PONDERING THE PROPHETIC LIFE OF HARRY BELAFONTE

 

©Wendell Griffen, 2023

 

Harry Belafonte died on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at the full age of 96 years in his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in New York City, reportedly (from his longtime spokesperson, Ken Sunshine) due to congestive heart failure. As befitting someone of his celebrity as a performing artist (thespian, Caribbean folk singer, motion picture actor, and highly paid artist), and activist for human rights, Belafonte’s death was a leading news story the day he died, made the front page of most major US newspapers the following day, and prompted memories of his long and influential life.

I prefer to remember Harry Belafonte as a prophet for our time. That does not mean I disagree with the fame he achieved as a performing artist. I enjoyed hearing him sing and seeing him act. But Harry Belafonte was always for me an unflinching prophet for social justice. Not only did he befriend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Belafonte supported King’s ministry, contributed much of the seed money to launch the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, paid for a life insurance policy on King’s life with Coretta Scott King and the King children as its beneficiaries, and set up and financed a bail fund for civil rights activists when they were arrested.

But in addition to supporting King’s activism, Belafonte made his own prophetic presence known.  The New York Times reports that Belafonte helped organize a cultural boycott of South Africa to protest its apartheid regime and its policies, and was involved in organizing the Live-Aid concert and the “We Are the World” recording that raised money to combat famine in Africa. In 2002, Harry Belafonte publicly criticized Secretary of State Colin Powell for abandoning his principles to “come into the house of the master,” a stinging rebuke that likened Powell’s Bush Administration role to that of a house slave. Later, Harry Belafonte called George W. Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world.” A supporter of Bill de Blasio, the Democratic candidate and eventual winner of the New York mayoral race, Belafonte denounced the Koch Brothers as “white supremacists” and likened them to the Ku Klux Klan.

Such prophetic activity eventually won Belafonte praise from civil rights activists, despite the tendency of commercial television and motion picture interests to shy away from him as an accomplished actor. One of the most moving examples of that praise, and Belafonte’s prophetic impact on other actors, is preserved on video of the 2013 NAACP Image Awards when Belafonte was presented the Spingarn Medal by his close friend, Sidney Poitier.

In accepting that award, Harry Belafonte spoke about the “racial carnage” of gun violence and the failure of Black leaders, including politicians and church leaders, to raise an alarm. Belafonte mentioned W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Paul Robeson as mentors and radical prophetic voices in calling current artists to not be guilty of “patriotic treason.” I encourage you to view Sidney Poitier’s presentation, Belafonte’s acceptance remarks, and their impact on Jamie Foxx (https://youtu.be/qke8tHBroX4).

Do not stop there. Read the tribute to Belafonte by New York Times opinion columnist Charles Blow titled “The Harry Belafonte Speech that Changed My Life” (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/opinion/harry-belafonte.html). Blow reflected on how a lunchtime speech Belafonte gave at the prestigious Ford Foundation in July 2013 (without notes that Blow could see) caused him (Blow) to re-evaluate his work.

I do not know whether Harry Belafonte was active in any religious congregation. I am, nevertheless, convinced that his determination to love God, other persons, and God’s creation was sincere and effective. That devotion is why Harry Belafonte did not hesitate to speak truth to power. That devotion is what made Harry Belafonte’s work as a performing artist so profound. That devotion is what made Harry Belafonte’s life so meaningful. It is as if Belafonte was inspired by the Spirit that moved the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel to understand that “whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them” (Ezekiel 2:5, NRSV).  

I thank God because Harry Belafonte was faithful without a pulpit or denominational office. I thank God that he pushed us, inspired us, and spoke up for the millions of unprivileged, mistreated, and oppressed people in the US and throughout the world.   

Rest in peace and power, Prophet Belafonte.