Harry Belafonte Issues A Frightening Warning About Americas Future

[sheshe2]

“Hitler is not too far from our door.”

Legendary entertainer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte used his final public appearance to issue a warning about the future of the nation.

According to The Guardian, Belafonte, 90, said “the country made a mistake” when it elected Donald Trump as president. 

“I think the next mistake might very well be the gas chamber and what happened to Jews [under] Hitler is not too far from our door,” he was quoted as saying. 

snip/

Link to tweet

He also sounded an optimistic note.  

“We have achieved a lot in my lifetime,” Belafonte said, per The Guardian. “Dr. King was not about nothing. Eleanor Roosevelt was not about nothing. I think in the final analysis that we shall overcome because what we did is … we left a harvest that generations to come [will] reap. That they have not yet plowed. That they have not yet harvested.”

More: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harry-belafonte-warning_us_59ed49dfe4b0a484d0640117?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

[marybourg]

1. Saw him once crossing the street in NYC.

In trademark open-neck, rolled up sleeves shirt. And many times on the stage. Handsomest man I ever saw. And a wonderful showman, always giving a break to new talent. And not afraid to speak out. Give 'em hell, Harry!

[robertpaulsen]

2. I share his worry.

This is something I wrote on March 14, 2016 to a friend. I've amended it slightly to delete some personal info, but I'm still concerned my prediction of fascism which I think echoes what Belafonte is saying will come to pass:

I don't fear Trump bringing real fascism in the form of a totalitarian police state to the USA - more likely to see, in the wake of ... the realization that being a sitting President doesn't pay all that much, Trump pull a Palin and resign sometime in 2018 for more lucrative prospects. But if, to use a really base analogy (or a dark humor mixed metaphor), Jesus Christ was a fascist, then Donald Trump is not Jesus Christ. But he might be John the Baptist. This incendiary mix of racist rhetoric, xenophobic policies and demagogic demonizing of "the other" is a perfect recipe for creeping fascism to become permanent. How the fuck could anyone think voting for someone who openly advocates torture and shutting down the internet couldn't possibly be a worse danger than the status quo? If someone like that can get elected now, imagine how much worse candidates we'll have to "choose" from when global liquid fuel production is in permanent decline, our coastlines are literally underwater and rising global temperatures affect our capacity to grow enough crops to feed everyone. Kunstler's "corn-pone Nazi" is just Trump: The Next Generation.

[malaise]

3. I have loved him all my life

Like the optimistic note

[sheshe2]

4. We always listened to music at dinner when I grew up.

My parents let us pick the tunes, he was one of my favorites.

[malaise]

8. He spent a lot of time in Jamaica

growing up.

[sheshe2]

12. Yup...

[spanone]

11. 🎼🎸

[sheshe2]

13. I love this one!

I just posted Jamaica Farewell to malaise.

[spanone]

14. banana boat song

[malaise]

17. Most of them are here

[spanone]

18. FIFTY!!!! You Win!!!

[malaise]

19. YouTube is the real winner

Seriously

[sheshe2]

20. Boom!

[malaise]

16. This one still makes me cry

[sheshe2]

23. You just made me cry too.

[malaise]

24. Awwwwwwwwwww

My paternal grandma died in September 1971. She loved it but I don't remember a Belafonte version that early -I remember versions by Liza Minnelli and Roy Orbison. After I heard Belafonte I never listened to another version but even now it always reminds me of granny and dad.

[Ken Burch]

5. Yeah.

One of the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

[malaise]

7. Yes indeed

We were singing along way before we knew his social, political and cultural importance

[Hekate]

6. Same here

[suffragette]

10. Yes. A thousand times yes.

[struggle4progress]

9. There's a hole in the bucket

[sheshe2]

21. Love this...

Thank you.

[malaise]

25. We used to sing along

Hahahahhaha

[disillusioned73]

15. Harry Belafonte..

always on the right side of history.. last public appearence, that's unfortunate..

[coolsandy]

22. I greatly respect him but he played a sinister role against HRC in 2016. He and West have to sleep

on it.

[sheshe2]

28. Sinister?

No. Belafonte never called Obama field negro or "niggerized" and a Rockefeller Republican in black face. Nor did he have a stick up his ass as West did. Belafonte and Obama differed in their politics. I have no problem with that. West had hurt fee fees and always has since Obama never bowed to him and kissed his feet.

Belafonte NEVER DID THIS!

............

[div class="excerpt"]During a live appearance on CNN, West claimed Obama had been "niggerized," with the exact quote being, "The first black president has become the first niggerized black president." When pressed by an obviously aghast Poppy Harlow, West elaborated: "A niggerized black person is a black person who is afraid and scared and intimidated when it comes to putting a spotlight on white supremacy and fighting against white supremacy." So regardless of Cornel West's status as a black man and an intellectual alleging to speak in academic terms, what you had was someone referring to the first black President of the United States using one of the most reprehensible racial slurs in the English language. It doesn't matter one bit what his twisted rationale was -- it was outrageous and disgraceful. It showed that West's personal obsession with Barack Obama had finally truly overwhelmed any good judgment he happened to have left. 

snip

There was a time when Cornel West was an unmatched intellect and a vital advocate for black issues. But he's willingly relegated himself to the level of a left-wing Ann Coulter, an admittedly much smarter but equally self-serving bomb-thrower. He's someone for whom the future of the Democratic party, the electorate it serves, and the good it does has never mattered if his own personal outrages weren't being indulged by it to his satisfaction. And that's not the kind of person you want having even a small part in determining the direction the party should move in.     

https://thedailybanter.com/2016/05/cornel-west-democratic-platform/#!

Belafonte never did this West did. I will never forgive his filth.

[still_one]

29. more importantly, Harry Belafonte voted for Hillary in the general election

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/07/opinion/campaign-stops/harry-belafonte-what-do-we-have-to-lose-everything.html

[sheshe2]

30. Yes he did, still_one.

West did not.

"What Do We Have to Lose? Everything"



“O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath —
America will be!”
— Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again”

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/07/opinion/campaign-stops/harry-belafonte-what-do-we-have-to-lose-everything.html

Thank you.

[lpbk2713]

26. I've been a huge HB fan since the 1950's

I played his Carnegie Hall album till the phono needle came out the other side.
I admire him for more than just his music.

[quartz007]

27. Sell all stocks?

I am nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. Inflation adjusted 10 year average is now higher than before crash of 1929.

[roamer65]

33. Yes, I would sell them all. Take your profit now.

I did about a year ago and went into bonds/money market.

Also borrow out of your 401k what ever you think may need right now, if you have one. If the market crashes, there will definitely be a MASSIVE liquidity crisis and loans/cash outs on 401k’s will probably be halted...aka capital controls.

Have a bit of cash, gold and silver on hand.

[quartz007]

39. Great advice

Watching this chart gives me the creeps.
I know 2000 internet bubble was even much larger.
But I am Medicare age, I do not need more profits,
just can not afford losses. So I am 90% out
of stocks, mostly in bonds & MM's.
""

[Initech]

31. Not too far? He's already here!

And he's got the Hitler youth (Infowars, Breitbart, Fox News) supporting him!

[quartz007]

40. I think it was blue collar revolt

which carried him into WH. And they will carry him out of
WH in 2020. In the meanwhile, lookout for yourself.

[mountain grammy]

32. In the 60's he performed at summer theaters in CT.

I was a teen and my mom took us. Once we were lucky to see him perform with Miriam Makeba. What great memories. He's a remarkable man and wonderful entertainer.

[roamer65]

34. The United States will resemble former Yugoslavia more than Nazi Germany.

But it will be about 20x worse.

[SweetieD]

35. I agree with him. And Trump is not Hitler. But a Hitler like figure will emerge. I have lost

all hope for this country. It will get way worse.

[SunSeeker]

37. K & R

[burrowowl]

38. K&R!!!!!!

I love HB and his songs and his civil rights work!