By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
Singer and humanitarian Harry Belafonte spoke before a crowd of about 1,000 people, when Jewish Family Service held its benefit luncheon on May 20.
“We’re here today to listen, to think, to feel and to react,” said Jeannie Butler, JFS president, welcoming the audience.
JFS has been caring for both the Jewish and broader communities of the greater Puget Sound area since 1892. About 16,000 people seek help through JFS every year, noted Ken Weinberg, JFS executive director. “Not one single person” is turned away, he stressed.
“This year broken human lives were fixed,” he said. “They were made better through Jewish Family Service.”
Because JFS Was There, a film about JFS successes, was shown at the luncheon. Pete Hoover, a man with hearing loss, was aided by JFS with housing, emotional and employment assistance. He is now a driver for the Northwest Center. Had JFS not helped him, he said, he would probably be homeless or dead.
Also in the movie, Judge Anthony Wartnick spoke about how JFS’ Shalom House and the Seattle Association for the Jewish Disabled helped his son Howie. Shalom House also aided the cousin of KUOW radio’s Marcie Sillman, who spoke at the luncheon. Stephanie Sahanow, a survivor of domestic violence, obtained assistance from JFS’ Project DVORA. JFS helped her find a job, with benefits, that she has now held for three years. “I’m proud to give back to an organization that has helped us out so much,” she said.
JFS offers “food, shelter, safety and people who care,” said Laurie Stusser-McNeil, JFS board member and luncheon co-chair. “The single stroke of a pen can save a life,” she added, encouraging pledges and donations.
A dedicated humanitarian, Belafonte is most actively involved as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund. He has been honored by such organizations as the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, American Civil Liberties Union and Kennedy Center. He gained fame as a singer and actor in the 1950s, and has since used his celebrity status to advance the cause of civil rights in the United States and human rights around the world.
Born Harold George Belafonte in Harlem on March 1, 1927, he is widely known for singing the “Banana Boat Song” with its signature lyric “Day-O.” Belafonte was the first African-American to win an Emmy award, with his first solo TV special “Tonight with Belafonte.” He also received a Tony award for his participation in John Murray’s Anderson’s Almanac, and took home a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 1985.
Life was not always easy for Belafonte. During 1935-1939, he lived with his mother in her homeland of Jamaica. At 17, he dropped out of high school and volunteered for the U.S. Navy, serving in World War II.
“Poverty is no stranger to me. I was born in it,” said Belafonte. “Poverty is a cruel and difficult place in which to reside.”
Belafonte once worked as a janitor’s assistant at an apartment building, where he was given two tickets to a small community theater.
“The curtain went up and I found my place in life,” he said.
Still, he had to overcome his struggle with dyslexia.
“I was always being punished for my absence of focus,” said Belafonte.
Rod Steiger, Walter Matthau, Tony Curtis and Bea Arthur were all classmates of Belafonte’s, as he studied the problems of the world through drama.
When Belafonte chose to pursue a singing career, Paul Robeson said to him, “Get them to sing your song and they will want to know who you are.” When he began to sing Carribbean folk songs from his childhood, Belafonte said he was surprised that people wanted to hear them.
“You don’t realize the power of song,” he said.
Many of Belafonte’s values came from a rough environment, he said. His father was an alcoholic and an abuser, but his mother still made sure that her kids were raised well, according to Belafonte.
“She committed herself to social activism,” he said. “She thought fascism was a terrible thing.”
When Belafonte’s mother introduced him to some Jewish immigrant women, many of whom had had similar experiences, he recognized that people of all persuasions had some sense of what oppression was about. Belafonte held onto that lesson, and said he feels it is important for Americans to see other parts of the world, to learn about the plight of others.
“America is seen with the most ambivalence. Most recently with much disdain,” he said.
Belafonte has traveled with his wife all over the world, in such places as Peru, Madagascar and Costa Rica.
“The world around us is suffering deeply,” he said, giving recent ethnic cleansings in Bosnia, Cambodia and Sudan as examples.