Day-O
| Carrie Devorah/For The Examiner |
Harry Belafonte was one of the honorees at this weekend’s WPFW Radio 30th Anniversary Gala and Pacifica Peace and Justice Awards, but the legendary calypso crooner and activist didn’t exactly appear to be in a partying mood.
When he took the stage, he took to a lengthy discussion of the Gathering, a three-day retreat in June that he organized with the elders of the Onondaga Nation near Syracuse, N.Y. He then began haranguing the Congressional Black Caucus, at one point referring to them as “corrupt,” despite the presence of members John Conyers and Barbara Lee in the audience.
“He went on so long, they couldn’t figure out how to get him off the stage,” said one source, who asked not to be named.
He didn’t take the hint when organizers began pointing at their watches or making slashing motions across their neck, begging him to cut it off. As he was “winding down,” his introducers each grabbed an arm and didn’t stop until he was off the stage, even carrying the 80-year-old’s cane for him.
But A.C. Byrd, chairman of the gala committee, said Belafonte received thunderous applause and that organizers never “stopped him. “We think he’s a valuable voice in the black community,” he said.
He noted that the singer has long been critical of the Black Caucus “for not doing more for the poor.”
The event raised funds for WPFW’s campaign to build a permanent home for the station. Other awardees included Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, jazz musician Sonny Rollins, Dorothy Height, Dick Gregory and Ron Clark.
