Belafonte stirs anger with latest controversial remark:

“Bush is the greatest terrorist in the world”

Entertainer and political activist Harry Belafonte have stirred anger in all circles with his latest controversial comment that President Bush is the world’s greatest terrorist. Earlier this week while in Venezuela, Belafonte, 78, who is now a United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) goodwill ambassador called President George Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world.”

This controversial remark follows others made by Belafonte in recent years. In 2002, he referred to then secretary of state Colin Powell as being “a house slave” for being in the Bush administration, and last August at a march in Atlanta he referred to prominent black Republicans in the Bush administration, as “black tyrants.”

Belafonte who was in Venezuela leading a delegation of Americans meeting with Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, also claimed that millions of Americans support Chavez’s socialist revolution. During Chavez’s national radio and television broadcast on Sunday, January 8, Belafonte said, “No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of American people … support your revolution.”

UNICEF said that they in no way support the comments made by Belafonte and that he made them as private citizen and not as a representative of the organization. American Association of Retired People (AARP) also condemned the statements, calling them “reckless and irresponsible”

Belafonte, who was once denied an apartment in New York City because he was black, and who then later bought the whole apartment, was closely allied to Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement in the early 1960’s. His experience with racism has made him an eloquent speaker on the need for racial equality in the United States.

It is a common, but incorrect belief that Harry Belafonte was born in Jamaica. Actually, Harold George Belafonte, Jr. was born in New York City on March 1, 1927. His father was from Martinique and it was his mother was from Jamaica. At age eight, Harry was sent to school (Wolmer’s Boys) in Jamaica, where he remained until he returned to High school in New York.

After serving for two years in the U.S. Navy he turned to career in entertainment. Many people know Belafonte as the one who made the musical genre, calypso, popular in America, and the “Banana Boat Song” or “Day-O” is renowned internationally. But, he was also a gifted actor. Among his many movies was his role in “Carmen Jones”, the first all-black movie that appeared in 1954. In 1956 Belafonte sold the first million-dollar album ever. The album, entitled “Calypso” on the RCA label, promulgated his singing career winning him many awards including a Grammy in 2000 for Lifetime Achievement. He also received an Emmy Award for his TV show “Tonight with Harry Belafonte.”

However, in the latter years of his life Belafonte became more involved in supporting the cause for the world’s underprivileged. In 1985 he produced and sang in the Grammy-award song “We are The World”. He used the proceeds of this song to assist people starving in Ethiopia, and traveled the world crusading on behalf of social rights. In 1987 he was appointed a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and in 1988 the U.S. Peace Corp presented him with its Leader for Peace Award.

In his comments made in Venezuela, Belafonte is also reported to have stated that he is concerned about the large number of US citizens who lack basic benefits despite the level of technology and economic power in this country.

In reference to the administration’s slow response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina’s effect on New Orleans and other Gulf states, Belafonte was quoted as saying, “The United States has become a leader of the free world and an official part of its policy is to talk about human rights, and this is ironic and unethical.”

Up to press time there has been no reports from the Bush administration regarding Belafonte’s comments.