I'm called a folk singer, and I'm not too sure about that. I went about my life approaching music not from the point of view of a singer, but from the point of view of an actor. That's how I first started to sing. Harry Belafonte More Quotes by Harry Belafonte More Quotes From Harry Belafonte Although slavery may have been abolished, the crippling poison of racism still persists, and the struggle still continues. Harry Belafonte slavery poison racism struggle I grew up in the Great Depression, and the jazz artists and Dixieland musicians were at the core of our communications and enjoyment. They were not passing fancies. They are something that is, and will be, listened to again and again. I have a space of reverence for some of those old jazz stars such as Sydney Bechet and Louis Armstrong. Harry Belafonte great space stars depression What makes a movement work are thousands of parts that come together and express itself in favor of a given destination or objective. You have to find men and women who are willing to play the role that each of these things demand. Harry Belafonte you women work men Movements don't die, because struggle doesn't die. Harry Belafonte movements die because struggle Poverty is terror. Having your Social Security threatened is terror. Having your livelihood as an elderly person slowly disappearing with no replenishment is terror. Harry Belafonte your person security poverty The Ku Klux Klan, for some of us, is a constant - has a constant existence. It isn't until it touches certain aspects of white America that white America all of the sudden wakes up to the fact that there is something called the Klan and that it does its mischief. Harry Belafonte some something white america America has never been moved to perfect our desire for greater democracy without radical thinking and radical voices being at the helm of any such quest. Harry Belafonte never democracy perfect thinking The pursuit of justice is all I have ever known. Harry Belafonte ever pursuit known justice I don't think soldiers should be anywhere in the world. I mean, that is a moral and a basic philosophy. I think that the only way to end wars is to have no military and to find other ways in which - I think we should suspend all nuclear weapons. Harry Belafonte end think way world Poverty was my mother's midwife. She had her children in poverty. But she also found a road to bring us a sense of purpose, and she taught us how to be valiant in the face of oppression. Harry Belafonte face poverty mother children I think Bush has a very selfish, arrogant point of view. I think he is interested in power, I think he believes his truth is the only truth, and that he will do what he wants to do despite the people. Harry Belafonte selfish power truth people Without the rebellious heart, without people who understand that there's no sacrifice we can make that is too great to retrieve that which we've lost, we will forever be distracted with possessions and trinkets and title. Harry Belafonte great sacrifice heart people I'm not quite sure precisely when social and political activism became a visible brand of my DNA, but it seems to me that I was born into it. It is hard to be born into the experience in the world of poverty and not develop some instinct for survival and resistance to those things that oppress you. Harry Belafonte me you experience world If you want to look at the Monroe Doctrine and what happened when we wrote that, we stated what the business would be for America's power, especially in this hemisphere. We have always been the colonizer of this hemisphere, wherever we've been. Harry Belafonte look you business power Peace is necessary. For justice, it is necessary. For hope, it is necessary, for our future. Harry Belafonte future hope justice peace I call President Bush a terrorist. I call those around him terrorists as well: Condoleezza Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzales in the Justice Department, and certainly Cheney. Harry Belafonte well rice president justice I don't think that we are a species or a people that can exist without making mistakes somewhere along the line. Harry Belafonte mistakes think making-mistakes people I think there's no city quite like New York, and I've seen most of the developed cities of the world. I admire this place, its energy. It's the repository of so much history and culture and diversity. Harry Belafonte city culture history world
