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Monday, October 11, 2010 | 9:07am
SOUND OFF: Enough Change in 15 Years Since The Million Man March?
Precursor to History or a big waste of time?
#millionmanmarch @barackobama
It was dubbed a “National Day of Atonement,” where organizers called for black men across the country to take a stand against the social problems facing our communities. It was supposed to change the lives of all those involved and now we stand (believe it or not) 15 years out from the “Million Man March” and while not everything is hunky dory a lot has changed for black people since that time.
On that day a sea of black men (and many women) pledged to personally be responsible for taking a stand against many of societies ills yet very little difference have been reflected in the statistics namely gangs and violence which since that time have skyrocketed. Despite all that some have credited the Million Man March for making possible the event that would occur at the same spot some 13 years later, The inauguration of President Obama.
I however disagree. While I believe the attendees and organizers were well intended the truth is the Million Man March was a stunt. It was designed for the media to showcase that black men CAN do something other than kill each other and can come together and at least act like something was going to be different while I’m sure in the hearts of many they believed it wouldn’t be.
I was a High School student in Maryaland at the time not far from the march which took place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. I can remember feeling there were better uses of my time then being a part of a “black people convention” in which Minister Louis Farrakhan grandstanded on his soap box. While there have been many days since October 16, 1995 that I’ve regretted not going I don’t feel I would have been one the wiser if I had.
Change occurs from within. I think that was the rallying cry behind President Obama’s campaign. We can enact change INDIVIDUALLY but collectively we can only inspire and energize each other to do so. For ME the Million Man March was a big party with a message.
However, Director Glenn R. Towery disagrees with me. He was present at the Million Man March and created a documentary titled “Long Live the Spirit of the Million Man March.” (Peep the trailer above) He believes the March offered a new place from which to start.
“We had a place where we could start where all the people could come together in love, caressing, holding, understand and acknowledging each other on that day.”
Now its your turn. SOUND OFF: Did the Million Man March make a difference? Has Enough Changed in the 15 years since that sunny October day in 1995?
FILED IN Need to Know
WASTE OF TIME! WE HAVE LEARNED ABSOLUTELY NOTHIN
I feel like the March was relevant to that time period. I remember being 11 years old,feeling like things could change. But they haven’t.
Great post.
TOTAL WASTE OF TIME!!!
Waste of time but in a good way. It showed that large demonstrations, Civil Rights era demonstrations are/were unneccessary for our generation and the generations to come. There will be individual discrimination cases that will arise from time to time but the need for an all out rally and demonstration…well, those days are over.
Disclaimer: I was a member of the local organizing committee for the MMM where I live and about 1,000 Black men attended the march from my city.
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One thing about young people: you have little to no perspective. The Million Man March was The greatest singular demonstration of unity, power and purpose since Rosa Parks decided she was not giving up her seat on that bus and the Montgomery Bus Boycott got started. There were about 40 years in between those two dates!
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How do you measure success? did ya’ll think all of a sudden Black people in the U.S. were going to get their 40 acres and their mule? This is a government that has been around for over 200 years; racism and class-ism have been entrenched as part of the basic institutions in this country since the Europeans set up their first colony. Unless, all of a sudden, the bruthas in D.C. that day stormed the Capitol building, the Pentagon and the White House, and set up a totally different government, change has to be incremental. As you said, “Change comes from within.” There was so much change in so many people in the months leading up to the march and in the years after, that it is really very hard to measure. Again, how do you measure success?
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The issue is, why wasn’t the success more sustained, more measurable? This is where the residual effects of 400+ years of slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, self-hatred and ignorance come to play. Read the Willie Lynch letter, too much to get into here and now.