Summary: Although best known for his songs like "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" and "Jump In the Line," singer Harry Belafonte has been heavily involved in civil rights, political activism and social justice since the 1950's. At 86, the "King of Calypso" hasn't put out a new album in several decades, yet he's still making plenty of headlines. In a recent opinion piece titled "Five Ways Harry Belafonte Is Greater Than Jay Z," Keli Goff -- author, political analyst and correspondent for the Web site The Root -- wrote about Belafonte and his ongoing war of words and lyrics with rapper Jay Z. Goff talks with Soundcheck host John Schaefer about social responsibility, generational divides and Belafonte's history of activism. Interview Highlights Keli Goff, on the beginning of Belafonte's "feud" with Jay Z: A couple of years ago, Harry Belafonte said that his hope was that more mega-celebrities would use their platform for social responsibility. He chided Jay Z and Beyoncé, since they are arguably the most recognizable African American entertainers on the planet at the moment, for not doing more in terms of social responsibility. That's probably, in Jay Z's mind, the start of the beef. On Jay Z's statement that his "mere presence is charity": I really am at a loss that someone who's worth tens of millions of dollars believes that is mere presence is enough. I think most of the charitable organizations in this country who are working on issues like poverty and are struggling would actually prefer a check. On Belafonte's various forms of activism: I take it very seriously that there are people who laid down their lives, lost opportunities, and gave up their careers so that I could sit in this chair in an integrated news program and not worry about my life. That's what Harry Belafonte did. Not only did he help integrate television with his "mere presence." He also helped fund Dr. King's family, he helped fund the Freedom Rides. He was actually one of the first African American celebrities to use his image to help mobilize the Black community around a candidate and sort of our first Civil Rights president, JFK. On the social responsibility standards to which we hold Jay Z and Beyoncé: This is the analogy I would use, and it's a sloppy one but bear with me because it's the best I can do. I think people have the right to be strippers. People have the right to be Sunday School teachers. I think it's tough to pull off being both at the same time. If Beyoncé wants to position herself as a spokesperson on behalf of the White House on healthy eating, it's contradictory and sort of hypocritical to sign a multi-million dollar with Pepsi. In the same way that if Jay Z wants to position himself as someone who cares about social responsibility-- then own that. Live up to that image.
