by Bryan Gibel
Daily Lobo
Harry Belafonte challenged an audience of about 500 people Thursday to become more engaged and active in the United States' struggle for racial equality and human rights.
"Where is our humanity?" Belafonte said at Popejoy Hall. "What is happening to us as a people? And, can we wake up to a clearer vision and to make the sacrifices that are required to make a difference?"
Belafonte, 80, is a Grammy Award-winning singer who became the first African-American artist to sell 1 million LPs with his album Calypso.
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He is also a civil rights activist and was prominent in the struggle to end apartheid in South
Africa.
Brandale Mills, a senior at UNM who introduced Belafonte, said his speech on campus was significant for everyone dedicated to civil rights and social justice.
"Belafonte's appearance here is important, not only for past generations who are familiar with his career, but to present and future generations, so we can understand from what and from who we have come, and how far we still have to go,"
she said.
In 1987, Belafonte became the first African-American to be named a United Nations goodwill ambassador.
Belafonte, who grew up in Jamaica and New York, said he and his mother came to the U.S. looking for the American dream but found hardship and poverty.
"I was born into poverty of immigrant parents," he said. "My mother came to America full of hopes, but she soon discovered that for immigrants of color, America's generosity hadn't reached that far."
Belafonte said he was contacted by Martin Luther King Jr. in the '60s and became involved in the civil rights movement, which soon defined
his life.
"Through Dr. King and through struggle, I found a way for applying my fame and my wealth," he said. "I would be forever committed to the cause, and I would throw in all of my resources unflinchingly and uncompromisingly in what would become our mission."
But Belafonte said America has lost much of the energy that defined it during the civil rights era.
"At the dawning of the 21st century, I awoke and found that all that we had gained in our civil rights struggle was in great danger," he said. "I found our youth indifferent, and I realized that America had lost a great deal."
Belafonte said some of the greatest problems facing the country are the war in Iraq, the high numbers of minority youth in prisons and the lack of dissent in the media and universities.
He said what concerns him most, though, is Americans' apathy.
"If you look for a reason to be engaged, then it stares you in the face every day," he said. "What's absent is personal will."
Belafonte said people are becoming more engaged, and he is optimistic.
"I am hopeful, because for the first time in a long time, I know that America is once again stirring," he said. "And together, if we search, I know we will make the decision that best enhances our humanity and the dream of our nation to be free, where honest citizens can live in dignity and find joy in our differences rather than fear."
