# Harry Belafonte compares Colin Powell to house slave

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [October 9, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484 "2002-10-09T05:22:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 17\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/41 "2002-10-13T17:02:28Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*  
> \*\*Come on, Anthracite, you made that up.  
> 🙂 \*\*

Nope, but I wish I made this one up, because it’s pretty funny:

> [@](#):
>
> reelect President Groe!

Which had me laughing, because it sounded like a line from an alternate universe version of Zork:

> [@](#):
>
> It is dark here. You are likely to be eaten by a Groe.

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/42 "2002-10-13T17:19:59Z")

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" a has-been with a single (or two) hits"  
“has-beens like Bellafonte”  
“Has-been singer who had, what? One? Two? hits songs 50 years ago”

What does that have to do with political awareness?  
If you have to be as successful as the guy you criticize, very few people can be critical of political figures. He’s the President, and I’m a geeky little network tech. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/43 "2002-10-13T17:33:57Z")

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Well, I’m not black or American, so I definitely don’t know where Harry is coming from with these statements. It is saddening though since I always respected him as an artist and human rights advocate.

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**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/44 "2002-10-13T18:47:20Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*  
> \*\*" a has-been with a single (or two) hits"  
> “has-beens like Bellafonte”  
> “Has-been singer who had, what? One? Two? hits songs 50 years ago”
> 
> What does that have to do with political awareness?  
> If you have to be as successful as the guy you criticize, very few people can be critical of political figures. He’s the President, and I’m a geeky little network tech. 🙂 \*\*

It’s not a question of success per se, and it’s certainly not a question of politics. It’s the term “house slave”.

Belafonte’s claiming that Powell is a sell-out, and (IMO) implying that Powell’s life’s work has made him no better than a slave dancing for his master.

If he were criticizing Powell’s politics, say complaining that he didn’t like Powell’s stand on one issue or other, I’d say fine, everyone’s entitled to an opinion and that would be that.

But Belafonte’s claim that Powell is a “house nigger” (let’s not mince words…that’s what Belafonte meant regardless of whether he said the “n” word or not) is pure ad hominim. And to make matters worse, it’s not even accurate ad hominim.

If you’re gonna denigrate someone’s entire career and claim the person is a sell-out and insult them in one of the worst possible fashions, then you sure as hell had better be squeeky clean yourself.

Considering that Belafonte has had little-to-no impact on the world for 50 years (excluding his first squandered 15 minutes of fame in the '50s and an extra squandered 5 minutes of fame after BEETLEJUICE), I don’t think he’s in any position to criticize Powell in terms of Powell being a “house slave”. Powell’s always been his own man…look at all the news reports of his disagreements with the President on various issues.

I mean, if we’re gonna talk about a “house slave”, let’s examine Belafonte. Belafonte was no better than a mistrel\*, performing watered-down, white-bread, comfortable “authentic” faux-Jamacian and Carribean folk songs\*\* for rich white folks in the '50s and when his 15 minutes of fame ended, he was put out to pasture.

As opposed to Colin Powell, who’s of a similar age (there’s less 10 years difference between them) but Powell’s still going strong.

So really, if the term “house slave” is to be bandied about, who does it apply to more? The (say) 20th most powerful person in the world who regularly has arguements, discussions and debates with the President that affect the entire planet? Or a one-trick pony singer who’s life work amounts to one or two novelty songs and a bunch of mediocre covers who was put out to pasture when people tired of him?\*\*\*

Like I said: if Belafonte had criticized Powell’s specific doctrines or political beliefs, I probably would have shrugged and ignored it…but the “house slave” / sell-out thing really pisses me off.

Fenris

\*the connotations of that word were _completely_ intentional.

\*\*Look at the courage Tennesse Ernie Ford had when he recorded “Sixteen Tons”, despite the fact that the F.B.I. was telling radio stations not to play Merle Travis’s songs 'cause Merle Travis was suspected of being a Commie. During that same period, Belafonte was taking courageous stands by being the black answer to Pat Boone: Belafonte singing crap like “Angelina” and “Zoom, Zoom, Zoom” and other “white” songs. Boone recorded black songs and made 'em white, Belafonte recorded white guy’s songs and made 'em whiter (at least Dean Martin was able to sound Italian when he sang 'em, Belafonte sounded whiter than The Crew-Cuts).

\*\*\*Hell, compare Belafonte’s contributions to music. When you consider some of the mid-50s Doo-Wop groups in terms of affectinged musical changes, Belafonte looks even worse. Belafonte was about as threatening to the status quo as a teddy-bear and about as relevant to later music as Ricky Ricardo. As opposed to say, The Ink Spots or the Chords (who arguably wrote the first Rock-and-Roll song with Sh-Boom) or the wonderful and horribly underrated El Dorados.

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/45 "2002-10-13T18:57:18Z")

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A bunch of poor Black kids who joined the army aren’t going to die because Belafonte’s music is not to your taste.  
Because Powell can’t convince the President that this war this way isn’t a good idea, they will.  
I very much wish Powell was President instead of Bush, bless his little pea pickin’ heart.

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**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/46 "2002-10-13T19:06:48Z")

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Keen, **CarniverousPlant** : you feel that a war in Iraq is wrong.

No prob. You have every right to that belief, but it’s utterly irrelevant the issue at hand: whether Powell is a “house nigger” or not. I’ve heard lots of things pro and anti Powell, but outside of Belafonte’s little bout of verbal diahrreah I’ve never heard _anyone_ else claim that he’s not a man of conscience who speaks his mind. Even if you disagree with his stand on one issue, does that necessarily make him a “house nigger”?

Fenris

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/47 "2002-10-13T20:30:58Z")

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Belafonte obviously believes rather strongly about this. Two remarks and I’ll give up, not knowing how to respond to witty reparte like “Nigger” and “diarrhoea”.

1. I think it makes the point more in a Black culture than a White middle class one.
2. It’s sort of like buring the flag; you get someone’s attention, but they aren’t going to listen to what you say.

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/48 "2002-10-13T20:34:14Z")

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Buring the flag; a form of protest against patriotic spell checking.

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**Author:** ![apotheosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@apotheosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apotheosis)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/49 "2002-10-13T23:31:48Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*  
> **1) I think it makes the point more in a Black culture than a White middle class one.**

Please tell me that’s not a paraphrasing of “It’s a black thang, you wouldn’t understand.”

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/50 "2002-10-13T23:35:52Z")

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Well, it sure as hell ain’t a red neck thing, dude.  
🙂

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**Author:** ![apotheosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@apotheosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apotheosis)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/51 "2002-10-13T23:46:47Z")

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Yeah, that’s what I figured.

So are you going to answer Fenris’ question? I think it was a valid one, though you apparently take issue with the way he posed it\*. Does Powell’s having taken an unpopular stance necessarily imply that he’s “owned”? Isn’t he allowed to hold an opinion that differs from that of mainstream of Black society without being considered a sellout?

In a society that supposedly values freedom of speech, it seems strange to me that someone’s exercising of that freedom should be taken to mean they’re not _really_ exercising it.

\*If “House n-word” is disagreeable, feel free to substitute “oreo,” “coconut,” “Uncle Tom,” or any of the other obnoxious pejoratives commonly applied in such situations.

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**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/52 "2002-10-13T23:47:45Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fenris \*  
> \*\*Keen, **CarniverousPlant** : you feel that a war in Iraq is wrong.
> 
> No prob. You have every right to that belief, but it’s utterly irrelevant the issue at hand: whether Powell is a “house nigger” or not. I’ve heard lots of things pro and anti Powell, but outside of Belafonte’s little bout of verbal diahrreah I’ve never heard _anyone_ else claim that he’s not a man of conscience who speaks his mind. Even if you disagree with his stand on one issue, does that necessarily make him a “house nigger”?
> 
> Fenris \*\*

Uh, Fenris, perhaps someone else is posting under your name? Your post is chocked full of spelling and punctuation and/or grammatical errors. Perhaps it’s time to spend more time on correcting your own errors? 😃 😃 😃

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**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/53 "2002-10-14T00:02:33Z")

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Way back on this thread, pizzabrat wrote this:

> [@](#):
>
> Gawd. Just cause he’s famous, some tiny little comment he made is getting picked apart. Nobody says that celebrities are experts on politics, but they’ve still got opinions just like we and everyone else does.

Sure, they have opinions. So do I. But if I were being interviewed on a **national** broadcast, I’d think twice before spewing out just anything, wouldn’t you?

Voicing your opinion to your friends at a party is one thing—but this is completely different. He was _telling the whole world_ what he thought. And he **knew that** , going in. He chose to say it anyway, and he was obviously aware of the possible consequences. Hell, I wonder if he is even enjoying the attention. Otherwise, none of us would be talking about him, would we?

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**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/54 "2002-10-14T22:31:56Z")

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[giggle]

Well, all I want to know is what **Alma Powell** thinks about all this. I mean really. Is she just going to stand there and let Belafonte just call her hubby all kinds of mean ol’ names or what? If I were Belafonte, I’d be very careful to stay away from **Alma**.

As far as Belafonte or anyone else for that matter, I have a **real** problem with folks what thinks they got the go ahead to speak for me or any other black person. Usually them folks ain’t asked me nor much of anyone else nothing. They ain’t conducted no polls of black folks; they ain’t got no data anywhichawheres. I mean where are they getting this: “I’m speaking for black folks” business from? 😕 Somebody needs to sit Belafonte down and just tell him that the only person he can speak for is hisself.

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**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/55 "2002-10-17T06:51:25Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by pizzabrat \*  
> **Gawd. Just cause he’s famous, some tiny little comment he made is getting picked apart. Nobody says that celebrities are experts on politics, but they’ve still got opinions just like we and everyone else does. It’s the media and us that makes a big deal out of what they say.**

He got on TV and said it where he knew lots of people, including Colin Powell, would hear it. If he’d been with friends and was overheard saying it then that would be another story (one for which your theory would have applied). He meant the world to hear it and therefore should be ready for the world to comment on what he said. He has done lots of good things, but has a proclivity for being an asshole, at select times.

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**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/56 "2002-10-17T07:01:33Z")

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Belafonte wants Powell to stage a coup for the same reason Musharraf did in Pakistan: to stop talk of a potentially disatrous war and turn of events from which few on Earth will recover. To do less and let Rumsfeld/Cheyney take over is considered a disappointment.

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2002, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-belafonte-compares-colin-powell-to-house-slave/131484/57 "2002-10-17T11:13:32Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by capacitor \*  
> Belafonte wants Powell to stage a coup

Cite?

> [@](#):
>
> for the same reason Musharraf did in Pakistan:

Cite?

> [@](#):
>
> . . . a potentially disatrous war and turn of events from which few on Earth will recover.

Cite?

Three unsupportable assertions in one short sentence–is this some kind of record?

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