NEW YORK�A jubilant audience of nearly 3,000 at the Manhattan Center repeatedly rose to their feet as the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan told the crowd that the Million Family March on Oct. 16, in Washington, D.C., is a call for those of all walks of life who want to create a better quality of life for themselves and their children.

He also endorsed the August 26 "Redeem the Dream" March on Washington sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the National Action Network (NAN).

"I do not want any of us to think that this is division here and use the personality of Farrakhan, Sharpton and King as an excuse to create havoc among the people. Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and Farrakhan are together. We support their march, they support our march because it�s only, really two marches with one agenda � the liberation of our people," he said.

He thanked East Coast Minister Benjamin F. Muhammad, the laborers and believers of Muhammad Mosque No. 7, and the region for producing such a magnificent effort in just 48 hours time. He thanked Allah (God) for sparing his life in his recent bout with death and he thanked the public for their prayers for his recovery.

"There is a scripture in the Bible that says the prayers of the righteous availeth much. Your prayers were answered by Allah in such a wonderful way. How can I come out of such an experience and not be different? Not different in the sense that I lost what I had, but, different in the sense that I gained so much more than what I had."

Manhattan Center�s Hammerstein Ballroom was the last public appearance on the Minister�s three-day city tour. It was also the first city stop of his national tour to promote the Million Family March (MFM). Activists, celebrities and community leaders from all walks lined the stage, listening in awe of the leader�s assessment of America�s condition.

"America is ripe for the taking," he said. "Step back from the reefer. Step back from the crack, the heroin, and the wine bottle � just step back long enough to look at America. Open your eyes, the country has been taken. This is why the people are no longer willing to go to the polls and vote, because the people no longer know what they are voting for. They have lost the confidence in their leadership and the American people are dissatisfied because they see the country has gone away from the principles of the founding fathers," he said.

Min. Farrakhan urged the audience to recognize the significance as well as the threat a million families represent to the political landscape and social fabric of this nation and the world. "I really believe we can effect that which will change the reality of our lives�only, if we are big enough to come together as a family. The family is under assault but you cannot extract from government what you need and what you want, because of disunity. If we spoke with a unified voice," Min. Farrakhan said, "they would hear us."

But our voices are not heard, he said, because we are to busy putting titles, symbols and labels over one another, scattering our focus.

Also in attendance were music entertainer Freedom Williams and his family; National Association of Black Social Workers political advisor Leonard G. Dunston; All-African People�s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) Central Committee member David Brothers; Barry White and Shabazz Fuller of Shabazz Brothers Fashions; Bishop Pak of the World Federation of Peace and Mother Theora Richards of the Booker T. Washington Collective.

The fact that God blessed the Black nation once means he can do it again the national director of MFM 2000, Min. Benjamin Muhammad, told The Final Call.

"When you respond to a call from God your success is divinely assured. We know through scripture that Allah (God) will bless you more than one time, He will continuously bless us as long as we remain on the right path. There is universal recognition of the fact that Allah blessed us on Oct. 16, 1995 at the Million Man March. That blessing came because the call for the march was a call from God through the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to get Black men and others out of the tent of self-destruction and the grave of irresponsibility. With the Million Family March, God is calling us again. This time, however, the call is not just limited to men. It is a call from God through the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for men, women, and children. It is a call for the entire family."

"I would like everybody to come there under their own banner," Min. Farrakhan instructed concerning the MFM. "I want the Christians to come under the banner of the cross. I would love to see the Muslims under the banner of the crescent and the Hebrews under the banner of the Star of David."

The Minister urged all fraternities and sororities to come under their respective banners in a show of unity. "I want the gangs. Come under your colors, but know that all of us are one family," he said, adding that the people are greater than the symbols they carry and he wants to raise the level of consciousness so people will never let their symbols define who they are.

Min. Farrakhan thanked the World Federation of Peace and its leader Rev. Sun Yung Moon for their good works. "Rev. Moon is a good man and he has suffered in America because his ideas are antitethical to the ideas of racism and white supremacy," said Min. Farrakhan.

"I don�t think we can go through life not building coalitions," he continued. "Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had alliances with people who were not necessarily Muslims but they had common cause � but you cannot build alliances with others before you build alliances with yourselves."

He urged the audience to secure a copy of the National Agenda, study it, critique it and register with the Million Family March headquarters to help put the march on. (Online registration is at www.millionfamilymarch.com)