--- description: Gloria Steinem and Harry Belafonte, two of the March on Washington co-chairs, discuss why they're optimistic about the future of activism title: Watch Gloria Steinem and Harry Belafonte on the Future of Activism image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt896a55885eb448db/6988b67f8e06011866468e41/293884104_5290991443001_5289532846001-vs.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Gloria Steinem and Harry Belafonte on the Future of Activism: 'It Is Now a Majority Movement'  by [Arpita Aneja](/author/arpita-aneja/)  ## Arpita Aneja Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 21, 2017 11:01 AM CUT   by [Arpita Aneja](/author/arpita-aneja/)  ## Arpita Aneja Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 21, 2017 11:01 AM CUT Feminist icon, [Gloria Steinem](http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1094264687001%5F2086963,00.html "undefined"), and signer and social activist, [Harry Belafonte](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19590302,00.html "undefined"), have both spent their lives advocating for social justice. Now, as younger activists take the stage to protest the Trump administration, two of the [honorary co-chairs](https://www.womensmarch.com/honorary-cochairs/ "undefined") of the [Women’s March on Washington](http://time.com/4636173/protests-before-womens-march-on-washington/ "undefined") have this message to impart about where to go from here. In an exclusive video filmed at TIME for a story that appears in the magazine on stands now, Steinem and Belafonte discussed challenges [facing activists then](http://content.time.com/time/onedream/people/ "undefined") and now. “The Ku Klux Klan has been a forever presence in our midst. Racism and oppression has been an eternal experience,” says Belafonte, who was an active member of the [Civil Rights movement](http://time.com/3672274/civil-rights-movement-lesson/ "undefined"). Steinem was optimistic about the future of activism. “Sometimes I think, I just had to wait for some of my friends to be born,” she says with a laugh. “Because it is now a majority movement when, in our lives, it was not.” Watch the video above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4641011/gloria-steinem-harry-belafonte-on-activism-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4641011/gloria-steinem-harry-belafonte-on-activism-trump/"},"headline":"Watch Gloria Steinem and Harry Belafonte on the Future of Activism: 'It Is Now a Majority Movement'","datePublished":"2017-01-21T11:01:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:50:12.229Z","description":"\"Racism and oppression has been an eternal experience\"","url":"https://time.com/4641011/gloria-steinem-harry-belafonte-on-activism-trump/","keywords":["feminism","activism","U.S.","Gloria Steinem","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt896a55885eb448db/6988b67f8e06011866468e41/293884104_5290991443001_5289532846001-vs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Arpita Aneja","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/arpita-aneja/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt896a55885eb448db/6988b67f8e06011866468e41/293884104_5290991443001_5289532846001-vs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"293884104_5290991443001_5289532846001-vs","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4641011/gloria-steinem-harry-belafonte-on-activism-trump/","name":"Watch Gloria Steinem and Harry Belafonte on the Future of Activism: 'It Is Now a Majority Movement'"}}]}] ```