Entertainer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte blamed the Tea Party for increasing “racial animus” in the United States in an appearance with the Dream Defenders at the Florida State Capitol.
In a response to a question from Breitbart News about the dramatic difference between black and white opinion on the George Zimmerman acquittal, Belafonte said that black Americans believed that white Americans don’t pay attentions to black issues unless they create a disturbance.
Belafonte added that during the civil rights era, they fought and achieved their objectives but that he felt that progress had been rolling back. He cited the Supreme Court’s recent overturn of the part of the Voting Rights Act as an example. Mr. Belafonte then went on to call out the Tea Party specifically for increasing racial tension, but cited no specific examples.
Belafonte expressed his full support for the Dream Defenders, whose sit-in at the Capitol has entered its eleventh day and who currently have the biggest crowd so far in their civil disobedience.
Currently, over 250 people are demonstrating in the Capitol and demanding that Republican Governor Rick Scott call a special legislative session to address issues like police profiling, Stand Your Ground laws and what they call the “school-to-prison” pipeline.
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