Earlier this year, I have written the following blog posts on prominent people who have passed away this year.
on David Crosby, Pelé, Barbara Walters (the last 2 died in late Dec 2022) https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2023/01/notes-on-recent-deaths.html
on Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Sinead O'Connor, Jim Brown & Jerry Springer https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2023/07/notes-on-recent-deaths.html
on Pee-Wee Herman and Magoo https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2023/08/pee-wee-and-magoo.html
Closer to home here in Hawaii, on Tracy Ryan & David Nahinu https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2023/03/notes-on-recent-deaths.html
Jim Leahey and Gregg McMackin (aka Coach Mack) https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2023/02/jim-leahey-and-coach-mack-2-legends-of.html
Bob Wagner https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2023/10/in-memory-of-bob-wagner-1947-2023.html
I didn't have time to post about other prominent people who have passed away this year, but now I have time. I definitely won't be able to blog about every prominent person who died this year. I'll just write about those who have done something I found interesting.
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Jimmy Buffett was the musician that was known as the life of the party. His biggest hit "Margaritaville" was the anthem for Westerners who move and/or visit the tropical areas for a good time. He had a cult following called the "parrotheads" who come to his concerts with parrot hats (and sometimes, real parrots). Beyond his image as a tropical slacker, he was a real hustler with a business empire of restaurants, clothing lines, stores and more.
learn more at https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jimmy-buffett-margaritaville-singer-dies-072354351.html
https://reason.com/2023/12/25/jimmy-buffett-bard-of-the-florida-man/
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Steve Harwell was another singer with party tracks. He was the lead singer of Smash Mouth, an alternative rock band that was popular at the dawn of the new millennium (also happened to be the time I went from high school to college). "Walking on the Sun" was the band's 1st hit, but the most popular one was "All Star", the perfect jam for any part. They also covered the Monkees "I'm a Believer" which was part of the "Shrek" soundtrack. Sadly, Harwell's life as his addiction to alcohol and other drugs lead to his downfall.
learn more at
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/04/1197540017/smash-mouth-steve-harwell-dies
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/04/smash-mouth-steve-harwell-lead-singer-death
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Harry Belafonte was an entertainer & a civil rights activist. He was a descendant of Caribbean immigrants and brought the Caribbean influence to US American music before Bob Marley became a worldwide icon. He was also an actor, who like Sidney Portier, who preferred dignified roles over stereotypical roles usually given to African American actors. All this during an era when the civil rights movement was about to launch.
Belafonte not only supported civil rights movement, he also helped fund and organize some of the marches, including the famous Freedom March on Washington. Decades later, he organized Nelson Mandela's first trip to the USA.
He become UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador and was involved in various humanitarian causes.
He continued to be critical of those in power, and he was especially disappointed by African-Americans who gained access to power. He blasted fellow Jamaican-American Collin Powell for his role in the US-Iraq war.. He also criticized Barack Obama for not caring enough for the poor and for not being radical enough.
learn more
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/25/516446742/harry-belafonte-dead
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/opinion/harry-belafonte.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/arts/music/harry-belafonte-dead.html
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Bobby Knight was a college basketball for Army, Indiana & Texas Tech. He was known for his knowledge of basketball strategies but even more well known for his temper tantrums. He was verbally abusive to everyone who got anywhere near him. Not only his players, referees, and journalists but even college administrators. At Indiana, he was videotaped head-butting and choking players. But what really got him fired was grabbing the arm of a student (who wasn't on the team) who greeted him in an informal manner.
Needless to say, Bobby Knight wouldn't last in this era. Abusive coaches have lost their jobs in recent years, including but not limited to Urban Meyer and Todd Graham. The days when coaches could get away with anything are now over.
Learn more on Bobby Knight at https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/01/sport/bobby-knight-death-coach-health-spt/index.html
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Henry Kissinger was the US Secretary of State under Richard Nixon. This was during the Cold War when the USA and the Soviet Union were competing over who would be the dominant power. While the USA prides itself on "freedom", its foreign policy was more about advancing power than advancing freedom. Kissinger supported fascist dictators in Chile, and supported massive bombings in Southeast Asia. For that, he was confronted even decades later by protesters.
learn more at
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/30/1216237476/henry-kissingers-complicated-legacy
https://jacobin.com/2023/08/henry-kissinger-war-crimes-realpolitik-rehabilitation
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Norman Lear was a TV producer not afraid of controversial content. Back in the early 70s, there was no cable TV, much less the internet. TV shows tended to sugarcoat the reality of the world. Norman Lear lead TV into a new direction, with sitcoms that addressed racism, sexism, poverty, abortion and much more. His famous show "All in the Family" was known for family arguments about all those issues. The main character Archie Bunker was a racist sexist set in his ways even as the world around him changed. He constantly clashed with his more liberal family members. His other shows included "Maude" (focused on a white liberal feminist) "Good Times" (focused on a low-income African-American family) and "The Jeffersons" (focused on an upper-class African-American family).
Norman Lear later focused on activism, starting a liberal organization "People for the American Way" to counteract against religious conservative groups like "Christian Coalition" and "The Moral Majority"
learn more at https://time.com/6343345/norman-lear-dead-obituary/
https://www.salon.com/2022/07/27/norman-lear-100-birthday/
https://www.salon.com/2023/12/07/norman-lear-was-a-true-hollywood-liberal-for-better-and-for-worse/
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Pat Robertson was the leader of the Christian Coalition, a politically conservative group that encouraged evangelical Christians to vote Republican. He even attempted to be a nominee for US president back in 1988, but George HW Bush had the upper-hand as the vice-president under Ronald Reagan.
Robertson was known for his lunatic rants. He blamed various various natural disasters on the populations of the areas. He thought hurricanes that hit Louisiana and Florida were punishment for hosting gay pride parades. He thought the 2004 tsunami that devastated South & Southeast Asian nations was a punishment for those countries for having a non-Christian majority. He thought the 2010 earthquake in Haiti was punishment for the voodoo faith of some of the residents. He also expressed agreement with Jerry Falwell's rants that blamed the LGBT, ACLU, pagans and feminists for the 9/11 attacks.
Robertson called others "satanic", yet he aligned himself with dictators of Liberia & Zaire (now known as Democratic Republic of Congo). Who's satanic now?
learn more at
https://www.aaronrosspowell.com/p/speaking-ill-of-the-dead
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Silvio Berlusconi was Italy's version of Donald Trump: a celebrity mogul turned right-wing leader of the nation. Both used xenophobia as a selling point voters, both had sexual assault allegations. Both corrupt and sore losers when voted out of office.
learn more at
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/world/europe/silvio-berlusconi-dead.html
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Carolyn Bryant (later known as Carolyn Bryant Donham) was the Mississippi store clerk known for her connection to the 1955 Emmett Till murder case. Till was an African-American teen from Chicago and was visiting relatives in Mississippi. Accustomed to a more integrated environment, he wasn't hesitant to flirt with European-American females. However, this was still the Jim Crow era, and inter-racial mixing was considered a deadly taboo.
After Till flirted and whistled at Ms. Bryant, his cousins got him out of there immediately, knowing what might happen. What did happen was Bryant's husband (Roy Bryant) and his older brother (JW Milam) found the house Till was staying in, kidnapped him, tortured him and dumped his body in the river.
The trial got worldwide attention. An all-white jury acquitted Mr. Bryant and Mr. Milam. Knowing that double-jeopardy laws protected the acquitted from further consequences, both men bragged about the incident in a magazine interview.
While Emmett Till didn't get the official justice he truly deserved, the Bryants and Milam because social outcasts. Even their early supporters didn't want to be seen with them. They lived on the run, moving from town to town, hoping the media would never find them.
Mr Bryant and Mr Milam died before the turn of the century. The social media age began, and it was easier for information about Ms Bryant's whereabouts to become public. Her last years included protests outside the senior-citizen's homes she resided in.
Learn more at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/us/carolyn-bryant-donham-dead.html
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Sandra Day O'Connor was the first female member of the US Supreme Court. She was appointed in 1981 by Ronald Reagan and was the only women there for a decade until Bill Clinton appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg (aka the RBG). She retired in 2006.
Though she was appointed by a Republican and usually sided with the center-right, she did disappoint conservatives who wanted judges that would vote against abortion. She expressed skepticism of affirmative action but upheld a university's affirmative action program in a 2003 ruling.
learn more at
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sandra-Day-OConnor
https://www.biography.com/legal-figures/sandra-day-oconnor
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Mangosuthu Buthelezi was a Zulu nationalist in an era when South Africa was transitioning away from apartheid. His Inkatha Party disagreed with Nelson's Mandela's African National Congress (ANC) on strategies and tactics. Buthelezi didn't agree with the ANC on their advocacy of a worldwide boycott of South Africa, nor did he agree on their socialist aims.
South Africa's apartheid government gave several African tribes some small amount of land to rule over (known as "bantustans". Buthelezi was the leader of KwaZulu, the Zulu homeland. However, that wasn't enough as those bantustans were located in remote areas and were only a tiny portion of South Africa. They did nothing to protect the rights of the majority of the indigenous African populations. Buthelezi was seen by some as a "sellout" for accepting the position of ruling over a bantustan.
After Mandela was released, Buthelezi was Mandela's main rival when it came to support of the country's indigenous African populations. Buthelezi was the spokesperson for the Zulus who felt they might be left behind in favor of Mandela's Xhosa tribe. Mandela and Buthelezi eventually made peace as it was inevitable that Mandela would be elected as the first indigenous African president of South Africa. Buthelezi then worked for Mandela as the minister of home affairs.
Learn more at
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/09/world/africa/mangosuthu-buthelezi-dead.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66308185
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Gangsta Boo was the only female member of Three 6 Mafia, a gangsta rap group from Memphis. She was part of the group when they became underground legends but left before the group had mainstream success. She later focused on making solo albums and collaborations with other rappers.
She was known for both her aggressive rhymes and sex appeal. She paved the way for other female hardcore rappers like Cardi B, Remy Ma, Kamaiyah, Trina, Khia, La Chat, GloRilla and more.
learn more at https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/gangsta-boo-lola-mitchell-three-6-mafia-dead-obit-1234655043/
