Harry Belafonte continues critisism of the Powell

CHICAGO, Ill. (Martin Luther King Website) - Entertainer Harry Belafonte is continuing his criticism of the Bush administration and some of its more prominent members, saying the president is not a friend to blacks and their aspirations. unveiledBelafonte, 75, said he expects the Bush administration to try to wipe away affirmative action, eliminate abortion and pursue a war with Iraq "that makes absolutely no sense."

Belafonte also took another shot at Secretary of State Colin Powell , who in October, he likened to a slave who sold his principles. Belafonte said Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice are hurting the cause of black America.
"In fact and practice ... you are serving those who continue to design our oppression," he said of Powell and Rice. "That is villainy, and I insist you look at it."
Speaking at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at a Chicago church on Sunday, Belafonte drew the crowd of more than 1,000 to its feet for raucous ovations several times during his speech.

Belafonte was a close friend and confidant of King, who was killed in 1968. The singer credited his involvement in the civil rights movement to a meeting with King in the early 1950s, in which King sought out the actor to discuss the movement.

After their conversation, Belafonte recalled saying: "My mission was clear. I told Martin Luther King: `You can count on me.'"