Black men call for change at Million Man March anniversary

Waving flags, carrying signs and listening to speeches and songs, the crowd wove their way through security barricades and souvenir vendors at the U.S. Capitol and spread down the Mall on a sunny and breezy fall day.

Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, organized both the original 1995 march and this year’s “Justice or Else” gathering.

The theme of the march this time around was “Justice or Else”, and it featured a diverse line-up of speakers who touched on a wide array of issues – from immigration to the string of black men who have been killed by police. They include police reform and an end to the deaths of unarmed black men.

It was approximately three weeks ago when Min. Farrakhan said on TV One’s NewsOne Now that the first issue to be addressed at the Justice or Else rally is a call for a boycott of Christmas. I know how I feel about the police brutality and unlawful deaths … and it amazes me that people came together, all kind of people, men and women.

“I feel the cry of our ancestors the pain of those on whose shoulders we stand. I feel that the ancestors are happy that a young generation has arisen”, he said after greeting the crowd with an “As-salam Alaykoum”, the Arabic and Muslim expression that means “Peace be Upon You”.

A few speakers at the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March invoked a familiar refrain Saturday.

He said, ‘It is your body, you can do what you want with it.’ But he added it would be tragic if a scientist or leader was aborted.

No stranger to US politics and scandal, himself, Farrakhan called out political leaders for corruption and dishonesty. Farrakhan said in a Facebook post ahead of Saturday’s demonstration.

The rally has been described by a few critics as “discriminatory” for being led by Farrakhan, who has been seen as a controversial figure for his outspokenness against white supremacy and statements made about members of the U.S. Jewish community, Israel and homosexuality.

Robert Cox, 50, a fire captain in Boston (Massachusetts, north-east), says coming “because he spends a lot of serious things that people at the top do not seem to understand well”, stressing “that no human being should be marginalized or being discriminated against”.

The event marked the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March in 1995, when hundreds of thousands of black men rallied on the Mall. Women, whites and other minorities were not invited to the original march, but organizers say all are welcome Saturday and that they expect to get hundreds of thousands of participants.

Two decades after the original march, black Americans continue to face problems with employment and law enforcement.

-The unemployment rate for African-American men in October 1995 was 8.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Everybody is of like mind or trying to build their mind to be about the cause”, said Paul Miller, a nondenominational Christian from Auburn, N.Y., and CEO of a charter school of mostly African-American males.

In 2013, law enforcement arrested 2.5 million African Americans, which made up 28 percent of all arrests, the latest Federal Bureau of Investigation data shows.