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CHICAGO (Islam Online) - The Nation of Islam is asking African American families to take part in its Million Family March on October 16th, 2000, in Washington DC. “We are meeting to reconstruct family life among black people,” Minister Louis Farrakhan said. “We must mobilize our community and stop what’s happening to us as a people.” The March officially received its launch during last February’s Saviors’ Day 2000 where Minister Benjamin announced the National Agenda of Nation of Islam that included within it public policy issues and programs for the period 2000 - 2008. The agenda contained sections on morality, justice, and the role of the family in the community; economic transformation and international affairs. The NOI organized a Million Man march five years ago in DC, but was criticized for its lack of debate on public policy issues. It now hopes the future march will address such issues. Farrakhan has been touring the African American communities in major U.S. cities to lobby for the rally. In Michigan, he said he was hopeful the event would mobilize, energize and politicize individuals to make positive changes within their families and communities. In a gathering of 300 supporters in Greektown, a suburb of Detroit, he called on religious leaders to recognize the role of women and their contributions to family and community. “Every religion is losing its values because it has devalued its women,” Farrakhan said, “You pay more attention to the devaluation of the pound or the dollar than you do the value of the female.” The march will be a spiritual one for many future families, according to Minister Benjamin F. Muhammad, saying that it would be a marriage ceremony for a number of couples. He also called on married couples to take advantage of the event and renew their vows. “One way to strengthen our family ties is to strengthen the institution of marriage,” he said. Muhammad, who was the national director of the Million Man March, said that it will not be a limited event, and that they are expecting some Hispanic, Jewish and white families. The African American community has organized other rallies lately as well. One was held on August 26, in DC and led by Martin Luther King III and New York political activist Al Sharpton to promote awareness of police shootings of African Americans. The rally, which was clearly intended as a major step in a continuing campaign, drew several thousand people to Washington’s Mall, although it appeared to fall short of the 100,000 organizers had hoped for. The day before the rally, Sharpton and King met with Attorney General Janet Reno and top aides to President Clinton to demand that the federal government withhold funds from any police department that practices racial profiling or shows a pattern of brutality. Reno, according to Sharpton, said that the matter is being studied. "We intend . . . while they're studying, to create a climate that will push these efforts forward," Sharpton said. African Americans have criticized police attitude towards blacks, citing studies as evidence for their claims. One study showed that blacks are five times more likely than whites to be stopped on the highways. On a stretch of Interstate 95 in Maryland last year, African Americans represented 17% of all drivers utilizing that stretch of road, but accounted for 56% of all those searched by police. |
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