Friday, Jul 4, 2008
At the Million Family March in Washington, the black nationalist leader changes his tune to join the multicultural chorus.
Oct 17, 2000 | On the fifth anniversary of his great triumph, the Million Man March, black nationalist and rabble-rousing racist Louis Farrakhan tested his drawing power once again, calling for a gathering of the faithful on the National Mall. The Million Family March was a collaborative effort between Farrakhan's Nation of Islam and the forces of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the power behind the Unification Church -- which owns the Washington Times newspaper, and recently acquired the United Press International wire service.
The mix of these two groups, both on the margins of American political life, was bound to result in a strange brew for the Million Family March. And it did.
First of all, there wasn't really a march at all. There was no organized parade snaking through the streets, unless you count the crowds of browsers meandering among the bean pie, beef hot dog and T-shirt sellers lining Constitution Avenue. It was a political rally with a street-fair spirit, with mini-merchants hawking $2 souvenirs throughout the six-hour affair, and the sweet scent of $1-a-dozen incense sticks floating through the fall air.
The stated message of the march was sweet as well. The organizers' news release claimed that the event was meant to "focus on strengthening the family through the principles of atonement, reconciliation and responsibility." That's all well and good, but it's hardly the kind of message that's made Farrakhan a household name, at least in white America. While there's always been a Billy Graham-ish, family-first aspect to Farrakhan's message, it's the anti-Semitic and anti-white words that landed his face in the national papers.
But you didn't hear any of them on the Mall Monday, at least not from Farrakhan. A speaker from Syria did slam "the Zionist media" for deceiving Americans about the latest Arab-Israeli conflict, and there were several calls for unity between different ethnic minorities and "poor whites," as if whites who made a decent living were part of an enemy class. However, Farrakhan himself had few negative things to say about whites in general or Jews, who have been his favorite targets in the past. (He's called Judaism "a gutter religion" and once referred to Jews as "bloodsuckers.")
No, Farrakhan seemed to have been infected with the same "inclusive" spirit that seized the Republicans earlier this year. "As I look at the children of Abraham, Christians, Muslims and Jews," Farrakhan intoned to the thousands gathered, "Abraham would be totally upset when we recognize him as a father and God as a father, and then turn around and slaughter each other." With priests, rabbis and Baptist preachers literally beside him on the dais, Farrakhan spoke of the uniting power of God, no matter what the religious sect of the worshipper.
He called the racism that affects American society -- and which has frequently informed his previous speeches -- poison. Race, class, religion and ethnic affiliation, Farrakhan said were "false yardsticks used by human beings to justify their ill-treatment of one another."
Most of his followers attributed the message of inclusion to the mood of the march and the moment, and the word most often used to describe the event was "positive." "Farrakhan focused in on the family," said Jerome Smith. "It's a better message today," said Rob Austin, who has been listening to Farrakhan for years. "He's trying to bring people together."
The new rhetoric notwithstanding, the event itself was about as integrated as the Republican National Convention, which is to say that the podium showed a rainbow sensibility, but the crowd was a monotone. Almost everyone in attendance was black. There was a smattering of whites and some Latinos, and, like the convention, whoever controlled the cameras televising the event frequently homed in on the diverse faces.
Get Salon in your mailbox!