The Million Man March (10/16/1995)

Aerial view of marchers on the National Mall during the Million Man March, looking towards the Washington Monument, Maureen, circa 1995. Image via the Library of Congress.

The Million-Man March was a march that took place on the 16th of October 1995, where 850,000 African American men gathered at the National Mall in Washington D.C. This march is historic because it surpassed the number of people that gathered for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “I have a Dream” in 1963 for the March on Washington. The aim of the Million Man March which was hosted by Minister Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, was to address the discrimination faced by African Americans and a call for unification and revitalization of black communities.

Before the march, a mission statement was created that addresses the reasons for the march. The main reason for the march was for the African community to have a conversation about who they were as people, where they stood and what they were to do in response to the conditions they faced in the United States in the 90’s. The mission statement further addressed the historical significance of the project, the challenge to us, the challenge to the government and the challenge to the corporations. 

African American men walking on a sidewalk, probably on Capitol Hill, during the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. , Goshko, circa 1955, Image via the Library of Congress.

The historical significance of the Million Man March was that it had a companion event, the Day of Absence, which spoke to who the African community are, where they stand and what they are doing to meet these challenges. In the 90’s, there was a rise in racism and increasingly deterioration of conditions for the poor which prompted for a transformation in leadership in black communities. The mission statement addressed many issues with the most important being the challenge to ourselves, the challenge to the government, and the challenge to corporations.

The challenge to ourselves spoke to the fact that in life, our first challenge is to ourselves, and that we can only make demand to society for change after making demand on ourselves. The March called for atonement, reconciliation and responsibility. Atonement was called for as it means to recognize our wrong doings and make amends as the black community was not perfect and as such, we should not expect other races to be perfect, however we should fight to make them better in the way they treated others different from them. Reconciliation, a companion of atonement was called for as it means to bring oneself to the same belief as others and coming to accord with others. This meant that disputes, conflicts, and grudges should be settled and laid to rest. The hatred and pain in our families, lives and communities of yesterday should be left behind and should not be allowed to hinder the progress of today. The brotherhood and sisterhood of the black community should not be broken but only strengthened. Responsibility is a challenge to every black male to take responsibility in their families and in the black community to build new relationships and to rebuild broken ones. It also means to stand in unity as brothers and sisters against the struggle and to embrace the possibility of better lives.

The challenge to the government states that those in power should be held accountable, especially those who have wronged the black community with obstacles to equality. The US government took part in one of the biggest holocaust of human existence, the Holocaust of the Enslavement of Africans. It legalized the genocide and destruction of millions of human lives and human culture .

The challenge to corporation states that rather than being profit driven, which lead to cost cutting in every way possible, corporation should have a moral responsibility to society. Their thirst for gold has led to tremendous social cost such as dangerous working conditions, enormous layoffs, harmful products disguised as beneficial, and environmental destruction.

Furthermore, the march proposed several tenant pledges which was accepted and implemented by thousands. These pledges spoke about improving morally, spiritually, socially and politically. It spoke about denouncing violence against their family and members of their community. Moreover, it spoke against how men treated women and how men have wronged women physically and verbally. In addition, it spoke about black people supporting black businesses and struggles in every possible way. To test the true willingness of the men that attended the march to live by these pledges, a survey was conducted using a test sample of 40 African American males currently in higher education. The result was that 42.5% of the participant had done something in their community to unify it and 57.5% had admitted to a change in the way they approached conflict since the Million Man March. The survey was intended to see what extent the Million Man March had influenced the young African male community, and the results pointed to not a significant increase in participation in the community, but in a world with so much struggle progress is progress.

In the immediate months after the Million Man March there were over 4000 articles about the march that were published in the nation’s newspapers and journals. However, many African American leaders of the time did not attend the march. Some of them even denounced the march as a way of re-segregating America.

Presently, there is a strong divide in the African community in America. Especially between African Americans and Africans in America. Many African American feel threatened by Africans immigrating to America. Propaganda created by the government and politicians has created a “us” versus “them” mentality amongst the black community. Africans and immigrants in general are invaders and people who are coming to take what “we”, African Americans, have. This has led to the rise to power of politicians who runs on the major policy of keeping “them”, immigrants, out of America. This mentality reputed the pledges and the main reason for the Million Man March intended to strengthen the African American community.

In accordance with Gaudium et spes, the Million Man March is a instance citizen exhibited their right to fight against domination of the government. In the 1990s, American America Muslims felt that they were being oppressed by the government and decided to take a stand and protest to bring about a spiritual renewal that would instill a sense of personal responsibility in African American men. They exhibited this right to protest which is supported by Gaudium et spes, where it says that citizens have the right to defend their rights and the rights of others through protest.

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