Farrakhan calling for Millions More March
Yawu Miller
In 1995, when Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan called for
the Million Man March, naysayers black and white publicly doubted
whether he would gather even 500,000 people in Washington, D.C.
Drawing a crowd estimated at nearly two million, Farrakhan defied
his critics with the largest-ever gathering of black men in the
nation’s capital. Now, ten years later, Farrakhan is again
issuing a call to action. This time, it’s not just men and
not just blacks.
Farrakhan’s Millions More March is aimed at blacks, Latinos
and Native Americans as well as working class whites. His call to
action is a call to reclaim the country from what he says is a decline.
“The state of the nation has deteriorated,” he told
reporters in a press conference in the organization’s Grove
Hall mosque, citing the war against Iraq, the off-shoring of jobs
and the increasing income gap in the country.
“The Millions More Movement is a movement designed to take
responsibility to change the harsh reality in this country,”
he said.
Farrakhan says his movement is the first that would bring a large
number of blacks together with such a diverse array of people. The
gathering, scheduled for October 14 through 16, will commemorate
the 1995 Million Man March as well as promote a new agenda.
Farrakhan said the gathering will bring together activists and intellectuals
to develop long range plan for improving the educational, political
and social development of people of color.
Educational experts will determine what educational policies are
needed for the advancement of black children. The movement will
also convene business leaders to strategize ways to help people
of color accumulate wealth.
“For the first time in the history of black people in the
United States, members of every spectrum of black thought and ideology
will gather,” he told reporters.
“This unprecedented gathering of black leadership says black
people have come to the point where our unity and the pooling of
our resources is the only thing we have not tried, but it’s
the only thing that will take us out of the wretched condition we
are in.”
The Millions More Movement will advocate for an end to police brutality
and police profiling, inadequate health care and education and advocate
for reparations for black people.
Farrakhan visited Boston as part of a multi-city tour aimed at building
support for the mobilization. In Boston, he met with local clergy,
elected officials and community activists.
Nationally, he has received support from organizations including
the Congressional Black Caucus, the New Black Panther Party and
the Progressive National Black Baptist Convention. The fiery orator
has drawn criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish
organizations. National ADL President Abraham Foxman has condemned
the effort, citing what he said was Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism.
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons wrote a public rebuttal to Foxman’s
denunciation, calling on “all people of goodwill” to
support the demonstration.
While Farrakhan is calling for a concrete agenda to come out of
the conference, he also emphasized that the event could have a spiritual
impact on the people.
He cited the story of a former pimp whom comedian Steve Harvey brought
to the 1995 Million Man March. Harvey later brought a man to Farrakhan’s
Michigan residence.
“When he came to me with Steve Harvey, he said the message
hit home,” Farrakhan said. He is not abusing women now. He
is working to loose women from other men who abuse them.”
After his press conference, Farrakhan attended an evening meeting
at Prince Hall where he brought his message of the march to the
broader community. There he cautioned audience members that the
black community is in dire condition and said the march is an effort
to halt the decline of the African American community.
“If we don’t do it now, we probably will be destroyed
within the next 10-20 years, at this rate we are marching to the
tune of death,” he said. “There was never a time in
our history when we turned against each other the way blacks do
today.
“Even during the days of slavery, we never killed each other.
But today in every city and every town, black men kill black men…
until every funeral parlor is doing good business.”
For more information on the march, visit the web page: www.millionsmoremovement.com,
or call 1-866 WE MARCH.
(Jeremy Schwab contributed to this report.)
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