University of Virginia Library

Don Lee Promotes Black Initiative

By FRANCINE DOVE

The problem of the black people
today is always doing "what we are told
to do rather than what we tell ourselves
to do," according to Don L. Lee, poet,
critic, and essayist.

Speaking to a near capacity crowd in
Cabell Hall Auditorium last night, Mr.
Lee said that in order to become their
own boss, the blacks as people must move
from a process of "imitation to that of
initiation."

Another problem of the black race he
depicted is that it doesn't have the power
proportionate to its numbers. Although it
is the second largest ethnic group,
preceded by Anglo-Saxon Protestants, it
has the least power of all groups.

Mr. Lee reasoned that this situation
exists because the other ethnic cultures
have a tradition of togetherness and a
"nationalistic consciousness interwoven
with their religion" to give them an
unbreakable bond and firm power.

He cited the black college student as
the most important asset to the black
people. The student's aim should be to

return to the black community after
completing his education, and do
whatever is necessary to lift his people to
a level of strength and power.

But the black people are disunited
today, Mr. Lee continued, because the
educational system has become "the most
effective weapon that has been used
against the black people," for it teaches
the black student to be something he is
not: an imitation-white.

The current "poet in residence" at
Howard University called for drastic
changes to bring blacks together and
establish an undiminishable power. He
emphasized the need for a black
nationalist movement to help foster both
economic and political power.

Mr. Lee defined black nationalism as
the process of controlling the space
occupied by the black people, which will
give them not only a common past and
present, but a common future as well.

The most significant change to be
initiated, however, is to "put Africa on
the brothers' minds." Blacks must be
concerned with their heritage, he stated,
for this above all is the basis of
black-togetherness.

The African dress, afro, and the soul
shake does not make a Negro black or a
brother, he added.

Students must go into the fields of
science and technology, for this is the
only way black people will be able to
control and own the resources they need.
He concluded, "You must strive to be the
best" in any field.

Mr. Lee's literary achievements include
a number of books: "Don't Cry!
Scream!", "Think Black," "Black Pride,"
"We Walk the Ways of the New World,"
and "Dynamite Voices: Black Poets of
the 1960's."