Harry Belafonte participates in the distribution of food to refugees in Ethiopia. WILLIAM CAMPBELL/SYGMA VIA GETTY IMAGES
By Kory Grow, RollingStone
Dr. Irwin Redlener, who worked with Belafonte on USA for Africa, recalls the singer's bright personality and profound conviction for bettering the world
Harry Belafonte, first crossed paths with Dr. Irwin Redlener, the healthcare reform activist who cofounded Children’s Health Fund, in boardroom meetings for USA for Africa during the mid-Eighties. Belafonte had gotten the idea for the organization after seeing how Band Aid’s 1984 recording “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” raised awareness about the Ethiopian famine, and launched a similar humanitarian effort that included the all-star song “We Are the World,” Hands Across America, and the disbursement of some $100,000,000 over the past 35 years to provide famine and poverty relief across the African continent.
Belafonte and Dr. Redlener, who served as Medical Director and Director of Grants for USA for Africa, became friends. In 1985, when the two of them embarked with a group of other organization members on a trip to Ethiopia, they witnessed the need of the African people firsthand. And when USA for Africa board members overruled some of Dr. Redlener’s choices for which organizations should receive their donations, Belafonte stuck up for him. They were both moved by what they saw in Ethiopia and stayed in touch for decades after the trip, meeting for the occasional Manhattan lunch to catch up and talk about activism.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Dr. Redlener parses the legacy Belafonte leaves behind and describes the impact that the singer, actor, and activist had on him, both as a friend and a humanitarian. “To me personally, he was a role model and an inspiring individual who was very important to my own identity as a social activist,” Dr. Redlener says. “And I know I’m not the only one on this planet who can say that.”
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