An Evening With Harry Belafonte

Michelle Gabel/ The Post-Standard

He spoke for almost an hour, no notes, he held the attention of his audience the entire time. Eighty-three years old and the fire burns as brightly as ever. He told stories, some funny, some poignant, he talked about his friends and connections in Syracuse and the Onondaga Nation, he talked about his life of activism and his disappointment in the changes of the past thirty years.

He asked over and over again how activists had missed the turning of the tide. I suspect he knows but that he didn't believe his audience wanted to hear it voiced even by him. It was there though in what he didn't say, the names he didn't drop but could have: Clinton, Obama, Biden, Emmanuel...

After he spoke, two much younger leaders of the Peace Council took the stage and it was back to the 70's because they didn't understand what Belafonte was implying and they do not understand that they were rendered powerless years ago by the Democratic Leadership Council and its spawn.

How can it be that an 83-year-old is vastly more current than so many people half his age?

Still I'm so glad I had the chance to hear him speak.