A few months ago I read an autobiography titled “My Song” by the entertainer Harry Belefonte. As a teenager I was a huge fan of his music. In later years I read about his work as an activist with the civil rights movement and that is the reason I purchased the ebook. The book is insightful for many reasons. I was impressed with how the big names of show business both black and white put themselves forward (often at risk to their careers) to help the cause of social justice.

The writer was also unafraid to reveal his own inadequacies which is often a failure with many autobiographies. Lastly I found Belefonte’s capacity to maintain his career whilst working for the movement quite extraordinary.

That aside the reason for this short rant is that on page 234 I found this exchange between Belefonte and Martin Luther King Jnr.

“The trouble “Martin went on” is that we live in a failed system. Capitalism does not allow for an even flow of economic resources. With this system a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level”.

I place the year at about 1960 and leave you to draw your own conclusions.