А ля гер
Великий певец Гарри Белафонте умер в апреле 2023 в возрасте 96 лет. В далеком 1956 Белафонте стал первым (до Элвиса Пресли), чей альбом разошелся миллионным тиражом.
За ангельским голосом и красивой внешностью скрывались сильные эмоции. Белафонте стал близким личным другом Мартина Лютера Кинга и в 1960ых сыграл большую роль в движении за гражданские права, помогая организации Кинга своими деньгами и связями.
Особую роль ему довелось сыграть в мае 1963, на встрече Бобби Кеннеди, генерального прокурора и доверенного лица его брата Джэка, с представителями черной творческой интеллигенции. Встреча проходила закулисно в нью-йоркской квартире Кеннеди, который попросил писателя Джеймса Болдуина собрать на нее подходящих людей. Среди них был и Гарри Белафонте. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin%E2%80%93Kennedy_meeting
Кеннеди хотел намекнуть на поддержку со стороны администрации и расчитывал найти понимание, но нарвался на конфронтацию и с раздражением закончил встречу. Белафонте, которого Кеннеди знал по предыдущим встречам в светских кругах, был последним, кто перекинулся словом.
After hors d’oeuvres and a light buffet, Robert Kennedy thanked them for coming. He listed what his brother, the president, was doing for civil rights. Then:
Robert Kennedy: “We have a party in revolt and we have to be somewhat considerate about how to keep them on board if the Democratic party is going to prevail in the next elections.” He said blacks need to understand that. Listening to Malcolm X would only bring trouble.
Kennedy talked about black and white Americans fighting together in Vietnam (still two years away).
Jerome Smith of CORE (agitated): “I don’t know what I’m doing here, listening to all this cocktail-party patter. What you’re asking us young black people to do is pick up guns against people in Asia while you have continued to deny us our rights here.”
Smith, a Freedom Rider, had been subjected to savage beatings. He, like many others, was about fed up with non-violence:
Smith: “When I pull the trigger, kiss it good-bye.”
Kennedy was stunned. He thought all Americans would do their patriotic duty when faced with a common enemy.
James Baldwin asked Smith if he would pick up a gun if America declared war.
Smith (to Kennedy): “Never! These are poor people who did nothing to us. They’re more my brothers than you are.”
Kennedy: “You will not fight for your country? How can you say that?”
They went back and forth. Then Smith said that being in the same room with Kennedy made him want to throw up.
Lorraine Hansberry (standing up): “You’ve got a great many very, very accomplished people in this room, Mr. Attorney General. But the only man who should be listened to is that man over there.” She pointed to Smith.
Kennedy turned red. Belafonte had never seen him so shaken.
Then came the flood: others spoke like it was their one chance to tell Kennedy what they truly thought.
Kennedy listened to another few minutes of this and then ended the meeting.
As the meeting broke up, Belafonte approached Kennedy.
Kennedy (angry): “You know us better than that. Why don’t you tell these people who we are?”
Belafonte: “Why do you assume I don’t? Maybe if we were not there telling them who you are, things would not be as calm as they are.”
Kennedy: “Calm? With what’s going on in the streets?”
Belafonte: “Yes. You may think you’re doing enough, but you don’t live with us, you don’t even visit our pain. Obviously, progress in America is in the eyes of the beholder. What you observe, Bobby, and what you want to see of us, is based upon the needs of the political machine. What we need is well beyond that. The problem is the failure of the power players to see us for who we really are and what we are really experiencing. Those children in Birmingham are our children, not yours -”
Kennedy (turns to Burke Marshall, his head of civil rights): “Enough.”
Then Kennedy turned and walked away.
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/harry-belafonte-at-the-baldwin-kennedy-meeting/comment-page-1/
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