At the 102nd annual NAACP national convention currently taking place in Los Angeles, actor and activist Harry Belafonte echoed statements we’ve all heard before regarding blacks in film. He stated the Hollywood industry will…”never ever yield to the needs of people of color.”

While his conclusions aren’t new, he did make a point to urge the NAACP to form a group of artists and thinkers to inspire the kind of “radical thought” necessary for change, and he called on black actors and filmmakers to “come together and create some institutional base that’s ours.”

Concerning finding answers he stated…”You’re not going to find solutions until you’re willing to embrace radical thought. Every time black people moved ahead in the history of this country is because somewhere in this nation, a group of people dared to think radically and do radical things.”

On a panel that included Louis Gossett Jr., Tatyana Ali, Hill Harper and members of the Black Stuntmen’s Association, Belafonte explained that black artists and consumers are responsible for changing the way the entertainment industry represents people of color.

“It seems to me that long ago we could have put together black studios, put together a black distribution center. Maybe we couldn’t reach 100 million, but we could reach 100,000, and have 100,000 exposed to a great truth. I’d rather have that than 100 million exposed to something vacuous and inaccurate.”

Finally, he summed up his belief saying…”in pursuit of ego, in pursuit of large, ridiculous sums of money, we have sold our birthright that somehow we are more victim than we are responsible.”

Words of wisdom from our elder! You can read the complete article HERE.