On April 14, 2025, the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies hosted a special event commemorating the 40th anniversary of We Are the World and the founding of USA 4 Africa. The event featured a screening of Stand Together As One: The Famine, The Music, The Impact – a powerful new documentary produced by Chip Duncan and Salim Amin tracing the origins and enduring legacy of the historic anthem We Are the World that united the globe through song and activism.
The film revisits the 1983 Ethiopian famine that inspired a global outpouring of compassion and collaboration, highlighting the courageous reporting of Kenyan photojournalist Mohamed Amin and BBC journalists Michael Buerk and Mike Wooldridge, whose coverage spurred artists to action. Through never-before-seen footage and the final on-camera interviews with cultural icons Harry Belafonte and Ken Kragen, Stand Together As One reveals how a generation of musicians – led by Belafonte, Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, and others – came together to raise awareness and millions of dollars for humanitarian relief.
The event brought together students, scholars, and community members to honor this historic moment in music and activism, reflecting on how art and culture can have a profiound impact and how the legacy of We Are the World can continue to inspire new generations to “stand together as one” in humanitarian causes around the world.
The event was co spopnsored by the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology & World Music Center, the UCLA Department or African American Studies, and the UCLA Capacity Building Center
Film Description: Stand Together As One: The Famine, The Music, The Impact
Forty years after the recording of We Are The World, the pop anthem still resonates for music lovers worldwide. We Are The World remains a benchmark for what is possible when musicians come together in a common cause.
When drought hit Ethiopia in 1983, millions of people in the war-ravaged nation were denied food relief by a ruthless dictatorship. More than one million people starved to death.
The treacherous war zone didn’t stop Kenyan Photojournalist Mohamed Amin or his BBC colleagues Michael Buerk and Mike Wooldridge from venturing into the heart of the crisis. The skilled frontline team risked their lives to tell the truth behind what many consider the worst humanitarian disaster of the 20th century.
Inspired by the historic global reporting of these valiant Journalists, the world took note and musicians galvanized on two continents. They chose to stand together as one in efforts that would lead to raising both world attention and millions of dollars in an attempt to help.
Led by Harry Belafonte, Lionel Ritchie, Quincy Jones and others, the historic recording session resulting in the landmark song We Are the World took place as well as the establishment of the United Support of Artists for Africa (USA for Africa) organization. Their efforts didn’t stop the civil war or solve world hunger, but even today, their success provides a blueprint for what’s possible.
Stand Together As One features the final on camera interview with artist-activist Harry Belafonte, the final on camera interview with We Are The World organizer Ken Kragen, and never-before-seen-footage of the famine restored for this production.
Stand Together As One is a production of US-based Duncan Entertainment and Kenyan-based Camerapix.
