Another Million Man March?
 

Farrakhan May Hold Another ‘Million Man March’
by George E. Curry
NNPA Editor-in-Chief

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Minister Louis Farrakhan is considering organizing another national march next year – the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March – to encourage African-Americans to keep a larger share of their $688 billion annual spending in the Black community.

That disclosure was ignored last week after the Nation of Islam leader held a 2-hour speech/news conference at the National Press Club here that dealt primarily with the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the Middle East and foreign affairs.

“I’m not so much interested in a march,” Farrakhan said, replying to a question. “I’m not too much interested in gathering a million or 2 million men in one place – unless it is to direct those men to do that which will liberate our people.”

Warming to his subject, he said, “There is no reason for Morris Brown [a financially troubled Black college in Atlanta] to close. There is no reason that we don’t have hospitals and clinics across this nation to service our needs. It’s the misuse of our dollars. So, I don’t see any reason to call 2 million men again, unless we’re calling them for serious work.”


Read the rest HERE

What gains have we made since the last MMM? :confused:

I was just wondering the same thing, myself. :o

Hmmmm.....
 

**scratching my head**

Somebody help me....why did he bring Morris Brown into it? I was under the impression there was mismanagement of funds taking place at the college and that is one of the primary reasons why it's in trouble. :confused:

Maybe his theory is that WE as AA should take ownership for the plight of our HBCUs. He probably wants us to take a more proactive role in ensuring that these institutions continue to thrive and prosper.

:confused:

I wanted to pose that as a question but did not want to appear biased in my thinking.

I think the MMM did some good some where for somebody but not enough long term effects were realized in 1995.

Yeah. I guess so. I guess if the efforts were localized, then we might see more of an impact.

I was in grad school back then. I don't remember men from BR coming back doing "anything special" because of the MMM. It was the same ole same ole. :confused:

ETA: What was his call during MMMI? Atonement. That's it.

An update:

Black Leaders Want New Million Man March

WASHINGTON - Black leaders called Monday for a rally in Washington this fall to mark the tenth anniversary of the Million Man March, this time including women.


Organizers are promoting a Day of Absence from work and school on Friday, Oct. 14, followed by a march in Washington on the 15th, and religious services the next day.

I just don't think this is the way to make any fundamental changes in black America.

I was watching the state of black america on cspan a few months ago and Jesse J. was there and when it was his turn to speak, he started saying a bunch of stuff about we need to march on such ans such a day and all that. No one said anything...not even a clap.

I just feel that the nature of the beast has not changed, but the way the venom is spewed has. Racism IS a major cause of the problems we face...STILL. I don't care what people say. Even if the problems are off-shoots of what happened years, decades, centuries ago, its still a huge cause. Having said that, I think that the WAY racism effects us and is perpetuated today is different from 40 years ago and marching may have been effective them based on what was going on then, but it does not have the same effect today. There is far much more money going around, more resources, more educated people, etc. etc. etc. We have to figure out what exactly needs to be done in our communities and lives and channel resources to combat the problems.

Marching won't be a ground breaking event. Its time now to actually make some changes. Bringing masses of black people into the educational fold and out of the prisons is one thing. Changing the image of ourselves that is projected to our kids day in and day out displaying a few people's idea of what is to be strived for in life is another. There is a lot that we have physical control over that we just need to buckle down and do, forget marching.

A Day of Absence from work and school? That will benefit us how?

Phasad,
I feel you on a lot of what you're saying, but with each generation, we grow a little more diverse in our thinking, a little more specialized in our talents. This is good, but it makes the collective "what we all must do now" a little harder to organize. That being said, I think there will always remain some element of a "cultural collective" that holds us together, shared experiences that bring us to our current states of mind, and give us a foundation on which to build.

To that end, "we" must:
1. reestabish our Godly-inspired purposes;
2. continue to develop and support minority-owned businesses in our community. These businesses ought to, in turn, continue re-investing in our communites, jobs, scholarships, talent development, wealth creation, etc... With economic standing, political standing will follow;
3. consume less, produce more. and people, put some $ in the bank, please;
4. continue, as the D9 does, tackling the social/behavorial problems we face; reclaiming our communites one at a time.

Haha!!

They (Farrakhan, Sharpton, Dorothy Height, and another lady whose name escapes me) were on the local news yesterday. The news reporter posed the very question that many of you have posed within this post

What has changed in the Black community since the Million Man March or what changes has the MMM made?

Of course they all had some long answer that talked about how many more black-owned businesses there are and this and that. They spoke on all the positive things that have happened in the Black community inthe past ten years, but they can not say that the actions are a direct result of the MMM.

Just because one thing happens before another does not mean that the first caused the second.

With the ten year reunion they planned to include women and children as they said they are a big part of the Black community and we need to all come together and show unity and some other stuff, but we can all come together but the real thing is what do we do when we get back home.

I agree that more needs to be done on a local level and that would also make things easier to measure as what the new MMM actually changed.

That's what I'm talkin' bout.

Soror, I don't know any specific gains off the top of my head but I have to believe that our world is better off b/c of it. Perhaps people were motivated and took steps in their communities to make change but b/c it is not Jesee or Rev. Al, we haven't heard about it.