Harry Belafonte closes out ACT Film Festival By Nate Day @NateMDay
During stage and screen legend Harry Belafonte’s visit to the CSU campus, there was one word on everyone’s mind. One word that seemed to be uttered more than any other. One word that seemed to emanate from Belafonte and all of his adoring fans: hope. The ACT Film Festival’s final night, put on by CSU’s Communications Studies Department, was sold out and full of people waiting to see Belafonte and to hear his thoughts on today’s racial climate. When they finally did, they adored him. Belafonte received several standing ovations throughout the night. A quick glance around the room at all of the glowing smiles—most notably from his wife, daughter and granddaughter who were also in attendance—was the perfect exhibition of the heartwarming effect he has on a crowd. Belafonte is one of the most decorated and celebrated musicians of the last several decades, kicking off his career in the 1950s. However, as talented a musician he is, Belafonte is also known for his political activism since the Civil Rights Movement. A friend of Martin Luther King Jr., Belafonte was deeply involved in the movement and is often regarded as one of its public leaders. In a Q&A followed by the famed documentary “I Am Not Your Negro,” Belafonte spoke on several topics, including what he makes of today’s climate in regards to race. “Race is always at the forefront of the debate,” Belafonte explained. “But it is not the debate exclusively.” It would have been easy for Belafonte, an outspoken liberal, to antagonize our country’s current state of affairs. While he did not hold back when it came to president Trump—once even referring to him as a “madman”—he maintained that we are “sitting at the gates of civilized evolution” and that we are so close to achieving our final goal of equality. Belafonte cites a new force of enlightened individuals speaking up. People are taking a stand as opposed to merely “blinking” and letting human rights slip from the forefront of our minds. see HUMAN RIGHTS on page 14 >>
Volume 126, No. 121
Monday, April 24, 2017 OPINION
PARIS POLARIZATION HITS CLOSE TO HOME PAGE 8
SPORTS
‘Science, not silence’
FOOTBALL GREEN AND GOLD GAME PAGE 10
Elena Rentz (Left) and Nora Forrestal (Right) from CSU join the crowd gathering at the Denver capital building after the March for Science advocating for science in public policy.
Thousands march for science on Earth Day PHOTO BY DAVIS BONNER. COLLEGIAN
By Piper Davis @PiperLDavis
DENVER — The phrase “science, not silence” echoed through a crowd at the March for Science in Denver on April 22, fluctuating in intensity during moments of unintentional harmony among the marchers. Thousands of people gathered in solidarity on
Earth Day, April 22, to fight for the validity of science in fear of the current administration’s stance on the subject. The largest crowd for a march in Denver since the Women’s March, participants paraded through downtown Denver, bearing signs in support of peer review for evidence supported science. Some marchers paraded in lab coats, including two
children gripping signs in one hand and their mothers’ hands in the other, shouting, “We are scientists! We love science!” Knitted brain hats were sprinkled throughout, created to encourage critical thinking and recognizing science as a process, the March for Science’s version of the “pussy hat” found at the Women’s March. see SCIENCE on page 4 >>
A&C
DANCE CONCERT SPARKS SOCIAL COMMENTARY PAGE 12