On the road again

'The programme of the march made no mention of the destructive role played by poverty, unemployment and discrimination. Nor did it make a single demand on the government against racism, police brutality or massive Republican cutbacks'

Nearly a million blacks, mostly men, took part in a national march in Washington DC in October. The 'Million Man March', as it was called, was the biggest demonstration by blacks that has ever taken place in the US. But despite its massive size, it actually represented an enormous step backward from the political goals and ideals of the 1960s civil rights movement.

In fact, it wasn't really a civil rights march at all. Its theme was as conservative as any of the blame-the-victim rhetoric emanating from Newt Gingrich. The Million Man March was called by Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, as a 'day of atonement and reconciliation', during which black men should take personal responsibility for instability and violence in poor black communities and for the breakdown of the black family.

The programme of the march made no mention of the destructive role played by poverty, unemployment and discrimination. Nor did it make a single demand on the government--against racism, police brutality or massive Republican cutbacks against programmes for the poor. Its only foray into the realm of politics was to demand that blacks register to vote. Women were not invited to attend the march. They were told to stay at home.

On virtually every social issue Farrakhan's views echo those of the most conservative members of the Republican Party. He opposes the right to abortion, and argues that women belong in the home, taking care of children and housework. He attacks welfare as 'subsidising single women to have babies'. He believes gay sexuality is immoral.

Rather than recognising that racism is ingrained in the capitalist system, Farrakhan blames other racial groups, including Jews, Arabs, Koreans and whites in general, for preventing blacks from gaining economic and social equality. His hostility toward Jews is nothing short of anti-Semitic, accusing Jews of 'sucking the blood of the black community', and 'hell bent on ruling the world and hell bent on the destruction of America'.

As the march began to gain momentum during the summer, nearly every black political leader and organisation, from Jesse Jackson to the Congressional Black Caucus rushed to endorse it. The only major black political organisations to withhold endorsement were the NAACP and the National Urban League. The wide range of black political figures who elbowed their way onto Farrakhan's bandwagon sought to distance themselves from him, claiming that the march was now broader than Farrakhan.

A few notable black left wing figures spoke out against the march. Adolph Reed, a longtime critic of Farrakhan, argued simply, 'The message of Farrakhan's march is fundamentally conservative and blatantly sexist.' Angela Davis opposed the march because, 'Justice cannot be served by countering a distorted and racist view of black manhood with a narrowly sexist vision of men standing "a degree above women".'

But most left wing black figures endorsed the march. Several prominent women veterans of the civil rights movement, including Rosa Parks, agreed to speak even though women were not invited to attend. Some, such as Manning Marable and Cornel West, were harshly critical, but argued for participation nevertheless. Marable wrote, 'Instead of "atonement" we should march to Washington to indict the real criminals: the reactionary Republican Congress; the failures of the Clinton administration; a bankrupt two party system; the corporations and wealthy who profit from black unemployment, imprisonment and exploitation'. But Marable endorsed the march anyway. And Cornel West argued, 'To stand on the sidelines and yield the terrain to Minister Farrakhan and other black nationalists would be to forsake... my love for black people.'

Yet that was exactly what they did: they yielded to Farrakhan. Many complained quietly, but none seriously challenged the essence of the march's theme. Thus Farrakhan and his reactionary politics dominated throughout. At the march itself Farrakhan's grand finale speech dragged on for two and a half hours, during which time he expounded in great detail on each of the eight stages of 'atonement' for sin and other conservative themes.

The march's conservative message provided Clinton with a perfect opportunity to appear concerned about racism (he endorsed the 'message but not the messenger'), while emphasising that he stands firm in blaming the victims of racism in US society. In a speech on race he argued that blacks must admit, 'It's not racist for whites to assert that the culture of welfare dependency, out of wedlock pregnancy and absent fatherhood cannot be broken by social programmes unless there is first more personal responsibility.'

Despite all its problems, the fact remains that close to a million blacks travelled all the way to Washington to join the Million Man March. Working class participation in and around Washington DC was so high that many workplaces were forced to shut down for the day. In Washington DC itself, nearly half of all federal workers took the day off to attend. The massive size of the march shows the crying need for a movement that can begin to address the real problems faced by working class and poor blacks in the US. Poverty has so eroded living standards and racist injustice has put so many young black men in jail that a sense of hopelessness pervades entire pockets of inner cities. Nearly one third of all black men between the ages of 20 and 29 is either in jail, on probation or on parole--mostly for low level drug charges. One in every 21 black men is murdered before he reaches the age of 30.

Yet for more than a decade, mainstream black political leaders have sat in virtual silence while blacks have been scapegoated. Farrakhan has temporarily filled the vacuum of leadership, but as in the 1960s, the politics of the Nation of Islam offers no way forward.

It is no wonder that many of the marchers were moved to tears simply by the experience of standing shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of thousands of other black workers. The conditions are overripe for the development of a mass movement against racism in the US--and when it takes place, it is likely to explode.
Sharon Smith