We lost the great Harry Belafonte this week. Belafonte is well known for his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement, to raising millions of dollars to aid African suffering from hunger (through the “We Are the World” production in the 1980s), and encouraging other black artists and musicians to address big social problems through their work. Belafonte understood that art shapes the revolution and that he had a responsibility to address oppression and to lift his people up. May the power of his life keep showing up in the way we live ours.
On a related note (pun sort of intended…), I am still carrying with me the joy from this last Sunday’s worship service. This joy comes from the great big smiles, hugs, and “we want more”s that I received after the service– a service in which I, and the newly formed UUCL band, got to share music that is meaningful to us in this current resistance and social revolution. It was definitely a pleasure to share this more “edgy” side of myself, to be able to let loose and have fun, while at the same time addressing some serious issues like racism, trans discrimination and anti-LGBTQ legislation, and environmental degradation. But the real joy came in the ways it connected us. And that’s what it’s all about, as Harry Belafonte knew very well:
Belafonte suggests that he found his power “in songs of protest, and sorrow, and hope”—that they enabled his activism. The music he loved (the field hollers and chain-gang songs of the prewar South; the work laments of Jamaica) stressed the mutual or shared experience. Anger can be crippling when it festers in isolation. Belafonte figured out how to push anger outward by bringing others close.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/harry-belafonte-and-the-social-power-of-song
Here’s another great article on Harry Belafonte:
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/harry-belafonte-using-arts-to-fight-injustice/
Take care of yourself, take care of one another, and together, we can continue this resistance and reach a more loving world.