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Wednesday, October 18,1995
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MARCH
FROM PAGE 1
Older men gave advice to younger men
in the crowd, and the young men stopped
to listen. But beyond the speakers and the
controversial nature of the event was a
more personal side.
Hundreds of thousands of men gath
ered together in one place to atone and
reconcile their lives within the context of
the larger community.
But how will participants of the event
that drew at least 400,000 people take
Monday’s words and turn them into ac
tions?
One day later, students from UNC who
attended the march spoke of the over
whelming feeling of unity within the crowd.
Tyson King-Meadows, a political science
graduate student who marched in Wash
ington, said the feeling of brotherhood in
the crowd was infectious.
“Seeing people
you didn’t know say
ing, ‘Hey brother,
how are you doing?
What’s going to hap
pen next?,’ that was
very powerful, ” King-
Meadows said.
King-Meadows is
the founderofUNC’s
Black Man’s Council,
a group founded to
support the march’s
goals of community
building and political
activism. King-
Meadows also leads
a lunchtime discus
sion group in the
Sonja H. Stone Black
Cultural Center
called “Around the
Circle.”
Tuesday’s group
discussion focused on
the aftermath of the
march.
March partici
pants, both those who
marched on the
nation’s capital and
those who partici
pated in the commu
nity-building events
that occurred in
Chapel Hill, are now
looking at ways to
Although the march didn’t officially begin until 7 a.m. Monday, people brought
blankets, coats and sleeping bags out to the Mall hours beforehand and camped
out to save themselves a spot near the front.
capitalize onthepositivegoalsofthe march.
But the controversial issues that pre
ceded the march still hang in the air as
participants try to move on and look at the
future.
Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis
Farrakhan’s role in the event has focused
much of the media attention away from the
goals of the march and onto the man who
brought attention to them.
“ One man does not make a movement, ”
Meadows explained to the BCC group.
“When Malcolm X died, and when Martin
Luther King died, their ideas did not die
with them. The movement is in the hearts
and the minds of the 1 million black men
Women and children were encouraged to stay home and fast and pray, but many
women and children attended the march anyway. Some men even showed up with
their families. One focus of the march was that black men take responsibility for
their families by demanding strength and unity.
who were there.”
Meadows said that Farrakhan’s mes
sage was to unify, and that it was not anew
message forhim. “The messenger has been
around for a long time,” he said.
But whites who watched the event were
not as optimistic about Farrakhan’s mes
sage.
Alexander Andrews, a junior at
Georgetown University, said he came to
the march to see what Farrakhan had to
say.
“He’s talking about white supremacy,
and many of the same old things. He may
not be calling white people devils any
more, but the message isn’t that much
different,” he said.
Fred X (Hall), UNC assistant professor
of sociology, a member of the Nation of
Islam, said he questioned this viewpoint.
“Notice that the title of his talk was ‘To
ward a More Perfect Union.’ His message
was one of the black man’s struggle for
unity, first with himself, then with his wife
and children, to his community and to the
members of the American community,”
Hall said.
Hall said the reaction to the march is in
many ways the same as the reaction to the
O.J. Simpson verdict.
“Black people heard one message, and
whites heard another” he said. Hall said
that blacks heard Farrakhan call for a re
newal in the community, while whites
focused on the accusatory aspects of the
speech.
Farrakhan was clear on one message.
He spoke directly to white America and
characterized it as sick.
MILLION MAN MARCH
“What makes you like this? You’re like
this because you are not well. You really
need help,” he said. “White folks are hav
ing heart attacks today, their world is going
down.”
On a more positive note, Farrakhan
called for a reconciliation between his fol
lowers and members of the Jewish com
munity.
He said that there had been enough pain
in the war of words between the two groups
and that it was time to end it.
UNC faculty member Patricia Fisher,
director of the campus diversity training
project and an active member of the Jewish
community, said she was encouraged by
Farrakhan’s gesture.
“It seemed totally positive to me, ” Fisher
said. “I suspect that Jewish leaders are
suspicious of the rhetoric that has in the
past been so inflammatory, and clearly
anti-Semitic. I’m an optimistic sort of per
son, and any time people are willing to get
together and talk it’s a good thing.”
Dr. Bruce Ellerin, a resident at UNC
Hospitals, had a much more negative opin
ion of the march and, more specifically, of
Farrakhan.
“If anyone needs to atone it’s
Farrakhan. The leopard does not change
his spots,” he said.
“Endorsing an event called for by an
admirer of Hitler just crosses the line. To
try to wash away the taint he brings to the
event by pointing to the good things that it
does, and to try to whitewash reflects a
basic contempt for the black community,”
Ellerin said.
According to Dwayne X (Eatmon), one
Joseph Gilley
of Sodus,
N.Y., waves
an upside
down Ameri
can flag,
which he says
symbolizes
the back
wards values
of America.
Gilley said
that a federal
law provid
ing for the
seizure of
property
where drugs
are sold is
being used to
take away the
houses of
elderly black
citizens in his
county.
of the campus march organizers and a
member of the Nation of Islam, 78 UNC
students went to the march on buses char
tered for the event.
But, he said, more than 150 UNC stu
dents registered for the event, many of
those going with their fraternities and in
smaller groups.
Many black men who didn’t attend the
march, and women who were encouraged
not to attend, participated in community
building events on campus.
One of the student organizers for the
campus events, Latarsha Chambers, said
she was deeply affected by the concern that
those on campus showed during the day’s
events.
Chambers said that women were given
the opportunity to come together to reflect
on their role in the black community.
“The events gave us empowering lead
ership strategies, ” Chambers said. She also
said there was a focus on the future of the
black family.
At the march, men
were asked to focus
on ho w they could im
prove their own fami
lies.
Jesse Jackson
stressed to the men in
attendance that they
needed to take time to
participate in their
children’s upbringing
and education.
Chambers said one
local workshop fo
cused on how the
black family extended
beyond the immediate
and the extended
families, and into the
community as a
whole.
Chambers said
Farrakhan’s sugges
tion that blacks
“adopt” blacks in
prison, and make it
their responsibility to
support them as a fam
ily member fits into
the black community
as family ideal.
She also said that
accepting people as
family members even
when you disagree
with their beliefs was
■i j
part of this principle.
“It doesn’t mean you have to agree with
their views. It’s OK to have differing opin
ions. It’s OK not to agree with everything
that Farrakhan said. He’s still a member of
the family," she said.
Joy Plummer said she was overwhelmed
by the support that black women showed
for the men who participated in the march.
Plummer said that 115 women waited out
in the cold for the buses to return from the
march Monday evening.
“Asa black woman, I didn’t feel left out
at all. I feel very much a part of this move
ment,” Plummer said.
“When they came home, we were there.
It was a journey we traveled together.”
Valerie Johnson, a professor in the Afri
can and Afro-American studies depart
ment, spoke in the Pit Monday as part of
the campus activities. Johnson said she
March Has Little Effect on Local Business
BYMEGAN MONTGOMERY
STAFF WRITER
All goals of the Million Man March
were apparently not met, as it was business
as usual Monday for many white-owned
businesses in Chapel Hill and Canboro
despite the call of the march’s organizers
for a national boycott of these businesses.
Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan re
quested those not attending the march to
boycott white-owned businesses, stay home
from work for the day and skip classes. But
from the looks of the amount of business
done by local white-owned and black
owned businesses, his call was not an
swered nationwide.
Robert Humphreys of the Downtown
Commission said Chapel Hill did not par
ticipate in the proposed boycott. “I cer
tainly didn’t hear of such a movement
around here,” he said. “I would certainly
think that if it took place, it was unsuccess
ful.”
Local business owners agreed with
Humphreys that the boycott was not an
Derrick Hunter drove to the march from Miami,
bringing his twin sons, Adrian (left) and Derrick Jr.,
hoping they would learn from the event.
supported the goals of the march, in spite
of its exclusive nature.
Johnson said this march differed from
the 1963 March on Washington in its pur
pose and goals. “The March on Washing
ton addressed the government saying, ‘You
haven’t fulfilled your obligations.’ The
Million Man March focused on atone
ment. It asked the question, ‘What does it
mean to atone?”’
NAACP President Carson said the
march was a beautiful expression of unity.
“It was just like an overwhelming feel
ing of brotherhood togetherness,” Carson
said.
“The crowd was so tight that you
couldn’t really move from one side to an
other. But it was so calm. Everyone greeted
me with open arms,” he said.
At one point in the march, a platform
speaker asked the crowd for a donation to
defray the cost of the march. March leaders
asked that each person at the event to hold
up one dollar and pass it to the front of the
crowd.
Carson explained that this was an exer
cise in trust. “There was a pause before
each person passed their dollar up, people
recognized the significance of what we can
The Rev. Benjamin Chavis, former director of the
NAACP, holds up a ‘number one’ after informing the
crowd that the 1 million men goal had been reached.
issue in Chapel Hill.
“Monday was the same as usual,” said
Will Raynor, son of the owner of The
Rathskeller, located on East Franklin
Street. “The same crowd, same people as
usual. No change. ’’ Raynor said that talked
with many owners of businesses around
the restaurant, and they all expressed the
sentiment that there was no deviation from
the norm.
Because roughly 90 percent of The
Rathskeller’s employees are black, Raynor
said that if there had been a local boycott,
he probably would have heard of it. He
said that all the black employees reported
to work as usual Monday.
Josh Mason, an employee of Sutton’s
Drag Store at 159 E. Franklin St. said
Monday was a bit slower than normal, but
he did not feel that it was because of the
marchers and proposed boycott. “I didn’t
hear any talk about the boycott from in
here or outside,” Mason said. “I don’t
think the effect was as far-reaching as they
had hoped it would be.”
Judges Coffee Roastery, located at 161
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do when we trust our brothers,” he said.
At Tuesday’s BCC discussion group,
the air rang with an unanswered question:
What next?
Discussion leader King-Meadows said
he hoped the event would translate into a
greater political awareness and action in
the black community.
“I hope that people have a different
perspective, ” he said. “I saw a lot of single
mothers with their sons.
“There were a lot of little boys who
needed someone to interpret the effect of
the march on their lives. I saw black men
caring about the way that they spoke about
black women” he said.
He added that the BMC would hold a
forum in the BCC Thursday at 7:30 p.m. to
discuss the effects of the march and to talk
about future community building.
King-Meadows said the goal of the BMC
was promote a proactive spirit in the black
community.
He said that the political, economic and
social effects of the march must continue to
be a major focus for the future.
“If blacks are always responding, in
stead of creating the parameters, ” he said,
“We will always be left in the shuffle.”
E. Franklin St., also did not feel the effects
of the proposed boycott. “Monday seemed
like a normal day. Actually, it was our
second best Monday of the year,” said
owner Ed Donegan.
Black businesses in the area also re
ported no change in business Monday.
The manager at Dip’s Country Kitchen,
405 W. Rosemary St., said that Monday
saw no change at the restaurant.
“I didn’t hear that (of the boycott pro
posed by Farrakhan). I didn’t hear that
message,” said Lydia Currie, the owner of
Blind Cleaning Plus Inc. on U.S. 15-501.
Cume said that business did not change at
all Monday.
Hank Anderson, the vice president of
the local National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People, said he
agreed that the boycott did not take place
in this area. “I never heard anything about
the boycott, and I talked to a lot of people
from other cities who were there, experi
enced it and were a part of it,” Anderson
said. The NAACP did not endorse the
march or the boycott, he said.