Harry Belafonte Ain’t Nothin’ to F&%k With (Just Ask Colin Powell)

By Davey D

Long time entertainer/activist/ freedom fighter Harry Belafonte came to Oakland the other week for an event he puts on called the Gathering for Justice. It drew more than a thousand people from all over the world including a number of former gang members who are concerned about the high incarceration rates and the increasing challenges besetting our society. More Listen to speech and interview

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Why was Belafonte’s Oakland star-studded gathering

 whited out by mainstream media?
By Marvin X

Billed as Harry Belafonte’s Gathering for Justice, the world renowned humanitarian called a national conference of youth to gather in Oakland Saturday to address their pressing issues and spark their consciousness to continue the work of his generation and those before him on the train of justice. Youth flooded into the Oakland Marriot from Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago and Detroit, as well as California.

Youth from Oakland and the Bay Area, however, did not seem to be well represented, for some strange reason. [Little publicity appeared before the gathering, and the Bay View has been able to find no mainstream media coverage of the event. – ed.]

Nevertheless, the multi-cultural crowd was treated to the likes of Belafonte, Danny Glover, Barbara Lee, Ron Dellums, Walter Mosley, Sean Penn, Santana, Davey D and yes, Marvin X, who was vending his books when the Hot 8 Brass Band called him to the stage to join them in electrifying the crowd.

We cannot praise and honor Harry Belafonte enough for his years in our liberation struggle. Yes, he is in the tradition of our great ancestor Paul Robeson, who defined himself as the artistic freedom fighter. At 81 years old, Harry is showing us that there is no retirement in the battle for justice in America or the world.

Just as the forces of white supremacy are relentless, we must be also and never give up until the last breath. In his keynote address delivered at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, he talked about the suffering his mentor Paul Robeson experienced as the artistic freedom fighter, but Harry said he is inspired to see Robeson’s spirit alive in actor Danny Glover.

Even though he supported and marched with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Harry was hypercritical of the black church today, calling it the "kidnappers of truth," along with a few more choice words. DJ Davey D urged me to write a poem using Harry’s metaphor. Harry criticized the reactionary rappers as well, calling them sellouts to cultural imperialism.

But his main message is that we can overcome the forces of white supremacy by organizing and non-violently opposing evil. A mass movement of conscious youth can be a critical factor in moving the Movement forward out of the lethargy and passivity of the last few years.

Because of its revolutionary tradition, Oakland was chosen for the first in a series of national meetings of the Gathering for Justice movement. Youth and adults in attendance included Native Americans, Latinos, Whites, Pacific Islanders, Asians and African Americans.

We don’t quite understand why more Oakland people were not present, especially with such high profile personalities on the agenda. Did organizers do outreach locally, or did they purposely limit information on the event since Oakland is currently suffering so much violence? Of course violence is nationwide. Someone, maybe Harry, mentioned 16,000 persons were murdered in America last year – yes, far more than have died in Iraq. Maybe conference organizers feared Oaklanders mixing with youth from outside the city.

The Gathering for Justice must present a long-term strategy to confront the myriad problems facing youth, including violence, mis-education, lack of jobs – in lieu of jobs we suggest entrepreneurship and micro credit.

Since there are few Black teachers, we offer peer teaching and independent study. And the prison population should be reduced with a general amnesty.

The problem of the church or faith community can be addressed by noting the liberation theology of Jesus and Muhammad, and perhaps moving beyond religion toward spirituality as the Native Americans spoke about so eloquently and at great length.

If Harry Belafonte, at 81, can involve himself with the Gathering for Justice, surely I can do the same at 63, and so I call upon my generation to become a part of this movement to save our children. Remember that James Brown tune, “Get Involved”?

The highlight for me at Harry’s Gathering for Justice was seeing the new generation of youth embracing each other and us elders. The Creator is telling me every little thing is going to be all ite. It was a blessing hearing and performing with that great group of young people from New Orleans, the Hot 8 Brass Band. “Get Involved!”

The latest book by Dr. M/ Marvin X is “How to Recover From the Addiction to White Supremacy: A Pan African 12 Step Model for a Mental Health Peer Group,” foreword by Dr. Nathan Hare, afterword by Ptah Allah El, Black Bird Press, P.O. Box 1317, Paradise CA 95967, $19.95. www.marvinxwrites.blogspot.com, mrvnx@yahoo.com .

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posted 27 November 2007 / updated 12 July 2008