9502010579
DETROIT FREE PRESS
951015
Sunday, October 15, 1995
METRO FINAL
1E
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1995, Detroit Free Press
MARCH HAS A POINT, AND CRITICS DO, TOO
When 80,000 mostly white, Christian men rallied at the Silverdome to
pledge their family values, nobody complained.
But when a few dozen white men marched in Skokie, Ill., there was national
outrage. The difference? Those men were Nazis.
Here is my point: It's not numbers or color that necessarily frighten
people. It's hatred. Hatred that might be directed back at them.
Which brings us to the sticky situation of Monday's Million Man March in
Washington. The truth is, hardly anyone is concerned with the number of
people. Sure, a million sounds like a lot, but there are massive
demonstrations all the time in Washington.
Nor is it worrisome that the million men will be black. Washington has seen
it all over the years. Gay marches. Feminist marches. Mexican. Asian. Hippies.
Anti-government. Some black men believe all whites see them and think,
"Looting, murder, rape!" But that's a wrong and even dangerous assumption.
What is bothersome about Monday's rally -- to black people as well as
white -- is that the man who is organizing it has, in the past, promoted
hatred of Jews, Catholics and women, and has uttered the sentence, "Hitler was
a great man."
People tend to remember that kind of stuff.
And it scares them.
A message of hate
So you can understand the hesitancy to jump on the march's bandwagon, even
when its stated purpose -- to atone for mistakes, show family responsibility
and pledge solidarity among black males -- is so honorable. It's not the theme
of the show that disturbs people. It's the name above the marquee.
"I would never follow the lead of anyone as homophobic, as anti-Semitic,
as anti-female, as anti-white or as universally bigoted as Farrakhan. . . .
(He) espouses a separate black America in which he would be king. . . . (He)
is a posturing, preening merchant of hate who cleverly turns his venom off
when it serves his purposes. Like now."
That was written by Carl Rowan, the syndicated, award- winning black
columnist.
His words ring louder than mine on this issue. It is not my place to tell
black people -- or green, yellow or purple people -- who they should admire.
I figure some blacks are marching Monday simply because they want to tell
white America to mind its own business. And they are right about this.
As they are right about other things: that a disproportionate number of
black men are in jail, economically handcuffed or educationally
undernourished. Whose fault is that? It could be debated for months. For now,
for Monday, white America needs to understand the pounding desire of many
black males to feel good about something, to feel unified, to feel like they
matter.
Doesn't everyone want to feel that way?
A time for togetherness
On the other hand, I cannot condone hatred or separatism. And no
intelligent person can deny that Farrakhan has preached both. Yes, he has
called for blacks to be more responsible. But he has also called Judaism "a
gutter religion" and Jews "bloodsuckers." He has insisted that blacks must
separate from whites, that homosexuals are evil, that women have a certain
place and that is all.
I can't get behind that. Neither can a lot of people, of all colors and
persuasions. So I will politely hope that the men who march Monday will be
stirred by good ideals -- but also understand why some outsiders hold their
breath. It's not because they are afraid of you. It's because they are afraid
of history.
Adolph Hitler -- the man Farrakhan admires -- did not stand before mobs of
people and yell, "Let's kill all the Jews!" even when he believed it. Instead,
he spoke about gaining economic independence. He spoke of building German
pride. He spoke of feeling good about being German.
And all the time, his lust was for power, and his vision was hate.
Farrakhan's critics have suggested this event is more about building a
power base for him than it is about truly changing the lives of black men.
Said Sulayman Nyang, a professor of African Studies at Howard University:
"This could make him a kingmaker."
The world has enough kings. So just as white America needs to respect a
call for pride from its black countrymen, so does black America need to
understand the dangerous bread that wraps Monday's meaty message.
It's a tough task. Frankly, I worry less that something will happen Monday
than I do that nothing will happen -- except Farrakhan's gaining money and
power while the people who give it to him go home hoarse but empty.
In the end, it won't change this truth: the only salvation for any of us
will be things that bring us together, not apart. We can begin with
respecting each other's opinions. In any march, that's a decent first step.
COLUMN