Eugene "Rib" F. Rivers III (born April 9, 1950) is a conservative American activist, and Pentecostal minister based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Rivers attended the Murrell Dobbins Vocational High School, where he was on the gymnastics team and studied commercial art.

[citation needed] He was connected with the Black Economic Development Conference, and supported James Forman's efforts to obtain reparations from churches and synagogues in the United States.

[5] The film traces Rivers travails as a classroom crasher, and a dorm squatter, in his attempts to gain admittance to Old Blue.

Rivers became co-chair of the National TenPoint Leadership Foundation, and was widely seen as an expert on strategies for reducing urban violence that impacts African Americans.

[9] He has appeared on national television shows, including Hardball with Chris Matthews with Michael Rogers defending Rick Warren.

[12] Rivers' essay The Responsibility of Black Intellectuals in the Age of Crack published under the new editorship of Joshua Cohen in the Boston Review led to debate in circles in New England.

This decision sparked significant scrutiny and concern from various community leaders, including Eugene Rivers and Jeffrey Wall, who raised alarms about the potential impacts of the contract, particularly regarding issues of equity, access, and service quality.

[14][15] As part of their advocacy efforts, Rivers and Wall were the leaders of the newly created DRM Group (the letters standing for Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan).

WGBH journalist, Callie Crossley said of the incident at the time: All of this craziness surrounding them [Wall and Rivers] makes it looks like this was just some greed/quid pro quo thing.

Appearing on the WGBH television show "Greater Boston," on May 13, 2003 Rivers said:"You got a bunch of young dudes who are out of control because the community is largely... leaderless in terms of male leadership."

"[19]Rivers later issued something of an apology to the Cape Verdean community stating, that his comments "on the very delicate subjects of race, crime, and nationality were, I understand, a source of pain, anger and misunderstanding.

"[20] Rivers founded and lead the Ella J. Baker House, a nonprofit organization that works with at-risk youth and former offenders.

Jones, a formerly incarcerated person who was living in a halfway house run by the organization, alleged in his complaint that Rivers had kicked him out of the program because he was a Muslim.

While Rivers denied any official connection to the halfway house, Jones believed the assault was "for Eugene" as a form of revenge.

Kuron's stepfather said the teen was "assaulted so badly, he spent four days in the Boston Medical Center intensive care unit."

While the alleged rapist was charged, a grand jury investigation considered whether Rivers had broken the law by attempting to cover up the incident.

In an essay penned in 1992 has stated: "Unlike many of our ancestors, who came out of slavery and entered this century with strong backs, discipline, a thirst for literacy, deep religious faith, and hope in the face of monumental adversity, we have produced 'a generation who [do] not know the ways of the Lord'—a 'new jack' generation, ill-equipped to secure gainful employment even as productive slaves.