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 Askia At-Large
Askia Muhammad
Columnist Page
Friday, January 21, 2005; Page 19
Million Man March commemoration, and then some
I remember 10 years ago at one of the community meeting-press conferences that led up to the Million Man March (MMM) a brother asked Minister Louis Farrakhan, organizer of the March if the Men’s Choir from St. Augustine Catholic Church could still sing on the program, despite the fact that it had white members.
Minister Farrakhan replied that, of course, white choir members were welcome to perform on the program. At that moment I thought to myself, “Minister Farrakhan never said this was a ‘Million Black Man March.’ He refers to it only as the Million Man March!”
From that moment I wondered about the affect the March would have on the white men who eventually attended. There must have been 500 to 1,000 of them, reporters, broadcasting engineers and other technical support people. In fact, white men could have participated if they had wanted to, but this was to be a “our” singular expression, the self-engineered, wholesale, self-improvement of black men in America. White men would have to wait 10 years for an invitation.
Once again this year, as the United States commences its annual celebration of the achievements of black men and women from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Muhammad Ali, I am proud to recall that 10 years ago the entire black male population laid claim to our own destiny and took ownership and control over our own lives.
And once again, to commemorate that historic event Minister Farrakhan, joined by the Reverend Willie Wilson, of Union Temple Baptist Church, is planning a massive “mobilization of our people to change our condition,” Minister Farrakhan declared at Union Temple Baptist Church on January 15.
When the MMM took place in 1995, “something happened in the minds of black men across the country,” recalls the Reverend Walter Fauntroy, Senior Pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church and a former personal aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Minister Farrakhan called us, and we are here,” a participant in the Washington leadership mobilization declared. It was the fifth leadership meeting that has been held around the country since October.
“It has not entered our heart what God is going to do,” concerning the March commemoration, the Reverend Fauntroy continued, declaring that Minister Farrakhan is truly “the leader of our time.”
“Here 10 years later that same prophetic voice summons us once again,” Bishop George Stallings, founder of the African American Catholic Congregation, said during his invocation at the Washington leadership meeting, held at Union Temple Baptist Church.
Among the first responders to Minister Farrakhan’s leadership call in Washington were black intellectuals and activists, from the streets to the suites. From National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), the New Black Panther Party, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), as well as dozens of pastors and Nation of Islam ministers were joined by the D.C. Superintendent of Schools, two members of the D.C. Council, educators, and entrepreneurs, some of whom have even offered their expertise to various White House advisory groups and panels in the past.
Minister Farrakhan listened to a panel of speakers, from the Christian minister who is the Director of Religious Affairs for the D.C. Mayor; to a telephone call from her hospital bed from 91-year-old Dr. Dorothy Height, the “Queen Mother” of Black politics in this country; and then answered questions from a dozen audience participants. Most wanted to know: will my constituency be welcome? Will Moorish-American followers of Noble Drew Ali be recognized? Will homosexual men and women be permitted to participate?
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has always credited Noble Drew Ali with paving the way for the teaching of Islam in America, Minister Farrakhan replied to one question. “There is no way we would block any brother or sister because of sexual orientation,” he replied to another.
In 2005 Minister Farrakhan displays a highly principled position on that sensitive issue, just as I saw him do concerning an integrated Christian choir performing at the 1995 event, which was organized by a “Black Muslim” who is too often and too easily vilified as a “race hater.”
The time is too important for Blacks and the poor to leave to a “benevolent Caucasian person in the White House,” to solve the problems they can solve for themselves.
“We are going to commemorate the march with the mobilization of our people to take the responsibility upon our shoulders to repair our condition,” said Minister Farrakhan.
That is a worthy goal and lays the groundwork for eventual success. |
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