Abigail Miner/The Lantern
Harry Belafonte, musican, actor and social activist, describes his experiences during the American Civil Rights movement Thursday in the Fawcett Center.Belafonte, 81, who is best known for his singing career, was the first African-American man to win an Emmy, which he earned for "Tonight with Harry Belafonte." He was also a key member of the civil rights movement and has worked as a humanitarian activist in African countries such as Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa.
The "King of Calypso" kicked off the President and Provost's Diversity Lecture & Cultural Arts Series by bringing his activism to the United States and addressing the need for a non-violent youth movement.
After retiring from entertainment, Belafonte decided to turn his attention to inequality in the U.S. prison system.
"We have the largest prison population in the world. There are countries that are even more populated than we are, triple our size," Belafonte said. "That prison population is made up of a vast majority of people of color. More black men and women reside in the world of incarceration than exists in the universities collectively."
When he went looking for the reasons behind the inequality in the prison population, he found enlightenment from the youth.
"I called a gathering of the young. It was mostly bloods and crips, gladiators and people who are deeply engaged in the gang culture," he said. "I began to be awakened to nuances and thoughts and ideas that I never saw in adult places. I understood the real extent of the alienation generationally and racially."
Belafonte then set out on a mission around the world to assemble the youth in a series of meetings in what has been named, "The Gathering."
Thousands of campaigns have been launched in cities such as Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Arizona, Texas and on into the south, he said.
Not only are the locations of the gatherings varied, but they also have a racially diverse range of participants that come from all walks of life.
"They are made up of blacks, hard-core gangs, latinos, latin kings, gladiators, white gangs in Appalachia and white incarcerated youth, Belafonte said. "They are made up of the indigenous people, a lot of Native Americans young people and the largest group is the Asians out of Southern California."
Over the last four years, Belafonte and "The Gathering" have been holding meetings and workshops in order to discuss alternate, non-violent solutions to the problems facing the youth, the justice system, the prison system and the country.
"What I've tried to do is recreate in this momentum what will be another youth movement cored by this group," he said. "You ain't gonna build enough prisons in this country or in the world to contain the discontentment of young people who feel so largely disenfranchised."
Belafonte also sees the opportunity for change and inspiration in Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
"If we get Barack Obama as our president, I think black people in general, and young people all are in a position for the first time to really get a parade going here," he said.
Students, who came to hear Belafonte shed some light on the youth movement, were intrigued by Belafonte's history.
"I came to hear what he thinks about youth and violence because he's been through it all," said Lance Evans, a sophomore in business.
Megan Laney can be reached at laney.19@osu.edu.
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