Street roots
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Dec. 5, 2014
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Musician, actor, activist — Belafonte followed his own beat
BY MIKE WOLD
C O N TR IB U TIN G WRITER
ne singer you won’t likely hear on a
50s oldies station is Harry
Belafonte, yet he was one of the
most popular singers of that decade. He
made a name for himself in the emerging
folk music genre, with five gold albums
between 1955 and 1963. For a time, he was
outselling Elvis Presley. His repertoire
anticipated world music; he incorporated
musical traditions from the Caribbean,
Africa, Ireland and the U.S. in his singing.
By the early 1960s, his brand of smooth
traditional folk was overtaken in popularity
by grittier singer-songwriter acoustic music,
rock-and-roll and soul.
Belafonte was a “breakthrough” African-
American artist at a time when black
performers usually needed special
permission to play for white audiences,
especially in the South. Even in New York
City, racially mixed audiences were
discouraged by the authorities. Belafonte
wasn’t content just to rake in his royalties;
he saw his purpose as promoting a
multicultural integration that emphasized
black pride and the strengths and values of
struggle that African-Americans would bring
to an integrated United States.
Belafonte was drawing on the legacy of
1940s New York City, where Communist
activists, both white and black, mixed with
jazz and folk musicians, espousing a radical
version of integration that incorporated
socialist concepts of economic justice. The
radical activists of that time, including
Belafonte’s mentor, Paul Robeson, were
mostly red-baited out of the public eye.
However, Belafonte himself escaped being
blacklisted and instead became a star.
“Becoming Belafonte” covers its subject’s
life as a musician, actor and activist from the
1940s to 1970. Belafonte never gave up the
political project that he’d signed on to. He
became a close confidant, strategist and
financer of Martin Luther King, Jr. He
PHOTO U.S. INFORMATION AGENCY
maintained his commitment to reach out to
Left to right, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and Charleton Heston pause in front o f the
white as well as black audiences.
Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 Civil Rights march in Washington D.C.
Smith documents clearly the influences
that helped make Belafonte both a star and
a radical activist, an unlikely combination.
1950s, Belafonte could not eat or stay in
performers in movies, concerts and
There are fascinating glimpses of the way
hotels where he performed. Even in the
television. He eventually insisted on artistic
that “old-time,” “hillbilly,” “rhythm and
1960s, TV sponsors would take exception to
Control on his shows, using it to push the
blues” and “union” music were redefined in
Belafonte
singing and dancing with a white
limits of the color bar. In one notable week,
the 1940s as the genre we know as folk
woman. Interracial touching was forbidden.
when he filled in as host on “The Tonight
music. The book documents at length the
As Belafonte gained popularity, he worked
Show Starring Johnny Carson,” he exposed
strictures facing black artists.
to expand the opportunities for black
For example, in some venues in the early
white and black viewers to black leaders
0
TO XIC, fro m p age 5
"That's part of the problem
with these veterans trying
could be filmed, recorded or quoted.
to get the medical care that
Methvin Jr.’s multiple attempts to get
statements from the VA and Monsanto
they need at th e 181. There's
also failed. “For some reason, nobody
no attention on it, and no
wants to talk about this,” says Loring.
one cares if there is no
Methvin Jr. says he’s heard from more
than 3,000 veterans who believe they are attention on if."
experiencing health problems directly
resulting from their exposure to toxins at
F t McClellan. “That’s a small number
compared to the number of vets who
went through there. As of right now, the
rough estimate is 650,000,” says
Methvin Jr., and that’s not including
civilian employees and children. Because
exposure to some of the poisons found
on the base can change a person’s DNA,
the effects can be passed on for
generations, resulting in birth defects,
autism and other malaise.
“Some of these vets and the stories
they have to tell about their health
problems and the things they’ve
experienced due to exposure from their
training at F t McClellan are just so
utterly heartbreaking,” Loring says.
Some veterans’ groups are pushing for
legislation, introduced two years ago,
that would create a F t McClellan health
registry to test and chronicle soldiers’
impact from exposure. Another bill that’s
— JASON LORING
> = PRODUCER OF "T O X IC SERVICE
been introduced in the House of
Representatives would extend benefits to
the children of toxically poisoned
veterans and create a center at the VA
that would specialize in diagnosing and
treating toxic exposure. However, lacking
any political priority, both bills continue
to languish in committee.
“That’s part of the problem with these
veterans trying to get the medical care
that they need at the VA,” says Loring.
“There’s no attention on it, and no one
cares if there is no attention on i t ”
While the military recognizes that F t
McClellan is highly toxic, it does not
recognize the link to health problems it’s
caused veterans, say Methvin Jr. and
Loring. They hope their film will bring
the issue to the forefront so that sick
veterans can get the medical care they
deserve.
On Jan. 17, veterans of F t McClellan
plan to march from the Washington,
D.C., Department of Veterans Affairs to
the White House to raise awareness of
the issue.
In the meantime, veterans like Roland
file claims with the.VA that may never be
approved. Around Christmas her appeal
will have reached the 420-day mark — the
average amount of time it takes to hear
back on a claim from the VA, she’s been
told. Now living in an apartment in
Milwaukie, she says getting the
compensation claim approved would be
the best Christmas present she could
hope for. Her credit cards maxed out and
her savings gone, she’s already put some
of her belongings back in storage in case
she ends up living out of her vehicle
again in January when her lease ends
and her rent goes up.
She often wonders what her life would
have been like if she hadn’t been so
stubborn about cutting her hair 32 years
ago and had followed in her father’s
footsteps and joined the Navy instead.
“I signed the dotted line. I was willing
to die for my country,” says Roland. “I
just never thought I’d be dying like this.”
emily @streetroots. org
who had rarely been given voice on TV.
Belafonte faced conflicts that shed some
light on popular culture today. Translating
artistic success into political influence had
its limits. He was never able to adapt his
musical style to the radical currents of the
1960s. His notions of multicultural
integration were out of step with the rising
ideas about black nationalism, as black
artists began to question the value of
working with white artists or trying to
convince white audiences of the need for
racial justice.
Ironically, Belafonte’s real aspiration was
to be an actor; he started his singing career
to finance his acting. His early acting career
was limited by the opportunities available to
black actors; later on, his attempts to create
roles for himself by producing his own films
backfired, as the messages in his films failed
to gain traction with either black or white
audiences.
Smith writes that she wanted to
“reintroduce this peerless cultural figure in
all his dimensions... I focus on how he
crafted a public persona that enabled him to
navigate the minefields of racial
discrimination, anticommunist blacklisting,
and the demands of stardom...” The
weakness of Smith’s account is that she
focuses too much on this public persona.
She seems to deliberately avoid writing
much about the inner Belafonte. What kept
him focused on political goals?
Sometimes he was personally betrayed, as
when, in the late 1950s, his psychiatrist and
his manager turned out to be FBI
informants.
Sometimes he was criticized in the black
press, as when he divorced his African-
American wife to marry a white woman.
Smith brings a low-key, almost
deliberately dry style to the subject She
m akes long lists o f perform ers th at
Belafonte worked with and venues where he
performed, but rarely explains their
significance in the broader cultural context
She carefully avoids making any comments
that might be construed as criticism of her
subject
The result is a relatively tedious account
about a fascinating subject — the reader will
learn a lot about what Belafonte did, but
relatively little about who he really was.
Ultimately, one can’t be understood without
the other.
Reprinted from Street Roots sister paper,
Real Change News, Seattle Wash.
PHOTO COURTESY OF EPC FILMS
This documentary about the toxicity o f F t McClellan
and the soldiers who trained there is slated for released
in select locations by 2015. Producers Ted Methvin Jr.
and Jason Loring are currently seeking screening
locations in Portland.