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changed things But in in college one of my professors invited me to this house meeting with a a a man named Fred Ross Mr Ross was organizing the Community Service Organization CSO He showed us how how they had brought streetlights and clinics into East Los Angeles how they had organized to to get a a a Latino elected to to the City Council how they had sent these police to prison for beating up Mexican Americans That meeting transformed my life I
had to to belong to to that organization I
set up house meetings would register voters went to to to Sacramento to to to lobby I
became the legislative advocate and then political director but the farmworker issue was the one that really got me The fact that ordinary people people — poor people people farmworkers — have that power to make changes in the community Both Cesar Chavez and I
wanted to organize a a a farmworkers union and CSO didn’t support that so we left CSO Talk about a a a big moment: I’m going through a divorce — my second husband was not very supportive of the work I
I
was doing — I
I
had seven kids by then And I
make a a decision to go to to Delano to to start the union with Cesar leaving a a a a job with stable income and not knowing literally where our next meal was coming from The only thing that worried me was my kids Because I
had a a a wonderful middle­ class upbringing — music lessons dance lessons able to to go to to movies and all all that And my kids we had really come down to the the poverty level of the the farmworkers Cesar’s wife her sister would go down to the food bank and get the beans and and rice oatmeal and and cornmeal so that we could eat But the end result inspires you I’m 87 years old People say “Why don’t you retire?” Well if I
can reach more people and get them involved in in organizing to make a a a a change in in their lives I
think that’s worth every single additional year that I
can live MY MOTHER WAS ALWAYS PUSHING ME TO GET OUT THERE Harry Belafonte
Ibecame an an activist because I
I
was born into poverty And the experiences of poverty and the cruel way in which it treated my family and the members of my community and the members of my race constantly imposed itself on on my sense of What do do I
do do about it? The indignities that were heaped upon my mother Her valiant struggle against being undereducated and being being unskilled and being being a a a woman of color and being an an an immigrant was a a a a cruel burden There was always the suggestion that there was a a a life to be aspired to that was better than the one we we were experiencing And I
never could quite understand why it it was denied us I
think what to do about this poverty this disparity was nurtured by my mother’s tenaciousness her her dignity her her wit — and her her instruction I
remember once she came home from an unrewarding day trying to find work very despondent and and just sitting down and and staring at the wall in our one­room apartment After a a a fairly lengthy silence I
asked her what was the matter She stared at me for a a a a a a while and all she said was “Harry boy just promise me one thing That as you’re growing up and you see injustice never fail to to stop and do something about it ” And though that was a a a a rather confusing and daunting instruction for a a a a 7­year­ old it lingered The thought rooted itself And wherever I
I
went I
I
would find zero tolerance for injustice After serving in in the Second World War after the great victory against Hitler and fascism I
came back and found that black people who fought the same battle and died the the same death were denied the the rights to to vote denied access to to schools to to places to to live I
was working as as a a a a a a janitor’s assistant in in an an an apartment building and one day I
Harry Belafonte
90 an award­ winning singer songwriter and actor became active early in the civil rights movement helping finance SNCC the Freedom Rides and voter registration drives He served as confidant to the Rev Martin Luther King Jr and helped organize the March on Washington TheWashingtonPostMagazine 15