Kwame Owusu-Kesse ’06, president of the Black Men’s Forum (BMF), said he thought that the book was an effective way to reach black youth.

“I thought [the novel] was a clever way to spark a much needed debate,” Owusu-Kesse said. “It places the responsibility on the shoulders of blacks to facilitate change.”

Panelist Eugene Rivers, a reverend from a local parish and co-founder of the National Ten Point Leadership Foundation, called for blacks to diversify their support and force the Democratic party to stop taking the black population’s vote for granted.

“You put 98 percent of your eggs in one basket and then you cry for four years,” Rivers said. “If [President Bush] wins you have no traction, action or juice. Make [Senator Kerry] earn the vote.”

Former BMF president Brandon M. Terry ’05 agreed.

“It’s the year 2004 and you have to wonder how many times you can commit yourself to faithful concubinage,” he said.

The event was co-sponsored by the IOP, the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, the Black Student Association, the BMF, and the Kennedy School of Government’s Black Student Caucus.

—Staff writer Monica M. Clark can be reached at mclark@fas.harvard.edu.