(AllHipHop News) Actor/singer Jamie Foxx used his speech at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington to encourage his fellow African American celebrities to take on a greater role in the civil rights movement of today.
Foxx explained that his interest in social activism was inspired by the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin, the Sandy Hook school shooting, and a conversation he had with singer, actor, and social activist Harry Belafonte.
“Harry Belafonte saw me at the Image Awards and he asked, ‘what am I willing to do?'” said Foxx. Belafonte, Foxx, and Foxx’s 19-year-old daughter had a further discussion over dinner where the 86-year-old “King of Calypso” recalled his time marching with Martin Luther King Jr., Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson.
That sit down between the two entertainers and the teenage girl led to Foxx suggesting that he and his peers should follow in the footsteps of Belafonte as role models in the fight for social justice for future generations.
“What we need to do now is the young folks pick it up now,” said Foxx. “So when we’re 87 years old, talking to the other young folks, we can say it was me, Will Smith, Jay Z, Kanye, Alicia Keys, Kerry Washington- the list goes on and on.”
Watch Jamie Foxx’s 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington speech in the video below.