Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 17, 1995 TAG: 9510170095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
The huge assembly - estimated by police at 400,000 people and clearly the largest civil rights demonstration in U.S. history - created the sheltering atmosphere of a family reunion at the same time that an array of speakers sternly charged participants to take more responsibility for their lives and harshly condemned white racism.
The event reversed the customary patterns of daily life in the nation's capital, swelling the Mall from the Capitol to the Washington Monument with black men from across the country but draining many commuters from the rest of the city. Not only did predictions of a rush-hour nightmare prove wrong, but downtown streets stood abnormally quiet because many workers either abandoned their cars for a day or stayed home.
In a fiery and disjointed two-hour keynote address, Farrakhan lashed out at what he called a culture of white supremacy in the United States, enjoined black men to take more responsibility for their own lives, declared that Martin Luther King was a greater patriot than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and engaged in a long-distance colloquy with President Clinton, responding to a speech on race relations that Clinton gave in Texas earlier in the day.
But while television cameras broadcast remarks from the podium to a national audience, the crowd on the Mall and adjoining streets alternately cheered and ignored the remarks, engaging in impromptu man-to-man talks and basking in a day of peaceful solidarity. Although a 69-year-old Washington man collapsed and died on the Mall, apparently of a heart attack, police reported no other serious injuries. There was only one arrest for disorderly conduct.
Women largely obeyed Farrakhan's request to stay away; perhaps three percent of the crowd was female. For the men, it was a day of spontaneous embraces, public tears and straight-in-the-eye greetings - the opposite of the nervous, sidelong glances that some men said they customarily employ to avoid confrontation.
Washingtonian Ken Thomas, the father of 3- and 9-year-old daughters, carried a sign that read, ``Here for my girls.'' Oklahoma City minister Leodis Strong navigated the Mall on crutches, hobbled by recent knee surgery but determined to join in. And when LeVon Buckley encountered a group of teenagers mock fighting and addressing each other with a racially offensive term, the 28-year-old Tampa firefighter stepped in with fatherly advise: ``That ain't what today's about. Today's about learning how to love your brother.''
As expected, the size of the crowd was a matter of sharp debate. Organizers put the attendance at 1.5 million, more than three times the official police estimate. The march's national director, the Rev. Benjamin Chavis Jr., argued that organizers had a counting system of their own and, ``We know we are way over 1 million, so anything under a million is totally unacceptable.''
Even the police estimate far surpassed that of the 250,000 people who attended the storied 1963 March on Washington, at which King gave his ``I have a dream'' speech, and was exceeded by only a handful of other political demonstrations of any kind.
The crowd was studded with celebrities: Pro basketball stars Charles Smith, Charles Oakley, Juwan Howard and Chris Webber; recording stars Hammer, Ice-T and Stevie Wonder, who was one of the speakers; actor Will Smith; retired boxer Michael Spinks; and numerous politicians.
But only Farrakhan had been singled out, albeit not by name, for criticism by Clinton, who praised the march in his remarks in Texas but criticized Farrakhan for employing what he called hateful rhetoric. Farrakhan praised Clinton's appeal for racial tolerance, but defended himself.
``I must hasten to tell you, Mr. President, that I'm not a malicious person, and I'm not filled with malice,'' he said. ``But I must tell you that I come in the tradition of the doctor who has to point out, with truth, what's wrong.''
Other than Farrakhan, the day's most heralded speaker was Jesse Jackson, who went head-on at the Republicans who took control of Congress this year, at one point comparing them to one of the most reviled figures of the '60s civil rights struggle.
Invoking the names of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Jackson linked them to the Birmingham, Ala., police chief who unleashed dogs and fire houses on nonviolent protesters. ``Who organized the march?'' Jackson thundered. ``Did Minister Farrakhan organize the march? No!
``Clarence Thomas and Gingrich organized the march - just like Bull Connor organized the march in 1963!''
The marchers began assembling on the Mall in the wee hours of the morning. When the sun finally rose over the Capitol, it illuminated a sea of black men being serenaded by the sounds of African drums.
All along the Mall, people snapped pictures or videotaped the scene in an attempt to capture their moment in history. At Eastern High School, near a drop-off point for many marchers, students and staff members stood outside, cheering wildly as they passed. On street corners and front porches all along the route, woman stood applauding the men.
One woman, her voice raspy from shouting, stood on a wall, clapping loudly. ``Black man. Black man,'' she managed to chant. ``We applaud you, black man. We applaud you.''
Farther along East Capitol, at 16th Street, Edna Hodges, 55, of Baltimore, held her arms open wide. ``Black sunshine! Black sunshine!'' she shouted again and again. ``We love you, brothers!''
Not everyone celebrated the march. Carol DiMaio, a 57-year-old Alexandria, Va., resident, who is white, said: ``I think they should all be at work. That bonding is unnecessary. They should go out and help themselves.''
Kevin Frye, a 25-year-old black man from Fredericksburg, Va., worked his regular delivery truck shift Monday, and at an Arlington 7-Eleven he said the march wasn't for him.
``I don't go into that,'' Frye said. ``If they leave me alone, I'll leave them alone.''
by CNB