“Why are you just a spectator and not a participant?” award-winning singer, actor, and activist Harry Belafonte said regarding social activism on Monday night.
Belafonte came to Columbia’s Roone Arledge Auditorium to screen his biographical documentary, “Sing Your Song.” The film, directed by Columbia alumna Susanne Rostock, intimately chronicles
Belafonte’s rigorous journey through activism from the civil-rights movement to the anti-prison movement today. Despite decades of struggle, Belafonte took to the stage with a smile.
“It is not about what you can do, but what do you want to do. What are you willing to do to see change happen?” Belafonte asked of the audience.
Born in New York City, Belafonte first made his name in the entertainment industry, appearing in Broadway revues. He then opened his own music publishing firm and film production company, eventually winning a Tony and Emmy.
The event was organized by REACT to FILM, a nonprofit organization that screens social issue documentaries. Throughout Belafonte’s career, he has been an advocate for civil rights and humanitarian causes as the cultural adviser to the Peace Corps and one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s confidants in the 1950s.
He praised the Occupy Wall Street movement as stemming from “social anger,” a root shared with the civil-rights movement. Belafonte encouraged a similar sort of activism from the audience.
“We saw our opportunity and we took it. Where are the young people in the battle of today?” Belafonte said.
REACT to FILM seeks to amend this sort of apathy. The organization, which just launched its College Action Network five months ago, now has chapters in 31 colleges and is looking to lay down its roots at Columbia. Its goal is to promote social responsibility and civic engagement by showing films that students would have otherwise not come into contact with. As the name suggests, REACT to FILM showcases works that provoke a reaction.
“We want to get the young to know they have a responsibility as citizens,” said Jasper van Santen, GS ’15 and member of the business advisory board.
The College Action Network screens two social documentary films a semester and brings in the director for a Q&A following the film. Dennis Paul, CC ’96 and founder and chairman of the organization, said that the Q&A is meant to “start the conversation.”
“Sing Your Song” asks its viewers to find their own voices and get involved. The film ends with the question, “What is my assignment?” Paul’s answer was “to volunteer and mentor underprivileged youth.”
The program does not stop at the college level. A high school curriculum has been put together and is now in place as an elective class in private, charter, and public schools around the country.
“We want to create a vehicle to feel inspired,” Paul said. “And it has to start earlier than college years.”
By targeting students at a younger age, Paul hopes to link the College Action Network with participating high schools. Though new, REACT to FILM has grown quickly and has many documentaries scheduled for screening. The next film will be “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom,” an inspirational film about the tsunami in Japan.
It is an ambitious project, but Paul is optimistic. “These films have changed me, and made me realize that I have to be more concerned with the world,” Paul said. “The ultimate goal is to change the world.”
COMMENTS
Comments will be moderated in accordance with our comment policy