Harry Belafonte’s 94th Birthday Celebration Raising $174,000 For The Gathering For Justice
Harry Belafonte’s 94th Birthday Celebration
Raised $174,000 For The Gathering For Justice
The Gathering For Harry re-airing via TIDAL, YouTube & Facebook
Lineup Featuring: JAY-Z, Oprah Winfrey, Tiffany Haddish, Usher, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Martin Scorsese, DJ Khaled,
Charlamagne Tha God, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
Whoopi Goldberg, Common, Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon,
Danny Glover, Chuck D, Carlos Santana,
Bernie & Jane Sanders, Stacey Abrams,
Aloe Blacc, Tamika D. Mallory & More
In celebration of legendary singer, songwriter, activist and actor Harry Belafonte’s 94th birthday today, a surprise live virtual party was held last night. The Gathering for Harry raised $174,000 for nonprofit organization The Gathering for Justice and will be re-airing today for free at 7pm ET via TIDAL, YouTube & Facebook. At the event, DJ Khaled presented iconic artist & entrepreneur Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter with The Gatekeeper of Truth Award for his support to organizers on the frontlines and his inspiration to generations past & future. It also featured performances & appearances from Oprah Winfrey, Tiffany Haddish, Usher, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Martin Scorsese, DJ Khaled, Charlamagne Tha God, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Whoopi Goldberg, Common, Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Chuck D, Carlos Santana, Bernie & Jane Sanders, Stacey Abrams, Aloe Blacc, Pete Buttigieg, Tamika D. Mallory, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Rev. Al Sharpton, aja monet, Mysonne The General, Diane Nash, Sheryl Lee Ralph, DJ Carisma, Bryan Stevenson, SupaMan and more.
Sponsored in part by Frontline Solutions, the Hope and Robert F. Smith Family, the National Basketball Player Association Foundation, and PVH Corp., the event was packed with star-studded performances, video tributes and testimonials by civil rights and racial justice leaders, elected officials, artists, athletes and many more paying homage to the icon and the proud founder of The Gathering for Justice. Belafonte started the organization in 2005 after witnessing a news report of a 5-year-old Black girl being handcuffed and arrested in her Florida classroom for “being unruly.” The organization’s mission is to build a movement to end child incarceration while working to eliminate the racial inequities that permeate the justice system.
Tiffany Haddish & Charlamagne Tha God
Carmen Perez-Jordan, the President and CEO of The Gathering for Justice, said the following about her mentor: “As our nation faces a critical time in our democracy and the fight to protect our freedom, much of the work of today’s movement for justice is inspired by the leadership and guidance of Mr. B, as we lovingly call him. JAY-Z has picked up that baton for this generation.” In 2014, Belafonte received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (he is also one of few people to achieve EGOT status by winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award). He was a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a prominent force in ending South Africa’s oppressive apartheid regime and the release of his friend, Nelson Mandela. From his Calypso album being the first LP in history to sell more than one million copies to his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and beyond, Belafonte has created a lasting legacy to remember.
DJ Khaled Martin Scorsese
The Gathering for Harry Participants
aja monet
Aloe Blacc
Andy Tobias
Angela Davis
Belafonte Family
Bernadette Peters
Bette Midler
Brea Baker
Brian Satz
Bryan Stevenson (Legacy Award)
Carlos Santana
Carmen Perez-Jordan
Cassady Fendlay
Charlamagne Tha God
Christopher Jackson
Chuck D
Common
Congresswoman Barbara Lee
Cornel West
Dannese Mapanda
Danny Glover
DeJuana L. Thompson
Derrick Johnson
Diane Nash
DJ Carisma
DJ Khaled
DJ Kiss
Dr. Bernard Lafayette
Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Ebro Darden
Gaye Theresa Johnson
Patrick Gaspard (Legacy Award)
George Gresham (Legacy Award)
Ira Gilbert
Jaime Harrison
Jake Holmes
James Counts Early
Jane and Bernie Sanders
Jasmine Dellafosse
Jason Daley Kennedy
Joel Grey
Julianne Hoffenberg
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Keiajah ‘KJ’ Brooks (Youth Justice Award)
Keris Lové
Kerry Kennedy
Khary Lazarre-White
Kristine Arroyo
Linda Sarsour
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Lonnie G. Bunch III
Luis Jonathan Hernandez
Marcia and Michael Eric Dyson
Martin Scorsese
Maxine Waters
Michael Latt
Michael Skolnik
Mysonne The General
Nané Alejandrez
Oprah Winfrey
Paul Brady
Pete Buttigieg
Petula Clark
Phillip Agnew
Rashad Robinson
Rev. Al Sharpton
Robert F. Smith
Roland Martin
Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter (Gatekeeper Award)
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Stacey Abrams
SupaMan
Susan Sarandon
Susan L. Taylor & Khephra Burns
Susanne Rostock
Tamika D. Mallory
Tiffany Haddish
Tony Shaloub & Brooke Adams
Usher
Whoopi Goldberg
Xochitl Larios (Youth Justice Award)
Credit: Pamela Belafonte
About Harry Belafonte:
Harry Belafonte is a Jamaican-American singer, songwriter, activist, and actor heralded globally for both for his artistic ingenuity and support for humanitarian ideals. Belafonte was an early, vocal supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and financial backer of many forms of protest, including the 1963 March on Washington. Throughout his 70-year career, he has been an advocate for an array of political and humanitarian causes, including the anti-Apartheid Movement, equal rights for women, juvenile justice, climate change and the decolonization of Africa.
About The Gathering for Justice:
The Gathering for Justice is a nonprofit founded in 2005 by Harry Belafonte and led since 2010 by President and CEO Carmen Perez-Jordan. The mission of The Gathering for Justice is to end child incarceration and eliminate the racial inequities that permeate the justice system. The Gathering for Justice has two state-based task forces, Justice League NYC (established in 2013) and Justice League California (established in 2017), both of which bring together juvenile and criminal justice experts, advocates, artists and individuals who’ve experienced or been impacted by incarceration or state violence directly. We believe in an organizing model which draws from diverse communities to utilize our combined power to build the agenda for sustained Black and brown liberation. In the footsteps of our legendary founder’s activism, The Gathering for Justice and its Justice League state task forces utilize Kingian nonviolence as a social application for systemic change and civic engagement.
