The date is October 16, 1995. Three high school magazine reporters wake up early that morning to go on an assignment. These reporters were asked to go to Washington D.C. to report on a peaceful rally that was taking place on the Mall. They willfully took the assignment, and were eager to take such an important task. The only concern they had was for their safety, due to the color of their skin, they may be an unwelcome guest. Since it was a somewhat religious gathering, the reporters thought that race would be set aside, and all men would be equal for this one day. All men ARE created equal, no matter what anyone says. A man should not be judged by the color of his skin, religion, or ethnic background.
The reporters reached a Metro station on the outskirts of Washington D.C. and decided that it would be best if they parked there and rode the Metro into downtown DC, where the gathering was taking place. They bought their metro passes and quickly caught the first train to the city. As the three reporters found a seat on the train, a respectable looking man came up to them and asked them , " Where do you boys think you are going?". One of the reporters mentioned to the man that they were going to the gathering that was being held on the Mall, and that they were reporters for a High school magazine. The man then laughed at the reporters and then hurried to tell his colleagues of the plans of the three. They then began to laugh, and the reporters ignored the laughs and comments that were being made. At that point the knew that they were going to be an unwelcome guest.
The train reached the downtown station and the reporters exited the train, and made there way to the stairway that led up to the surface. To their amazement they say thousands upon thousands of men waiting to get to the surface, all of them holding signs of where they were from. This gathering was going to be a large one indeed. As the reporters made it to the surface, and then to the Mall, they immediately began to receive looks of disgust and unwelcome.
As the day went on, the reporters had rocks thrown at them, were called explicit names, and were stared at. This peaceful religious gathering didnÆt seem too peaceful from the viewpoint of the reporters. They were even doubting the credibility of the goals of the gathering itself. The main goals of the gathering were to stop violence, drugs, and hatred for fellow men. This gathering was the Million Man March, and these reporters were white.
Richard Lacayo, Head Reporter covering the march says in his article in the October 30, 1995 issue of Time, "àthey were there to remind Americans that even in a time of conservatism and backlash, the business of racism and inequality will not be ignored." First off, the men marching in the march were Americans, so they also should not be ignorant to the issues of racism. They did not see themselves as a Million Men, they saw themselves as a million BLACK men. To even begin to talk about equality, both blacks and whites have to see each other as equals, and the general feeling that I got from the march was that I was not equal to these men. I was not wanted, and was told that very statement. Hugh Price, the president of the National Urban League called the march the largest family-values rally in the history of America. I donÆt know about you, but my parents never taught me to call others names, throw rocks at unwelcome people, and glare at people who were different that me.
If this march was truly a Million Man March, then men black and white alike should have been there together, and Dr. Louis Farrakhan would have been preaching to all men, to stop the hatred, violence, and put behind us all of the differences we have and to strive for a peaceful future. A future that all of out children could get along, a future that was color blind. This was not the case. When Farrakhan took the stage to speak to the crowd of over 600,000 Black men, he brought up such issues as slavery, the Rodney King beating, and the trial of OJ Simpson. He spoke about how the "white" man had oppressed the black man for so many years, and it was now time for the black man to rise above the white man and for one day, to boycott white businesses. For a man who talks of equality, it sounds to me like he would rather have racial separation. That very separation was what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought and died to rid America of.
I think that if Dr. King were alive today that he would be disgusted to see what Louis Farrakhan was doing to the black community.
Farakhann is also planning a "Million Family March" which the date of has not been decided yet. Sure the concepts behind the march are right, I still believe that the purpose of the marches should not be of racial unity, but to form a unity of all men. Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, and whoever else would wish to come to the march. They should all put aside all of their prejudices and strive for a common goal. That goal being a world that men are truly equal, and not just theoretically equal. This is my world, and this is my dream.
