History: Harry Belafonte On JFK (Video)
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Film and civil rights figure Harry Belafonte in an honest, reflective discussion about the late great U.S. President John F. Kennedy (JFK). Being a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Belafonte met JFK as he was campaigning to become U.S. President… who initially came to court the Black vote as a purely political maneuver; not because he truly understood or wanted to help Black folk overcome.
“When I met with John, I was quite taken by the fact that he knew so little about the black community. He knew the headlines of the day, but he wasn’t really anywhere nuanced or detailed on the depth of Black anguish or what our struggle’s really about.â€
– Harry Belafonte To NBC News Correspondent Tom Brokaw
As we reflect on the 50th Anniversary of his assassination, The Huffington Post did an insightful piece – putting JFK, his effect in [Black] history, and history’s effect on the President. The piece declared, among other things, that the Black struggle for Civil Rights would not have been successful had JFK not died like he did, how he did, when he did.