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.