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 | A MILLION MEN, ONE YEAR LATER
OCTOBER 16, 1996TRANSCRIPT |
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One year ago, up to one million African-American men met on the Mall in Washington, D.C., for the Million Man March. The event was the brainchild of controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who led the crowd in a pledge to help improve their communities. What has happened since that day of atonement? To find out, Charlayne Hunter-Gault is joined by four men who where there.CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: The Million Man March was commemorated today at a rally at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza next to the United Nations. An array of speakers addressed a crowd of thousands, but the longest speech was made by the man who called the march a year ago, Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan. He spoke about what he thought the march accomplished.
LOUIS FARRAKHAN, Nation of Islam: Twenty-one thousand five hundred and ninety-seven Americans were murdered in 1999, and this was 7 percent lower than in 1994. So when the black men gathered on the mall and took that pledge, the murder rate among us dropped 7 percent. I know Clinton wants to take credit for it. I know the police want to take credit for it, but the real truth is the spirit of the Million Man March should take credit for that decrease in the murder rate among our people.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Today's rally was called a day of atonement, the same theme that drew hundreds of thousands of black men to Washington last year. Farrakhan was also the keynote speaker in last year's march, encouraging the men listening to go home and work for better communities.
LOUIS FARRAKHAN: And as we leave this place, let us be resolved to go home to work out this atonement and make our communities a decent, whole, and safe place to live. And oh, Allah, we beg your blessings on all who participate, all who came that presented their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, as their reasonable service now, let us not be conformed to this world, but let us go home transformed by the renewing of our minds and let the idea of atonement ring throughout America, that America may see that the slave has come up with power.
Minister
Louis FarrakhanCHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Now the impact of the Million Man March from four who were there: Michael Eric Dyson, a Professor of Communications at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Ron Walters, a Professor of African American Studies and Government at the University of Maryland; Armstrong Williams is a syndicated talk show host and former assistant to Clarence Thomas at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and Alvertis Simmons, a community activist from Denver, who coordinated the participation of thousands of Denver area blacks in last year's march. And starting with you, Mr. Simmons, as I said, you organized and coordinated that march. Has anything come of it one year later in your community?
ALVERTIS SIMMONS, Community Activist: (Denver, Colorado) Yes, it has, Ms. Gault. In our community, we feel that we, we helped with the reduction of crime in Northeast Denver, which is predominantly black. We went door-to-door when a three-year-old baby was killed last December. Two hundred black men went door-to-door to flush the killers of that baby out, and five days later, the killers were found, and they were convicted. A month later, we went door-to-door again because there are fire bombers in Northeast Denver, which is predominantly black. Black men stood up and said enough is enough. We've been going to the Denver Public School System, to different schools, and rallying and talking to our kids about self-responsibility, about getting out of gangs, about stopping the violence. We've registered over 500 people to vote here in Denver--the Million Man March Organization has--since the Million Man March of last year. So we are very pleased by what we've done here in Denver.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: All right. Mr. Dyson, you've been speaking around the country. What have you seen as the effect of the march?
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, University of North Carolina: (Durham, North Carolina) Well, I think there's no doubt that when a million men, more than a million men really, went to Washington, D.C., last year, we leveraged our moral authority against the distorted perceptions of black masculinity.
So one of the great, I think, effects of that march has been the renewed sense of dignity. Individual acts and individual gestures from black men have been bound together. They're thin threads of hope, but taken together, they're a rope of dignity and self-respect. And as I traveled throughout the nation, black men have risen to the challenge by willing to be self-critical about their own issues of masculinity and machismo, willing to reach across the chasm of gender oppression to embrace black women in a common struggle to in one sense secure black liberation, but also the willingness to be reflective about issues of self-respect, about dignity, of crime, of hopelessness. What this march did most of all was to signify to America that reject vicious stereotypes of black masculinity, and that we embrace the common purpose of black men to look for liberation, and everywhere we can find it, but especially in our own communities and at the depth of our own behavior.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: So you think the image of black men has been positively affected, was positively affected?
MR. DYSON: No question. I think so, because, you know, as fundamental as it appears, one of the most powerful effects and consequences of that march was to signify to America that we are not what we have said to have been, that we are not thugs, that we are not violent people, that we are not people who are disinterested in our own communities, that we're willing to be self-critical and self-reflective, to reach for atonement. I think that's a very powerful consequence, and it did reject the vicious stereotype of black men as not wanting to confront these issues.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Mr. Anderson, you were opposed to the march--
ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS, Radio Talk Show Host: Mr. Williams.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: I'm sorry, Mr. Williams--a year ago. Um, what do you think its effect has been?
MR. WILLIAMS: Well, you know, I was, Ms. Gault, opposed to the march because obviously I was misinformed, and I allowed my emotions to override common sense and just good judgment. And so I decided for myself to attend instead of listening to the media and listening to others, and, and I was just amazed at the love and the warmth and the respect; that sometimes what we forget, sometimes in our own world, is that there are a lot of people in pain, a lot of people are not as fortunate to have grown up with two parents, a strong mother and a strong father, a loving community, a loving home. And a lot of kids today, especially the younger generation, are being reared without a strong father in the home and sometime without a mother, and the thing is that people are looking for hope. They're looking to find faith in this country again.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Did you find that the march has affected that in the year hence?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yeah, and it has affected me because you have to admire, you know, obviously you have to separate the message from the messenger. Obviously, Mr. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, you'd be stupid not to admit the tremendous job that they've done, gone into the community finding young men who have been left for dead and cleaning them up and giving them the dignity and giving them opportunities, and so what the march has done, it has given the hope, and it has helped them get back in touch with their godliness, because you can have all the government programs in the world but until you get back to your spiritual nature, that which is within you, and manifest that, then we're all lost. And I thought the march really served that purpose.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Well, what have you seen specifically that made you think that concretely?
MR. WILLIAMS: Well, I, um, I talked to a lot of men who were not participating in the rearing of their children and as a result of the march, they've gone back home, not necessarily back with the mother of their children, but they pay child support, taking time with their sons and their daughters. I've also talked with young men through my radio show who--before they would turn their head when people would commit crime in their communities, but they decided to work with the police to report these crimes, and the number of crimes in their communities have gone down. I've also talked to young men who never felt that it was important to take their kids to church on Sunday but after the Million Man March and after Minister Farrakhan's godly message, they decided they needed to go back to church, and so this was all good, and the Good Book tells us when we find good, we should praise it.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Ron Walter, you've been studying the impact of the Million Man March scientifically for the past year. Is what you found--does what you found jibe with what we've been hearing so far?
RON WALTERS, University of Maryland: I think that's certainly true. When you look at the various manifestations of the march, what you find is the most powerful aspect of it has been really the individual expressions, the experience of people, as Mike Dyson said, who stood there in camaraderie with their brothers, and those people who committed themselves to a regeneration of the spirit of the black community. That was a very powerful thing. And then, of course, less influential I think were the local manifestations around the country, places like Buffalo, where organizations, where local organizing committees took on local challengers, registered people to vote, a couple of thousand people to vote, dealt with prison projects, tried to do parenting, so many of the places where these organizations have been active have added a new layer of political activism. And then at the national level, probably the least effective manifestation of the Million Man March, where the organization has tried then to capitalize on that cultural basis of our community to develop a politic, I think there is the place where the leadership has not been as successful.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: What do you mean by that?
MR. WALTERS: I think when you look at the fact that one of the plans was to have, for example, an issues convention, there was such a meeting held in Chicago about three months ago. Not very many people attended. You look at the fact that a few weeks ago there was a meeting in St. Louis, a national convention of the poor and oppressed and not very many people attended. I think what you're seeing here really is an ability on the part of the leadership to capitalize on this very powerful cultural expression and to turn it into political power. Let's not forget that this march took place in the context of one of the most conservative periods of American history where the major political institutions of our country have vilified black people, subtext of the revival of racism, all around, the withdrawal of resources all around. And therefore I think that what I saw in the scientific studies was men trying to say not just that we are moral but we want to stand up and we want to fight back, and so the power dimension as expressed in public policy was not as powerful as the cultural dimension.
MR. WILLIAMS: If I could cut in, please, you know, I just think for the integrity of this discussion that it is so outrageous that men who have distinguished themselves like you and I have tremendous respect for continue to blame racism and conservatism and conspiratorial theories for American blacks, I will admit that racism still exists--yes, I will admit that racism and hatred toward blacks in this country have gotten us in this position that we're in, and Americans should not be surprised at the seeds that have been sown. But at some point we have to realize that there are things that we do that does not help those communities, and the fact that racism is not the answer and the solution to all our problems, and also the one thing that they won't admit is what this march indicates, the fact that Minister Farrakhan could rise to power to assemble such distinguished men on the mall is that leadership has failed. Let me--the leadership has failed--
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: All right.
MR. WILLIAMS: --because no other leader, other than Farrakhan, could have pulled this together, and so it's more of an indictment of the Civil Rights movement than it is of what Mr. Walters has just indicated.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Brief response, just a second--just one second, Mr. Dyson. Let Ron Walters respond. Then I'll get your comment.
MR. WALTERS: When you have a million and two people showing up anywhere, no one person pulls it together. I think what we really haven't discussed even in the last year are the real reasons why these men came to the mall, and too much discussion really has taken place around the is sue of leadership, but let me say with respect to institutional racism, we shouldn't shirk back from that because when you look at the fact that one of the things that people were responding to was the fact that about a third of young black males have some connection with the criminal justice system, and the Sentencing Commission, itself, says that one of the results of the manipulation of their sentencing was responsible. We have to look at institutional racism as a powerful reason why black men stood on that mall.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Mr. Dyson, you had a comment.
MR. DYSON: Yes, I think that Mr. Williams certainly is turning a blind and a deaf ear to the recent revelations of the--that the CIA allegedly participated in the crack cocaine trade business in the early 80's in LA, so we need not look far for conspiratory elements to explain to us the tremendous subversion of our communities morally and politically with the complicity of the government. Further, I think that there is a leadership crisis in many African-American communities.
We have three basic mottos: the motto of Colin Powell is to transcend race, to look beyond the bitter bigotries and biases that cloud our common vision, to reach for a universal culture. On the other hand, we have Mr. Farrakhan, who translates race into the specific accents of African-American identity. And then we have Jesse Jackson, who seeks to transform race, to speak truth to power in terms of acknowledging the historical legacy of white supremacy, while also forging transracial coalitions to move beyond the narrow limits of race to look to the salvation of our own communities, so I think that Mr. Williams has to acknowledge the historic legacy of sla--of racism, while acknowledging its present manifestations, while not turning our attention away from those other elements of self-respect, self-reflection, and of self-criticism that is so crucial to the moral reconstruction of black masculinity.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Okay. I have to just say on the CIA point that is a matter of great debate. The CIA has denied it so there's still no proof on it.
MR. DYSON: I did say alleged.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Right. You did say alleged.
MR. DYSON: Right.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Let me just go to you, Mr. Simmons, on this. Jesse Jackson said that march was a missed opportunity because there were no public policy goals or demands, and, therefore, no public policy response. What do you say to that?
MR. SIMMONS: Well, I don't agree with the Reverend Jackson on that point. I believe that there was some policy, public policy issues discussed. We did that in St. Louis. I don't agree with Dr. Walters. I, I was there in St. Louis. I believe he was too, but I, I saw six to seven, eight thousand delegates there and voting and ratifying that national black agenda. I know everything takes time, and change takes time, but we're moving forward, and as far as public policy and Jesse Jackson, well, you know, I learned under the tutelage of Jesse Jackson and Mayor Webb here in Denver, but it's time now for new leadership, and we must be able to stand up and say what's right for our people and I believe that this national black agenda that was ratified in St. Louis has public policy positions that are in the best interest of African-American people throughout the United States. So I don't agree with Jesse Jackson on that point.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Ron Walters, is there any--you heard Minister Farrakhan say, uh, that the Million Man March was responsible for the decrease in crime, something Mr. Williams has just echoed. Is there any evidence that the march made any kind of dent in the broad social problems confronting the black community a year ago, black-on-black violence the way black men treat black women and their children? I mean, does the data say that any of that has been significantly affected?
MR. WALTERS: There are no definitive studies that can prove one way or the other, although I think we have reason to suspect that a force, a moral force like the Million Man March might have had some impact on a whole range of indicators that have gone by. Crime, for example, has gone down. Youth murders in the black community has gone down. Uh, you've had, um, poverty to some extent has gone down, more people going to work. Teenage--young teenage girls, fewer babies, that's gone down the last two years. So a whole series of these statistical indicators have all of a sudden begun to go down. We have to credit certainly market forces with some of that, but we also have to credit, I think, the personal decisions of people, and some of that obviously came from the Million Man March.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Mr. Dyson, how does Minister Farrakhan's behavior in the wake of the march affect all of this?
MR. DYSON: Well, I think there's no question that in the spirit of the Million Man March what we were encouraged to do was to be responsible. The flip side of that responsibility for the masses of black men is for our leadership to be accountable. And unfortunately, in the wake of the tremendous resurgence of good feeling and good will among black men, Minister Farrakhan has certainly squandered the political potential and moral responsibility that attended his leadership of the Million Man March. Going to Nigeria and to tell those people that Moses was a dictator and, therefore, they'd have to put up for three more years with Gen. Abacha's dictatorship is really a trumping of the fundamental moral principles of the Million Man March.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: Let me get just a brief response from Mr. Simmons on that because we're about out of time. What do you think--
MR. DYSON: Yes.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: --Mr. Simmons?
MR. SIMMONS: Well, I think Minister Farrakhan, his, his positions are a little indifferent, I believe, but I believe that Mr. Farrakhan is attempting to do the right thing. And as long as he's attempting to do the right thing, to uplift black people, I'm going to support the efforts of the Million Man March.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: All right. Well, I'm sorry. We have to leave it there. Thank you all for joining us.
MR. SIMMONS: Thank you.
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