by Basil Roman
The Riverside Church in New York was filled, including all the galleries, and standing room only when hundreds of fans and admirers attended the celebration service, for the icon Harry Belafonte. The service was held on March 1st Harry Belafonte’s birthday, almost a year after his death.
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Mr. Belafonte did not wish for a formal funeral, but the outpouring of his memorial celebration was simply amazing. Apart from the capacity audience, the church was filled with all the notables, entertainers, politicians, power brokers, movers, and shakers, who all came to salute and pay tribute to Harry Belafonte.
Harry Belafonte is a world-class entertainer of stage screen. And television. An artist who refused to separate his artistry from his activism. And who used his celebrity status to do good for those in so many areas, locally, nationally, and internationally, was remembered in a loving, caring, and admiring way. Martin Luther King, I was among those at the tribute, and it was a reminder of the tremendous role that Harry Belafonte played in the civil rights movement.
From funding, organizing, and making sure that his colleagues in the entertainment industry were educated on and showed support for the Civil Rights movement. A close adviser and supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harry Belafonte was the main founder of the movement and made sure it got support.
In the March on Washington in 1963, Belafonte not only showed up for the march and supported the march, but he was also a key organizer of the march and enlisted Marlon Brando to chair a leading delegation from Hollywood; and brought to the march Paul Newman, Lena Horne and Rita Moreno, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Ruby Dee. Burt Lancaster, Sidney Poitier, James Garner, Charlton Heston, Sammy Davis, Junior, Gregory Peck, Joan Woodward, Nina Simone, and so many others showed their visible support for the march and its movement. That was Harry Belafonte and his commitment to the cause.
The celebration was fitting in that we had a drum procession bring in the evening’s celebration, a wonderful start to a beautiful evening. There were several tributes from Clarence Jones, George Gresham, Angela Davis, Spike Lee, Whoopi Goldberg, and many others.
But in truth and fact, the evening stars were the children and grandchildren of Harry Belafonte, who spoke not only lovingly and caringly about their father and grandfather but were clearly moved by his impact on the world and certainly his impact on them.
And as we contemplate the life and legacy of Harry Belafonte, listening to the children and grandchildren, we see that his legacy lives in them. They were articulate, they were very clear-eyed, and very committed to what their father and grandfather stood for and did. Gina Belafonte and her dad Harry created the Sankofa Organization, to educate, motivate, and activate artists and their associated activities in the service of grassroots activities. Living out Belafonte’s belief, which he articulates as artists, as the gatekeepers of society, Gina is working with the others to make this a reality.
David is working through the Belafonte Family Foundation to continue the work of his father, Harry Belafonte, in education, economic empowerment, and so on.
And the others are all in their way, carrying out his legacy formally, through organization, and informally. And so, from the celebration service, the takeaway is Harry’s legacy is in good hands and just needs to support it.
There were performances by Sweet Honey in the Rock and Aloe Blacc who sang with the Harlem Choir and on his own. The Rev. James Forbes gave a stirring message on the life and impact of Harry Belafonte.
And in fine style, ending the program Winston Marsalis with the New Orleans band brought the celebration to a rip-roaring close.
Harry Belafonte said, “We use celebrity to the advantage of everything. Why not to the advantage of those who need to be liberated.” That was Belafonte’s message. And in his celebration of life, that was the message left to those attending, that we all must use whatever we have; celebrity or otherwise, to the advantage of those who need to be liberated. And from the celebration, the word is out, the legacy of Belafonte continues.
