Harry Belafonte made us proud to be Jamaicans

THE EDITOR, Madam:

HARRY BELAFONTE was one of those persons who makes me proud to be a Jamaican.

We are fortunate as a country to have persons like Belafonte, of Jamaican descent or Jamaican nurturing, who have displayed for the world the best of our talents and skills. Drawing on his years in Jamaica, his songs gave the world a taste of Caribbean folk music, describing vividly: life and work on a Banana Boat, with that signature opening word, ‘Day-O’; or the enterprise of the Coconut Woman; or the real heartache of love in Jamaica Farewell.

The great thing for me is that his songs enabled history to be made, especially by a black man in a time of racial prejudice and segregation. Belafonte has the distinction of being the first individual recording artiste to have an album, Calypso, sell over one million copies.

Belafonte, of course, is known for being an actor and entertainer, but he was also an activist who broke down racial barriers. His work was not only concentrated in Hollywood. Through the arts he channelled his activism, and with his friend – civil rights leader Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr – became a genuine civil rights leader in his own right.

However, his work as an advocate for social justice did not stop in the United States and the decade of the 1960s. It was seen prominently in his efforts to alleviate the famine in Africa. In 1985, he successfully brought together many of the best-known artistes of that time to record the hit song We Are The World – the sales of which provided funds to help feed starving people in Africa. Also, there was the fight to end apartheid in South Africa and his faithful work, over 35 years, as a UNICEF ambassador for children.

This man of Jamaican descent inspires me most of all for the fact that he did not let poverty define him. He readily admitted that the poor financial means of his parents, which led to him being sent to live in Jamaica for eight years, served as a catalyst to change not only his circumstances, but also the circumstances of others. I commend that attitude of courage to all Jamaicans.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

REV MICHAEL ALLEN

Anglican Priest