THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 17, 1995 TAG: 9510170384
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Whoops! Just as John Komoroske appeared about to slip and fall during his lunch-hour jog on Capitol Hill, two members of the Nation of Islam braced themselves to catch him.
``Everyone is so polite and sincere, so gentle with each, '' said Komoroske, a lawyer, huffing and puffing.
``It's sad about the negative connotations with Farrakhan taking over this whole thing. This is fantastic.''
Komoroske, who is white, admitted that he felt just ``a bit out of place'' among the sea of brown, tan and mocha-colored faces, afros and dreadlocks.
Other whites on their lunch hour also passed by, occasionally offering directions to misplaced marchers.
``This is preeeet-ty amazing,'' said Komoroske, breaking into a light jog, headed back to his office. ``Preeeet-ty amazing.''
- Charlise Lyles
Early in the day, two young marchers pondered their next move on the Mall:
Marcher No. 1: ``When are they going to start marching?''
Marcher No. 2: ``There is no marching. We're already here.''
Marcher No. 1: ``You mean we're going to be here the whole time?''
- Larry Brown ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by HUY NGUYEN /The Virginian-Pilot
Michael Rowe of Houston urges march attendees to ``Buy Black Our
Community.'' How? ``First, we've got to start spending more money in
our communities. We've got to stop our children from devoting their
lives to watching TV and help them take pride in decent, respectable
hard work.''
by CNB