The Washington Informer

Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan at Union Temple Baptist Church where he called on local leaders to support the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March in October. (Photo by Roy Lewis)

Second Million Man March Set
D.C. Clergy Gather To Organize

By Bruce W. Branch
WI Staff Writer
Friday, January 21, 2005; Page 1

Minister Louis Farrakhan, proclaiming that black leaders “are being called by God to do something big” met with a diverse group of clergy and grassroots community leaders during an invitation only meeting Saturday at Union Temple Baptist Church in Southeast as part of a nationwide effort to galvanize support for the second Million Man March next October.

A diverse group of leaders turned out to hear what Farrakhan had to say at the meeting that at times took on the tone of a church revival. It was hosted by long-time Farrakhan friend Rev. Willie Wilson, pastor of Union Temple.

It has been almost 10 years since the first march captured the soul of black men across the world on October 16, 1995, but Farrakhan promised that the second rally will be larger and more meaningful than the first. He cited the increase in black-on-black crime, the erosion of social values, the lack of education and diminishing educational values among youth, as well as the war in Iraq as reasons for galvanizing black people once again.

The fiery leader of the Nation of Islam, recognized by many in the African American community as the most powerful spokesman for black men, said it was no accident that the meeting was being held on the official birthday of the late civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. He said he was wrong to make personal attacks on Dr. King and even Malcolm X.

“When you attack a leader with followers, you hurt the followers,” Farrakhan said. “We must respect our differences.”

He told gay activist Phillip Pannell and a leader of a Moorish sect that their views would be respected and he invited them to be involved in the planning process. Unlike the first march, Farrakhan, at the request of Reverend Wilson, will allow women to participate. He said he would be putting together a team of female role models to raise the standard of behavior and conduct among black women.

“We cannot be found guilty of the same {discriminatory} behavior that we are now condemning,” he said. “Originally, I was concerned that women would be a distraction to our men, but I believe that like men, they will honor what we are trying to do.”

Farrakhan has held similar meetings with religious leaders in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

Included in the audience were such religious leaders as long-time civil rights leader Reverend Walter Fauntroy (New Bethel), Dr. Grainger Browning, pastor of Ebenezer AME Church; Father George Stallings (Imani Temple); Reverend Louis Anthony, Reverend Henry Gaston (Johnson Memorial), Reverend Rodger Hall Reed (Campbell AME), and Rev. Stephen Young (Holy Tabernacle For All People). D.C. City Councilmember Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7), a representative of Councilmember Vincent Orange (Ward 5), Susan Newman, Mayors Office of Religious Affairs and D.C. Schools Superintendent Clifford B. Janney also attended. Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Dr. Dorothy Height, president emeritus of the National Council of Negro Women also called in with words of support.

During the first march, Wilson said organizers had to “overcome the external and internal,” but “God gave us a great miracle.” Wilson said the impact could be seen in the “monumental and collective changes that too place in the lives of the men who attended.”

Dorothy Height agreed it is time for another rally and she pledged her support.

“We have the right leadership. We have the right theme. We have the right direction. It is very much needed. I’m glad to be a part of it,” Wilson said.

Reverend Fauntroy, who said that following the last march there was a 55 percent increase in voter registration among black men, also said it’s time for “us to come together again” to seek redress for many of the problems in the nation.

“I am excited about what God is going to do,” Fauntroy said. “It is time for us to come together. Politics is the process where it is determined who will get justice, money, healthcare, education and housing. We [blacks] are not getting our fair share. It’s time for us to come together and seek justice as a part of our constitutional rights from the U.S. government.”

Toning down his separatist rhetoric of the past that often caused divisiveness among spiritual leaders, Farrakhan promoted a “spirit of unity” that he hoped would spread among clergy leaders from different faiths and denominations.

“Our unity will solve 95 percent of our problems,” he said. “Our unity will be a weapon of mass construction. We want to repair our condition. God will not change a condition of a people until they change. Wake up! Stand up! Do what God has called you to do. Our people are dying while we are holding conferences. We are tithing in the church so we can save our people. White people do not have the means to save us and if they had the means, they don’t have the will.”

African American religious leaders must stop looking at their own personal agendas and begin to evaluate the big picture. He said ministry should not be limited to parishioners, but the entire black race.

“Labels hide a hypocritical heart,” Farrakhan said. “We are not as wise as the wino who is not as concerned with the label as he is with what is in the bottle. We are at the mercy of a people who are playing with us. We are at the mercy of benevolent white men in the White House to save us. We are always voting for the lesser of two evils. Our young men are being socially engineered by the masterful techniques of puppetry.”

Farrakhan called black success an illusion. “The Oprah Winfrey’s and others are nothing more than mannequins in the window of democracy to sell the lie that the system works,” he said. “Mannequins can’t talk. They are being used to sell the product.”

Farrakhan said $400,000 remained intact in donations that had been collected from the first march. “No matter what was going on in the Nation of Islam, I would dare not touch the people’s money.” He said that the march will cost around $1.5 million to organize and that economists estimate that it could net from $100 million to $150 million. In a break from the past, Farrakhan said he would be willing to split that money with community organizers so that they may further their diverse causes.

“We are willing to give back according to work done,” he said. “This will build a trust that divides us. However, he offered this warning, “Do not steal from our people. You will pay a price. This is our final chance to do something with integrity.”

Farrakhan said religious leaders must begin to walk in truth.

“If we are a people that walk in darkness, then we cannot make any change, because in darkness there is death, there is no time or life,” he said. “If the light of God shines on you, and you respond to the light, then it starts motion.”