LOS ANGELES (AP) – Entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte, who’s been advising organizers of Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington, says peaceful protest is the best way to show political leaders that the electorate is paying attention.
“Let us get off to an early start demonstrating that the country is alert, that it is aware of the manipulations that are taking place by the new administration,” Belafonte told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. “Mr. Trump will have to understand that there are people who are prepared to make the environment aware of the fact that people will not be governed with tyranny.”
Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States on Friday. Belafonte and fellow activist Gloria Steinem are serving as honorary co-chairs of Saturday’s march.
Belafonte said he counseled organizers on content, strategy and logistics based on his experiences with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the historic 1963 March on Washington and the five-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
“I’m playing a role that I feel equipped and I feel knowledgeable about,” Belafonte said. “I’m going to be 90 years old in a couple of weeks, and I think that to be of mind and capacity to be able to still contribute to helping to make our union a better place, to help our country become a better place is a joyous task…