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View Full Version : Singer Belafonte Likens Powell to 'House Slave'


kimpossible
10-10-2002, 08:42 AM
Wed Oct 9, 5:06 PM ET
By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Singer Harry Belafonte lashed out at Secretary of State Colin Powell in a racially charged radio interview, likening the former general to a plantation slave who had sold out his principles "to come into the house of the master."

Belafonte, 75, who has long been outspoken on civil rights and other political issues, leveled his criticism at Powell during an appearance on Tuesday on a morning talk show airing on AM station KFMB in San Diego.

A partial transcript of his remarks, and a link to a recording of the interview, were posted Wednesday on the radio station's Web site (http://www.760kfmb.com).

The entertainer, who like Powell is a black man of Jamaican descent, criticized the secretary when asked by radio host Ted Leitner whether he thought Powell had taken a low profile as the Bush administration pressed its case against Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. Powell initially had been seen as a leading proponent in the administration for seeking U.N. support for any military force against Iraq as opposed to unilateral action by the United States.

"There's an old saying, in the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and were those slaves that lived in the house," Belafonte said. "You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master ... exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him.

article (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20021009/people_nm/politics_belafonte_dc_4)

optiontoo
10-10-2002, 10:23 AM
Without knowing all that much about the situation, it sounds as though Belafonte is upset at Powell for being successful. Somehow, taking the homeboy out the hood AND taking the hood out the homeboy is "treason."

SunWuKong
10-10-2002, 10:41 AM
daylight come and me wanna go home!

ChinaLama
10-10-2002, 11:43 AM
Originally posted by optiontoo@Oct 10 2002, 06:23 PM
Without knowing all that much about the situation, it sounds as though Belafonte is upset at Powell for being successful. Somehow, taking the homeboy out the hood AND taking the hood out the homeboy is "treason."
I wouldn't think of Harry Belafonte as a Hood-ish kind of person, and I'm pretty sure he's successful, too.

But a lot of black ppl see Colin Powell as a sellout, largely cuz he's a Republican. A lot of black people see the Republican Party as akin to the KKK, so you can't wonder why they wouldn't call a Black Republican a house slave.

thaite
10-10-2002, 11:58 AM
Nah, Powell may be a Republican, but I don't see his ideologly stemming primarily from that. I gather that he's primarily a military person, and military people are typically conservative.

kimpossible
10-10-2002, 12:08 PM
I always thought of Powell as a military man first also. He seems not to be so much into the Bush administration as he is just being a politician. Dunno, I wonder if any 'black' politician can escape being called a sell out when they have no choice but to work for a white administration.

jizza
10-10-2002, 02:03 PM
wow, powell is just shit out of luck. either be labeled a "house nigger" or agree to follow views he doesn't believe in.



<!--EDIT|jizza|Oct 11 2002, 08:04 AM-->

thaite
10-10-2002, 05:48 PM
Okay. Condoleeza Rice: Is she a sellout because she's a black woman in a predominatly white male administration?

phism
10-10-2002, 06:49 PM
condoleeza rice and colin powell are both house slaves, and so are all the other people regardless of minority in that whole ass administration.

slaves to who? the devil. the white devil if you insist, but the devil nonetheless.

fuck em.

fuck em all.

murderers.



<!--EDIT|phism|Oct 11 2002, 12:49 PM-->

Hito
10-11-2002, 11:13 AM
Rice and Powel are the Bush II administration's token negros.
They get to point to them and say "see we like blacks we have 2 working for us. And one of em is a woman!"

I must admit to a mellowing to Powell on my part.
Especialy after his treatment at the hands of the chickenhawks arround Bush who want to get themselvs an oil war going.

kimpossible
10-11-2002, 12:09 PM
I feel like Powell is the only one in there who has a clue as to what the hell is going on in global politics. He may also be puppeted by the Bush administration as token diversity, but as a general with real life military command experience, I can't think of another person I'd put in his place to do his job. Not sure how I feel about Rice.

thaite
10-11-2002, 12:29 PM
I think Rice is a hawk toeing the line drawn by the administation. Powell, I like. Military man he is, I think he's a real voice of reason, fair temper and moderation.

SunWuKong
10-11-2002, 12:42 PM
does anybody else find it weird that they don't hire asian americans in the white house to deal with asian issues? i mean how come, for example, the leading person in chinese affairs isn't a chinese american? i suppose they're worried about security issues? but that's not really applicable for japanese and south korean affairs.