Harry Belafonte on using artists to fight unjust systems
theGRIO REPORT - Entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte joined Melissa Harris Perry on MSNBC to discuss how artists and celebrities can use their star power to fight social injustice.
Entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte joined Melissa Harris Perry on MSNBC to discuss how artists and celebrities can use their star power to fight social injustice.
“Because artists push the boundaries of convention, because they demand to be seen and heard, because they can create something out of nothingness and because they have a distinct interpretive capacity, artists are indispensable to activism,” said MHP.
At nearly 87-years-old, Belafonte has not slowed in his quest to fight injustices. Earlier this month the civil rights activist announced his new campaign to battle violence and oppression of women worldwide.
“I think the artists have a platform,” Belafonte said. “They have a power. They have a gift, and by using that gift and that power and putting it in the services of those who are being ground out by inequity and by systems that are unjust, we begin to put a light and a new dynamic on what is going on with the poor, going on with those who are racially oppressed and sexually abused.”
Watch the entire interview below.
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