 | Longtime activists Danny Glover (left) and Bill Fletcher Jr. said they were working to rebuild the TransAfrica Forum, which analyzes the effect of U.S. policy abroad. |
One thread uniting the "children of the civil rights movement" and members of today's "hip-hop generation" is the "idea of struggle" for social justice, said actor and activist Danny Glover during a recent talk on campus.
Glover, who has been deeply involved in international human rights issues for many years, came to campus on Feb. 14 along with longtime activist Bill Fletcher Jr. The two men are part of the leadership of the TransAfrica Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based group devoted to analyzing, and focusing public attention on, the ramifications of U.S. foreign policy on Africa and the Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America. Fletcher is the group's president, while Glover is chair of the board.
The activists spoke at a Calhoun College master's tea in the afternoon, and before an audience in Battell Chapel in the evening. Their visit was part of the celebration of February as Black History month and was sponsored by Calhoun College and the Afro-American Cultural Center.
Glover told students at the tea that the "idea of struggle" for social justice has been consistent for every generation dating back to the days of slavery. "The civil rights movement was a watershed of all these forces coming together at a particular historic moment," said the actor.
The "children of the civil rights movement ... were forged, moved forward and motivated by what we saw," he recalled. "And what we saw were the enormous sacrifices and contributions that people made for the betterment of the community, for the betterment of change."
Noting that "the idea of struggle takes on different modes with each generation," Glover said that members of the "hip-hop generation" need to recognize the inequities that still exist in the United States today -- including the disproportionate percentage of people of color in the prison population and the escalating level of violence against African Americans.
"You exist in this world. ... These issues exist in front of you. How you address them or how you respond to them is how your generation will go down in history," asserted Glover.
Fletcher, who was a principal organizer of the Black Radical Congress and former education director for the AFL-CIO, said his own interest in social activism was sparked during his high school years when he read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."
"It inspired me in the fight for black liberation and social justice," he told the students, adding, "Whatever activism that you're engaged in right now, it's important that you think about this as not a four-year commitment but as a lifelong commitment. ... The issue of social activism has to become something that runs through your life. You have to find a way to integrate that into anything you're doing, regardless of what kind of job you have. ... We need you; this country needs you."
Glover noted that this was his first visit to New Haven since he appeared at the Yale Repertory Theater 21 years ago in "Master Harold ... and the Boys," Athol Fugard's play about the effects of apartheid in South Africa. Working with the playwright, he said, reinforced his commitment to "say what was important in the world."
The actor noted that his own involvement in the struggle for social justice has given him "another kind of purpose in my work; it elevated the work to a different degree." For example, he said, the visibility he has garnered through his work in the blockbuster "Lethal Weapons" films has given him the "leverage" to promote the causes dearest to his heart, such as his current work for the TransAfrica Forum.
The two activists are leading the current effort to rebuild that organization, which "reached its pinnacle during the anti-apartheid movement," acknowledged Fletcher. Currently, TransAfrica is involved in efforts to gain reparations for victims of apartheid in South Africa, to promote sovereignty in Haiti and to oppose sweatshops and child labor around the world.
"The backdrop to all of this is the anti-war issue," said Fletcher, noting that he and Glover were traveling around the country speaking out against "this catastrophe otherwise known as the war against Iraq."
Anti-war protests have historically been "very effective, but you have to be very strategic or you have to have the right moment in history" said Fletcher, whose talk preceded a weekend of international demonstrations against a U.S.-led war against Iraq.
"The building of an anti-war movement in advance of the bullets flying is a very unique challenge," he noted, adding, "The problem is: If you have a ruling class that is dead set on going to war, it is very hard for an anti-war movement alone to stop that from happening. Because it is very easy to start a war; it is much harder to stop it. ...
"Building an anti-war movement now is laying the foundation for what we might have to do afterward," Fletcher added, "because once the bullets start flying, we don't know whether it's going to be a short war or a long war.
"And in some ways, we're not dealing with one war," he continued. "We're dealing with what [George] Orwell described as a 'perpetual war.' The way these guys have laid it out, there will never be an end to war, because the war on terrorism is a declaration that there will never be peace on this planet again -- because there's no way of determining when the war has ended."
-- By LuAnn Bishop
T H I S
Activists urge students to join
'struggle' for social justice
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
New director of Equal Opportunity Office named
Former CIA head: In war, liberty and security can conflict
Students chosen for All-USA College Academic First Team
Adrienne Rich wins prestigious Bollingen Prize for poetry
Kannan has been appointed to Lanman chair
Activists urge students to join 'struggle' for social justice
Symposium to honor 'Yale's greatest scientist'
Symposium to explore rebuilding post-conflict states
MEDICAL CENTER NEWSIQs of premature infants rise as they grow, say researchers
Study reports 20% of people with epilepsy . . .
Drug to prevent breast cancer now being tested
Investigators seeking ways to treat painful gynecological disorder
Journalists Carlson, Kaufman to be next Poynter Fellows
Lecture series offers inside perspective on 'Managing the European Union'
Celebrating Black History Month
Three-day conference explores the musical traditions of Greece
Biologist John Trinkaus, expert on cell migration, dies
Friends recall life of graduate student Tom Casey, who died in kayaking accident
Digging the snow
Norbert Hirschhorn honored for pediatric research
Organ student Paul Jacobs garners music award
Connecticut-based ensemble to perform in campus concert
Yale Books in Brief
Bulletin Home|Visiting on Campus|Calendar of Events|In the News
Bulletin Board|Yale Scoreboard|Classified Ads|Search Archives|Deadlines
Bulletin Staff|Public Affairs Home|News Releases|
E-Mail Us|Yale Home Page