ton 1 ^l DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2015 94-NUMBER 41 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS irit of family reunion marks Million Man March anniversary By Jesse J. Holland WASHINGTON (AP) - Black men and women joyously returned the National Mall on Saturday for the 20th anniversary of the Mil in Man March, calling for changes in policing and in black com- unities amid an atmosphere almost like a family reunion. Waving flags, carrying signs and listening to speeches and songs, ople mingled as they wove their way through security barricades d around loudspeakers and souvenir vendors at the U.S. Capitol d down the Mall on a sunny, breezy day. For some, it was a return to Washington after the Million Man arch on Oct. 16, 1995, and a chance to expose their children to the me positive experience the first march represented to them. “This is a very special moment for me. Twenty years ago, I was by yself,” said Joey Davis, 47, of Detroit, who was setting up chairs rhis family near the Capitol’s reflecting pool. “And 20 years later, I me back with my wife and five children. And so I like to think that er the last 20 years I’ve been doing my part in keeping the promise the spirit of the original Million Man March.” Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who spearheaded the iginal march, called the anniversary gathering the “Justice or Else” arch. Many speakers asked the crowd to chant that slogan during : day. College students representing the Black Student Unions were present at the 20th Anniversary Commemora tion of the Million Man March. (Eric Muhammad/The Final Call) Youth voices for justice rise at rally Min. Louis Farrakhan (The Final Call Farrakhan, in a wide-ranging speech that lasted for more than tours, called for more responsibility in the black community for ler-city killings and for the government to investigate recent high- tfile killings of unarmed African-American men and women. “There must come a time when we say enough is enough,” the -year-old Farrakhan said. Attention has been focused on the deaths of unarmed black men ice the shootings of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012 in Flor- 1 and 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. :aths of unarmed black males at the hands of law enforcement of- ers have inspired protests under the “Black Lives Matter” moniker rund the country. Members of their families and the family of Sandra Bland, an rican-American woman found hanged in a Texas jail after a traffic >p, spoke from the main stage. The original march brought hundreds of thousands to Washington pledge to improve their lives, their families and their communities, omen, whites and other minorities were not invited to the original arch, but organizers welcomed all on Saturday. President Barack Obama, who attended the first Million Man arch, was in California on Saturday. Saturday’s march brought out young and old, including some vet- ins of the 1963 March on Washington. Nate Smith of Oakland, llifomia, who was on the Mall for Martin Luther King’s “I Have Dream” speech and the 1995 Million Man March, returned once ain for Saturday’s proceedings. “It’s something that I need to do,” the 70-year-old man said. “It’s :e a pilgrimage for me, and something I think all black people need do.” The National Park Service estimated the attendance at the 1995 itch to be around 400,000, but subsequent counts by private or- nizations put the number at 800,000 or higher. The National Park nice no longer provides crowd estimates on Mall activities. Rev. Jamal Bryant of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in dtimore, who helped organize the anniversary march, estimated :re were almost 1 million attendees Saturday. Farrakhan refused guess how many people filled the Mall from the Capitol to the ncoln Memorial. Life has improved in some ways for African-American men since : original march, but not in others. For example: -The unemployment rate for African-American men in October 95 was 8.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In ptember 2015 it was 8.9 percent. -In 1995, 73.4 percent of African-American men had high school grees. In 2004, 84.3 percent did, according to the Census Bureau. -Law enforcement agencies made 3.5 million arrests of blacks in 94, which was 30.9 percent of all arrests, the FBI said. (By com- tison, they made 7.6 million arrests of whites that year, which was percent of all arrests.) By 2013, the latest available data, African- nerican arrests had decreased to 2.5 million, 28 percent of all ar- its. egister To Vote By Janaih X Adams and Michael Z Muhammad Special to the NNPA News Wire from The Final Call WASHINGTON - The Justice or Else gathering held before hundreds of thousands of people on the National Mall Oct. 10 featured the voices of emerging new leadership in America. In fact, many said the overwhelm ing success of the gathering had the footprint of youth all over it. “The core organization of the gathering was done through social media,” observed Na tive American activist YoNasDa Lonewolf. “This Joshua genera tion is able to see through the falsehood and insincerity” dem onstrated by some of the tradi tional and political leaders. Ms. Lonewolf pointed out native Black Foot leader Gyassi Ross as an example, noting his bold declarations as part of the program where he called for a revisit to the racist Discovery Doctrine and Papal Bulls, gov ernmental and religious declara tions that helped to destroy Na tive people. In fact, what was striking at the demonstration was the ab sence of traditional civil rights leaders. In their place were young leaders like Carmen Per ez with the New York Justice League who voiced support for the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s efforts during his or ganizing visit to New York. What is great about this move ment is its inclusiveness, Latino, black, Mexican, and native com munities, she said. Her specific focus is to end the school-to- prison pipeline and her demand for justice for young people. She also credited her involvement to her Justice League colleague Tamika Mallory, another strong young voice that participated in the program. “What we are witnessing to day is a natural evolution in lead ership, new voices that are not controlled and are clear,” said Abel Muhammad, an emerging Latino leader in the Nation of Islam. “In the past, black leader ship and leadership of people of color were largely controlled and sanctioned.” The diversity of the young au dience participating in the rally included not only Native and Latino faces, but also Asian, Af rican, and the Caribbean. And despite the hue of their skin, many of them wore shirts that read, “Black Lives Matter,” a movement that played an impor tant role in the rally. Sparked by the brutal murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman and further ener gized by the police murder of Michael Brown, the BLM move ment has galvanized young peo ple into active protest in a way that hasn’t been seen in decades. However, similar to circum stances that arise whenever voices appear that could unite blacks and people of color, the Black Lives Matter movement has been under fire lately due to a calculated campaign by con servative political forces to label the group as a “hate group.” In response, co-founder Opal Tometi tweeted: “These trolls & conservative media con glomerates are on one! Calling BLM a hate group is not only factually wrong, it’s dangerous.” “To me, Black Lives Matter means black people are treated equally under the system,” said Amanda Nelson, who rode the train from Maryland to get to the rally. “Not just the justice sys tem, but every system in Amer ica the same as white people are treated. Too many are losing their lives.” Seventeen-year-old Darrell Davis from Ithaca, N.Y, attend ed with a group of friends from his high school wearing #Black- LivesMatter hoodies. They took three cars to travel from their home city to get to Washington. “I’m not used to coming somewhere and seeing this many black people gathered, at least not for a good cause,” young Davis said. “The sense of unity is really cool. I feel comfortable. Usually, going out in public, there’s some sense of wanting to look around - Here, it’s just a good sense of unity and it makes you want to go back home and just emphasize being one with what we need to do, because there’s a bigger cause than us going against each other, really.” Davis’ basketball coach took about 40 black boys and girls from their school to a conference in Cleveland, Ohio. He recalls that when they came back, they were spreading the word about how awesome it was. So when his coach brought up going to the Million Man March anniversary, he was willing to go. . “My coach explained it as really historical and something you’d only see once,” the teen- ager said. “We got our t-shirts, and just started really spread ing the movement through New York. So a lot of people heard about it.” Students Ashia Evans, Bray- lin Rushton and Shienne Wil liams came from the Black Stu dent Union at Youngstown State University (YSU) to unite with their people. “We need the solidarity, man,” Mr. Rushton said. “There’s so many people that don’t care and it’s important that we form in a group of solidarity and stand against things that need to be changed. We’re inheriting this — we’re inheriting all of this and next it goes on to our children Youth came from far and wide. (The Final Call) and so forth. We got to make a change somewhere.” These students are currently fighting against the school-to- prison pipeline in their city, which refers to policies and practices that push the most at- risk children out of the class- room and into the penitentiary. “They’re trying to shut down our public school system,” said Shienne Williams, 20. “We can’t let that happen.” Ms. Williams was among 20 YSU students who were able to travel by bus provided by the Muslim brotherhood in Youngstown, free of charge, be cause the chairperson of the Af- ricana Studies Department got them funding.. “Today, we get some direc tion and some guidance,” Ms. Williams said. “I feel like we’ve had a lot of separate movements going on, but Minister Farrakhan brings us all into one solid group where we can go back into our communities and make things happen.

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