Harry Belafonte told a crowd filling Hill Auditorium that people today can draw inspiration from the civil rights leaders and idealists of the past to reclaim the moral compass that he said has been lost in recent years.

The groundbreaking entertainer and award-winning activist presented the keynote address Monday for the 28^th Annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium.

“Dr. King was near and dear to all of us, but he did not leave us empty-handed. He gave us a philosophy, he gave us scripture, he gave us purpose, he gave us slogans. He left us with a great harvest and it is up to us to take advantage of this. The world is in trouble and it is we who must fix it,” Belafonte said.

In remarks before Belafonte’s introduction, President Mary Sue Coleman talked of the recent Being Black at U-M Twitter campaign. Through messages, students of color revealed frustrations and concerns.

“As president, it pains me to hear this, and it is very sobering,” she said. “We must do more and do more now.”

Coleman said one of her proudest moments as president was in 2003, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the university’s right to consider race in admissions to help create more diversity in the student body.

“It was a landmark decision and I was beyond proud of the university’s commitment to a diverse, academically excellent student body. Let’s join together to reinforce that commitment, to redouble our efforts to enhancing a dynamic campus that so many people have worked so hard and so diligently to create,” she said.

To that end, Coleman said three immediate steps are being taken: U-M will intensify efforts to enroll and retain more underrepresented minority students; all incoming students will undergo workshops on how U-M deeply values personal respect and diversity; and the university will review the role of the Trotter Multicultural Center and its social and physical place in the community.

To open the program, Lester Monts, senior vice provost for academic affairs, urged the audience to recognize the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, including Executive Director Gloria Taylor, Assistant Director Lumas Helaire, OAMI staff, and the MLK Symposium Committee. Monts said they organize a program that is the largest in the nation to honor King and his ideals.

In welcoming Belafonte, who was waiting backstage, Monts urged audience members to sing the line “Day-O!” from Belafonte’s signature hit “The Banana Boat Song.”

Belafonte, 87, recalled performing at Hill Auditorium, which he smilingly described as “making mischief.” His message then turned serious.

“I’m not too sure where America is at this moment. Somewhere along the line we seemed to lave lost our moral compass, if we ever had one,” he said.

Belafonte said America-bashing was not his intention, but he felt a responsibility to the many good men and women he worked with in the civil rights struggle to speak out. “And Dr. King was one of them,” he said.

Belafonte said the last time he ever spoke to King was in New York, just before King left in April 1968 for Memphis, where he was shot and killed.

“We were meeting in my home with a group of strategists, Dr. King’s inner circle,” Belafonte recalled, in preparation for the upcoming Poor People’s Campaign. “We were all given responsibilities. It was Dr. King’s last major attempt at bringing the American community to a place of healing.”

King was in a sober mood, saying he was troubled because a group of young people he had talked to did not reject violence, despite his urging.

“I think we are integrating into a burning house,” he told Belafonte and others assembled. The group asked him what they should do. Belafonte recalled King’s response: “I think we are just going to have to become firemen.”

He told the audience that King’s metaphor is playing out today. Belafonte said examples of America losing its way are evident in the rise of the “vulgar rich,” the building of more prison facilities than classrooms, and in the rise of the Tea Party, funded in part by David and Charles Koch, who he maintained are systematically rolling back earlier gains to promote social justice.

“They’ve bought their way into the American psyche,” Belafonte said. “They’re making sure unions will be crushed and workers will become irrelevant.”

“America must find its moral center. If we do not stop long enough to fix what desperately needs to be fixed, we will not be able to reclaim that moral high ground,” Belafonte said.

He urged activism by men to end violence and rape against women, urging support for the organization 1 Billion Rising for Justice. “It is not just an American problem, it is a global problem,” he said.

“I loved what he said about keeping the legacy going, and as a young person I feel inspired to keep organizing,” said Briana O’Neal, a Community High School senior attending the event.

The keynote program was co-sponsored by the Stephen M. Ross School of Business with support from the William K. McInally Memorial Lecture Fund, OAMI and the MLK Symposium Planning Committee.

Tags:

• MLK Symposium