Speaking out on the march

Monday's Million Man March in Washington, D.C., was seen as a day of atonement and unification for black men across the nation. Now that the march is over and people have returned home, many at SF State say this is just the beginning.

Last week, black students at SF State were urged in a rally not to attend classes or work, to boycott white-owned businesses and to use the day to make peace and reconcile with each other.

For those students who could not afford to miss school or work on campus Monday there was a big-screen TV broadcasting the march in Jack Adams Hall, at the request of Muata Kenyatta, director of Associated Students Performing Arts.

Although Kenyatta, who stayed away from campus Monday in support of the march, said it was important for both black and white students to see history being made.

"It was incredible symbolism," he said of the march. "It is a sign that this country is in deep trouble, and it needs a large amount of reconciliation."

Alan Kennedy, a senior environmental science student, thought the march was a good idea and beneficial.

"I thought it was great energy," he said. "They weren't all there because they're followers of Farrakhan, but they were there because of the solidarity aspect of it."

Kennedy did say he thought Farrakhan's speech incorporated some white-bashing, but he doesn't believe that was his intention. He thought his intention was to bring the group together as a force of some sort.

According to some who were on campus Monday, the absence of African Americans was visible, and possibly affected the economics of some vendors.

La Taqueria manager Marco Ballesteros said he noticed there were less African Americans on campus, but said he was conscious of it because he expected them not to be there. He estimated there were 50 percent fewer black people.

Financially, Ballesteros said there was some economic decline. Between Oct. 9 and Oct. 16 their earnings dropped 10-15 percent, but he could not pinpoint if it was due to the "Day of Absence."

Supporters say one of the major goals of the march was to demonstrate the economic power the black community has and how it can be used to their benefit.

"I was just nicking for cigarettes cause I was in solidarity. I didn't buy anything yesterday (Monday), so I had to wait until midnight to go get cigarettes," said Noni Session, a junior English student. Session affirmed that Monday was important because there is such disconnection in the black community, and people have a tendency to wait for something to happen instead of getting up and making something happen.

Many students were emotional, saying they sat home with their families and watched the march all day, reflecting on their own lives and the significance of the event.

"He's (Louis Farrakhan) one of the first black leaders to actually do something like this and get us all together," said Karriem Baker, a sophomore business major. "Regardless of how you feel about him, he's making a move to unify his people. That's what should be recognized -- not that he's anti-Semitic or whatever."

Baker sat home and watched the event with his father and sister, and said they were "just building -- just elevating" as they watched.

While many black women turned their attention toward the event because of its supposed exclusion of women, music education senior Mariama Root was an avid supporter of the march and its content.

"I didn't buy anything -- that was my main thing. I stayed at home and watched the march on television and reflected on my own personal life," she said. "I looked at the things I could be doing personally to insure that I'm OK before starting to work with my community. Sort of like a self-cleaning of my own house."

Black studies junior Venus Noble reinforced her support for the march with her own metaphor.

"They called it a sea of black men, and I just wanted to climb up in a tree and dive in the middle of them," she said. "It was beautiful."

Noble said the event was extremely significant for her simply because she has two male children and they will need men as role models.

"To see men standing strong in their blackness gave me hope that my sons do not have to be statistics," she said. "The messages were that black men can and will stand unified regardless of any obstacle."

She also has strong views when it comes to the issue of excluding women.

"There were women there -- present and speaking," Noble said. "We could not have been, excluded because we're the canal in which men came into this world."

Although there were many in support of the march, many people could not get past its keynote speaker, Louis Farrakhan.

Anastasia Steinberg, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League here in San Francisco, thought some things that came out of the march were compelling -- but they still have other concerns.

"We're still troubled by Minister Farrakhan," she said. "What is a concern for us is the anti-Semitism that is consistently spewed by the Nation of Islam."

According to Steinberg, there were anti-Semitic tracts being sold throughout the march by members of the NOI.

Psychology senior Angelique Pratt said the event made her more aware that people in the black community need to look out for each other and stick together as people in positive ways. She, too, altered her day in support of the "holy day."

"I supported it because the reason behind it would benefit my culture," she said. "I did read a book about Martin Luther King to my son and told him a little bit about what was going on."

[ Golden Gater Online October 19, 1995 ]

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