyday life. The corporate media have been bombarding us with endless clips and comments regarding his singing and hit songs, using terms like “icon” and his accomplished “firsts.”

The term “icon” is distracting and mischievously misleading and trivializes progressive political thought and activism; it is a media construct to diminish the importance and potentially ideological impact, socially and politically that Belafonte has had on the Nation and globally.  Once again, the enemy is shaping the narrative with the intent to colonize thinking and blunt the edge of the class and racial struggle for justice. His exceptional and extraordinary artistry and achievements should not be ignored or glossed over. However, as complimentary as that term is expected to be, Harry Belafonte was much more than an ”icon.” Belafonte’s greatness and most significant achievement, was his progressive social consciousness and contribution to human social progress and development, especially for people of African descent.

Harry Belafonte was unapologetically anti-colonial, anti-white supremacy and was a committed social-justice activist. It is imperative to understand that Belafonte was unapologetic about his social origin and upbringing; it is what shaped and forged his social outlook. He never forgot or abandoned his class origin and worked tirelessly to change the social conditions of the working class. Belafonte confirmed this by saying: “It is hard to be born into the experience in the world of poverty and not develop some instinct for survival, and resistance to those things that oppress you.”   

 A Life of Principle and Commitment

 Many from the Black community have fed voraciously from the “trough” of capitalism and continue to do so. In order to keep the “meal” be continually invited to the “table,” they kowtow, pacify, or become ambivalent regarding the evils, inhumanity, and inherent socio-economic disparity of capitalism. They chose the “safe” route; Harry Belafonte was the complete opposite of that. Harry could have been rolling in riches, live lavishly and be indifferent to the social ills plaguing poor people in general and Black people in particular. Instead, he made a conscious decision to be on the side of the oppressed, and consistently championed their cause, both nationally and internationally.

Harry Belafonte opposed the war in Vietnam; he actively supported the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa; he was openly in support of the National Liberation struggles in Southern Africa; Belafonte spoke out about the invasion of Iraq; he called for an end to the illegal and immoral blockade against Cuba; Belafonte openly spoke out against the CIA orchestrated coup and deportation of Haiti’s democratically elected President, Jean Bertrand Aristede; he showed solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, under the leadership of the late President Hugo Chavez; he expressed solidarity with “expelled” NFL player Colin Kaepernick, by referring to Kaepernick’s protest against injustice as noble and righteous; he publicly appealed to then President Barack Obama, to free American Indian Movement’s leader Leonard Peltier. Harry Belafonte was unequivocally opposed to the militaristic and interventionist foreign policy ideology of the United States. For these principled positions, Harry Belafonte paid a costly “price;” there is no doubt that Hollywood would have come calling a lot more over the years, if he had chosen the path of class and race collaboration.

Reaction or Social Justice – That is The Question

Harry Belafonte correctly justified his activism with the following: “Without the rebellious heart, without people who understand that there is no sacrifice we can make that is too great to retrieve that which we have lost, we will forever be distracted with possessions, trinkets, and title. And I think one of the big things that happened, was that when Black people began to be anointed by the trinkets of this capitalist society and began to become big-time players and began to become heads of corporations, they became players in the game of our own demise. …”

The social history of Black people worldwide, from capture and enslavement to colonialization, Jim Crow and “red lining,” does not afford us the reactionary option, of capitulating to the enemy or become apologists for the domination of capital. Black elected officials for the most part, have used their positions to secure their retirement pensions, and thus align with the enemy against the working class generally and Black people specifically. As Belafonte said, he chose to live his life “with dignity and courage – not bravado, but genuine social courage; to put all that’s on the line to come up against the forces of oppression..” That quality of ideological development, moral courage, integrity, and unwavering commitment, is lost among the opportunist and sometimes reactionary Black politicians and so-called “activists” of modern-day United States.

What Is To Be Done?

There is no “blueprint” for struggle or social activism against capitalism. Methods and strategies must emerge and develop from the objective social conditions that everyday life-experiences produce. Too often organizational leaders lose sight of this fact, and outline and engage in a course of actions, which render the liberation movement politically sterile and impotent. There is no substitute for study and clarity of the issues; Harry Belafonte was a shining example of that type of activism.

At the observance of the 20th anniversary of the news magazine program Democracy Now, held at the Riverside Church in 2016, Harry Belafonte and Noam Chomsky, shared the stage to discuss current national issues; not the least of them at the time, being the impending Trump Presidency. At this Forum, Belafonte made one of his most compelling and profoundly analytical speeches regarding the state of “Black America.” All Black politicians and “wannabes” and those engaged in social justice issues, should listen, take notes, and study this profoundly enlightening and analytical speech. It sheds further light on what is to be done to change the nature and status of our oppression.

Richard Dunn be contacted at: contact@makingitplain