Build a Business, Rivers Says

Black college students must examine the Black community's crisis in leadership if they value the future, Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III '83 said yesterday at a conference of African-American students from colleges nationwide.

Rivers, a Divinity School Lecturer, urged Black students to use university resources to analyze problems confronting the Black community and to propose long-term solutions.

"You must spiritually, politically and theoretically engage, or the blood of the future children, the blood of the seed of your community will be on your hands," Rivers said.

Rivers said Black intellectuals have failed to provide leadership that guides youths toward forming an improved, more cohesive Black community.

Black students have the power to begin solving their community's crises by studying Black history and by redefining their roles both within the university and in the professional world, he said.

"Elite universities are specifically designed for replicating the occupational niches of the higher social class," Rivers said. "Elite institutions are concerned with reproducing a level of occupational and economic inequality."

Rivers urged students to advance the power of the Black community by owning businesses instead of working for others.

Rivers' address concluded a weekend conference sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe African-American Cultural Center.

The conference drew approximately 70 participants total from the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth University, Emerson College, Cornell University and Columbia University.

The intercollegiate conference focused on "Recapturing the Dream By Any Means Necessary."

Throughout the weekend, workshops were given on Afro-centric education, new Black politics, gender relations and Black spirituality.

In addition to lecturing at Harvard Divinity School, Rivers is pastor of the Azusa Chrisian Community in Dorchester.