Powell rejects Belafonte slave slur

Powell is the highest-ranking African American in the US

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has dismissed as "unfortunate" comments by singer Harry Belafonte likening him to a domestic slave on a cotton plantation.

Mr Belafonte attacked Mr Powell during a radio interview, comparing the retired general to a slave who had abandoned his principles "to come into the house of the master".

To use a slave reference, I think, is unfortunate and is a throwback to another time

Collin Powell

Mr Powell said the analogy was a "throwback" that the singer should have thought about more carefully before using.

"I think it's unfortunate that Harry used that characterisation," Mr Powell said in an interview with the CNN's Larry King Live.

"If Harry had wanted to attack my politics, that was fine.

"If he wanted to attack a particular position I hold, that was fine.

When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture

Harry Belafonte

"But to use a slave reference, I think, is unfortunate and is a throwback to another time and another place that I wish Harry had thought twice about using."

Mr Powell is the highest-ranking African-American official in US government history.

'Selling out'

Mr Belafonte, who shares Mr Powell's Jamaican roots, accused the Secretary of State of betraying his race by joining President George W Bush's conservative government.

But Mr Powell said he was proud to be serving his nation under President Bush.

Mr Belafonte made the controversial remarks on Tuesday, during a radio interview with station KFMB in San Diego, California.

Belafonte accused Powell of selling out

"There's an old saying," the singer said.

"In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and were those slaves that lived in the house.

"You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master... exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him.

"Colin Powell's committed to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture."

Others attacked

Mr Powell was not Mr Belafonte's only target within the Bush administration.

The singer likened Justice Department tactics to those used employed in the 1950's during the infamous McCarthy communist "witch-hunts".

Belafonte was a major star in the 1950s and 1960s. His most famous song, Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), popularised calypso music.

He is now a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund.