Preceding our recent discussion about about the new movie about Oscar GrantFruitvale Stationwe spoke with Rahiel Tesfamariam of the Washington Post and Dr. Lester Spence of Johns Hopkins University about the recent exchange between Harry Belafonte and Jay-Z.  Is this disagreement generational or political?

0 Replies

  1. Someone should work with Mr. Belafonte to produce him doing a “Dis-Monologue/Poetry Slam” and eat Jay-Z and his ignorance for lunch! Post it on YouTube as “Step Up Yo Game Young Boy (Belafonte Jay-Z Diss) or “I Can Do You, Can You Do Me?” or even “Get Your Real Grown Man-On Jay-Z and Stop Being a Tool and a Fool”. Imagine…

  2. Dear Professor Ball,
    Your “ImixwhatIlike” program is always worth listening to.
    The show on JZ and Mr. Harry Belafonte exchanging greetings was provocative to me. You had your guests disagreeing without being disagreeable. However; on your show critiquing Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow,” it became a bare knuckled attack. I would have thought that it should be the other way around. May I agree that Mrs. Alexander has performed an important service as explained by Mr. Carl Dix is his response to Bruce Dixon on Black Agenda Report.
    http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/mass-incarceration-silence-genocide
    Do you admire JZ so much that he gets a pass? Someone said that you can tell a person by his friends. Who are JZ’s friends? President Obama and Warren Buffet. Of these two I actually think that Buffet is to the political left of Obama, but the point is that you cannot compare someone like Harry Belafonte with JZ for several reasons. Mr. Belafonte is old enough to be JZ’s Grandfather. So, the respect or disrespect factor was under emphasized in the discussion. Mr. Belafonte is a man who was a major financial contributor and organizer during the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s for civil rights through the anti-apartheid era. This is a man who walked with and was/is respected by Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, MLK and many many others. It would be like comparing Dr. Jonas Salk the inventor of penicillin to Michael Millikan – the inventor of “junk bonds.” I think that you miss a fundamental difference between JZ and Mr. Belafonte. JZ is a gifted artist and businessman, but Mr. Belafonte is a “social activist” who is also a gifted artist and businessman.
    It seems that Mr. Belafonte would like to push JZ into social activism, but I think JZ is too selfish and self-centered for the job. JZ is also an individual who is rightly moved by extreme acts of overt racism and brutality as in the Trayvon Martin incident. It should also be clear that he is not prepared to go beyond a small statement of protest to any such incident.
    Thank you

  3. For a political flyweight like JAy Z to be mentioned in the same sentence as Che G is an affront. Had the powers-that-be not consciously gutted music departments in urban american high schools, it’s arguably even money jay z would have been a novelty act on the gong show! Mouthpiece of a movement to where? Bling agency?

Leave a Reply to Cal61 Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *