Harry Belafonte Documentary
Oct. 18th, 2011 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatCurrently watching another HBO documentary, Sing Your Song about Harry Belafonte - written and narrated by Harry Belafonte. In some respects it feels a bit like he is patting himself on the back or a resume of accomplishments, yet it also at the same time provides a clear perspective on the civil rights movement and social activism at the time.
Excerpts:
He lost his first wife due to his social activism and the Progressive Movement - because he was blacklisted as Communist, due to his battle for equal rights for all Americans in the 1950s. The government swore he was a traitor and she didn't know what to believe.
*Harry married a white woman, his wife: When I gave birth to David, I got hate mail.
*Georgia 1960s: Doctor Martin Luthur King got arrested for having violated a traffic sign. For this very minor infraction he was sentenced to the chain gang. This affront was very much in the forefront of our movement - and We made appeals to both candidates, Nixon ignored us altogether but the Kennedy's wrestled with it. Bobby Kennedy negotiated with the State of Georgia and that lead to the charges being dismissed.
*He did a variety show that focused on Black American Folk Songs. Then another special on American Folk Songs.
This hadn't been done before. Then, they ran into problems because it was "integrated" - everyone could be white or everyone could be black, but not both. So Harry walked away, he refused to change it.
*The FBI sent a spy after Harry Belfonte - Jay Richard Kennedy and his wife Janet Kennedy in the guise of psychologist and a financial advisor to spy on his activities. He got sucked in for a bit, then discovered who they were - when they asked uncomfortable questions about his social activism and politics. That's when he got rid of them. This guy shows up later to target and interrogate Martin Luther King - and has a CIA dossier.
* Harry Belafonte does a show with Petula Clark - and she touches him on the elbow, and the network screamed bloody murder as did the sponsor. Everyone was "shocked".
* Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In - had Harry Belfonte on their show in 1968, and CBS cut the piece on the riots in Chicago with Harry singing, and put Nixon commercial in its place. Rowan and Martin were fired for airing their views against the War in Vietnam and their liberal views.
*Over 250,000 of thousands of German students lifted their voices and broke German law, protested a potential nuclear War in Bond, Germany in the 1980s.
It's an oddly told story of social activism - in that Belfonte is telling it, and I almost wish someone else were telling it about him, since it feels a bit too self-congragulatory. It's not as good as the Martin Scorsese documentary on the Beatles - which is far more objective and an unblinking look at the Beatles. This feels more like a dog and pony show, as if someone is trying to sell Harry to me. I'd wish for a more objective view. Which is the problem with biography, I think. How much distance do you need to provide an accurate and informative view.
Yet at the same time it demonstrates the sacrifices you make doing this sort of thing. For Belafonte, Marlon Brando, and others - it's easier, because they are famous, they have power - they are not disenfranchized, they can fight back against the bullies. But it makes it all the more important for them to fight that fight. When you have power - the ear of so many others, I think you have greater responsibility. You have to be more careful.
Excerpts:
He lost his first wife due to his social activism and the Progressive Movement - because he was blacklisted as Communist, due to his battle for equal rights for all Americans in the 1950s. The government swore he was a traitor and she didn't know what to believe.
*Harry married a white woman, his wife: When I gave birth to David, I got hate mail.
*Georgia 1960s: Doctor Martin Luthur King got arrested for having violated a traffic sign. For this very minor infraction he was sentenced to the chain gang. This affront was very much in the forefront of our movement - and We made appeals to both candidates, Nixon ignored us altogether but the Kennedy's wrestled with it. Bobby Kennedy negotiated with the State of Georgia and that lead to the charges being dismissed.
*He did a variety show that focused on Black American Folk Songs. Then another special on American Folk Songs.
This hadn't been done before. Then, they ran into problems because it was "integrated" - everyone could be white or everyone could be black, but not both. So Harry walked away, he refused to change it.
*The FBI sent a spy after Harry Belfonte - Jay Richard Kennedy and his wife Janet Kennedy in the guise of psychologist and a financial advisor to spy on his activities. He got sucked in for a bit, then discovered who they were - when they asked uncomfortable questions about his social activism and politics. That's when he got rid of them. This guy shows up later to target and interrogate Martin Luther King - and has a CIA dossier.
* Harry Belafonte does a show with Petula Clark - and she touches him on the elbow, and the network screamed bloody murder as did the sponsor. Everyone was "shocked".
* Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In - had Harry Belfonte on their show in 1968, and CBS cut the piece on the riots in Chicago with Harry singing, and put Nixon commercial in its place. Rowan and Martin were fired for airing their views against the War in Vietnam and their liberal views.
*Over 250,000 of thousands of German students lifted their voices and broke German law, protested a potential nuclear War in Bond, Germany in the 1980s.
It's an oddly told story of social activism - in that Belfonte is telling it, and I almost wish someone else were telling it about him, since it feels a bit too self-congragulatory. It's not as good as the Martin Scorsese documentary on the Beatles - which is far more objective and an unblinking look at the Beatles. This feels more like a dog and pony show, as if someone is trying to sell Harry to me. I'd wish for a more objective view. Which is the problem with biography, I think. How much distance do you need to provide an accurate and informative view.
Yet at the same time it demonstrates the sacrifices you make doing this sort of thing. For Belafonte, Marlon Brando, and others - it's easier, because they are famous, they have power - they are not disenfranchized, they can fight back against the bullies. But it makes it all the more important for them to fight that fight. When you have power - the ear of so many others, I think you have greater responsibility. You have to be more careful.