- Marcus Garvey; The Honorable Elijah Muhammad
We, as students and followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, are calling on all able-bodied Black men to set aside a day, October 16, 1995, for an historic March on Washington to declare to the Government of America and the world, that we are ready to take our place as the head of our families and our communities and that we, as Black men, are ready to shoulder the responsibility of being the maintainers of our women and children and the builders of our communities. There is enough unused and undeveloped talent in the Black male to build an entirely New World. The Almighty Allah (God) has declared that the time is ripe; and, that we must get up from our assigned place at the foot of the rulers of this world and show forth the Wisdom and Power of Allah (God) in doing something for ourselves.
In 1963 the leaders of the civil rights movement gathered Black people together to march on Washington for jobs and justice. The government became so frightened by this that they decided to dilute the strength of the march and weaken the resolve of the marchers. However, the march went forward as planned and out of it later emerged the passing of the voting rights and public accommodations bills of 1965 and 1966. From that point there has been a steady movement of talented Black people in corporate America, politics, and business. However, the masses of Black people, and Black men in particular, are lagging far, far behind.
I was visiting with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad as we watched the 1963 March on Washington. He said that he saw too much frivolity, joking and a picnic atmosphere. He said, "One day, Brother, I will call for a March on Washington." However, this march and the marchers will be serious about our quest for justice. It is the thinking of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that has inspired this call, in particular to Black men, that we must now show the world our resolve; for it is we, Black men, who cleared the underbrush, laid the tracks for the railroad, built the homes in the south for the slave masters. It is we who plowed their fields, helped build their roads. It is we who fought in all of America's wars for a freedom that we have yet to enjoy.
So, now the God of Justice has declared that it is time for us as Black men and as Christians, Muslims, Nationalists, Agnostics, young and old members of every fraternal, civic, and political organization to stand together as one to declare our right to justice and our right to determine the future of ourselves and our people.
It is written in the Book of Ezekiel that the dry bones would hear a word that would stimulate them, causing them to move, but there would be no spirit or breath in these bones to make them stand up. The son of man went back to his Sender pleading for more power to resurrect these bones and the Mighty God told the son of man to call on the winds and let them blow on these slain of God. When the winds began to blow on the bones, the scripture said the bones stood up an exceedingly great army.
What are the winds? Winds represent forces that create movement to overpower the inertia of the bones; for a bone at rest will remain at rest unless it is acted upon by an external force greater than the resistance of the inertia of the bones. Those forces that are blowing on the Black community, and particularly the Black male, are the winds of poverty, want, joblessness, and homelessness; the winds of drugs and crime; the winds of political recalcitrance on the part of those in power; the winds of rejection and increased hatred. The winds of the Republican Party which swept into power calling for more harsh punishment for criminals, and the building of more prisons, saying that anyone who has been guilty of a criminal offense three times will be imprisoned for the rest of his or her natural life. Prisons are now private enterprise, which means that it is becoming big business now to build prisons to incarcerate the Black, the weak, the poor and the ignorant. This new wave of anti-crime legislation is to legitimize a return to slavery in the name of crime-reduction. It is our intention in the Nation of Islam and among concerned Black clergy, politicians, and other leaders to reduce crime and violence in our community by increasing the level of productivity, particularly in the Black male.
Will these men be coming to Washington to threaten the U.S. Government? Will this be an army to perpetuate more violence and evil in the society? A million men can create tremendous havoc. However, this march is to declare to the world our readiness to stand up like free Black men to take on the responsibility of freedom allegedly given to us in 1865. This will be a march with an army of men filled with the spirit produced by the winds of change. This will be an army to stand up as never before to do something for self.
This will be an army that will be in Washington filled with the spirit of love for self, love for each other, love for our families and filled with the determination that we should no longer and never again be looked at as the criminals, the clowns, the buffoons, the dregs of society. Since we were created in the beginning in the nature of Allah (God) then, we will be declaring to the world that we want to make a new beginning; to be fruitful and multiply; meaning, to become productive men and women, to conquer the earth, and master its laws of production that we may offer to this nation and to the world what Allah (God) has put within us.
The whole world will be watching to see what the Black man will do. The whole world will be watching to see if this march will produce civil unrest and strife. The world of investors will be watching to see if it is safe to continue to invest in the economy of America. We say to the world you will be witnessing the power of Allah's (God's) Own Hand on the children of ex-slaves whose mind is on freedom, justice and equality for all of our people. Will you be there? Every Black man who is able should start now putting aside his nickels, dimes and dollars because no man who is unable to make the journey on his own will have his way paid for him. We must show the world that we are ready to shoulder our responsibility by paying our own way from wherever we come. We should start preparing now to make sure that on October 16, 1995 we will be ready to make such a march and demonstration.
In every city and town in America, those who cannot participate in the march should show their sympathy for the march and their agreement with why the marchers are marching. On that day, stay home from school and from work. That day those who are at home should teach our children the value of unity; the value of pooling our resources; the value of building businesses and enterprises in the Black community to serve our own needs. Although the children on that day should not go to school, the parents should be the teachers teaching our children the value of a proper education; an education that teaches you to love yourself; education is that which gives you a desire to bring forth from yourself the God given gifts and talents to put them in the service of self and others. On that day, the parents should focus on the value of education and begin to move more strongly to take control of the education in our own communities to make sure that it is an education that does not make another slave, but an education that qualifies us to be self independent, self-determined and self-reliant.
On that day, I will be asking every entertainer not to entertain. I will be asking every sports figure, professional or otherwise, not to play. America must be made to see that the Black people in her midst have added something of significance to this country. On that day, your basketball, football, baseball and entertainment will be all white. Since so many of you love to be all white, then be all white, it's all right. America must taste how it feels when her ex-slave is not in her midst.
We want America to reflect on her sins against the Black man. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, "Make America to know her sins." So, we want America to see that she owes something to the people who built her country and as yet have not received justice.
You may say, "We, the Caucasian people of this generation, don't owe anything to Black people for we didn't bring you into slavery. While it is true that the present generation of whites did not initiate slavery and the wretched condition of Black people which resulted from it, nevertheless, the present generation of whites are the beneficiaries of that which was done by their fathers to our fathers who made us to work to produce wealth for the nation that the present generation is feeding from. Even though the present generation is not responsible for slavery and its evil, the present generation of Caucasians, however, must accept the responsibility and the challenge to be participants in finding the solution that will correct the wrong that was done that has never been properly addressed.
If the present generation of Caucasians refuses to accept this challenge then they will, in effect, be saying that they agree with the evil of their fathers and thus be face to face with The Judgment of Allah (God) that is written in the scriptures, "And I will visit the sins of the fathers on their children even to the 3rd and 4th generation of them that hate me (This hatred of God is manifested by a hatred for the principle of justice for the children of the slaves)."
It will be our duty to present our case in the wisest and most intelligent way. In so doing, we must also make the Black man to know his sins. We cannot, in this modern time, keep on blaming white people for our shortcomings. We have to know our own sins in this matter and repent of the evils that are destroying our own communities. We must repent of the laziness that has caused us not to be willing to take up our responsibility to do for self; and, if we will repent and, if we can call America to repentance for her own evils, then we can work out a way to resolve the problem between the two people with justice.
You have always been by our side. In fact, you have been in front leading us. Were it not for your boldness, your courage, intelligence, and forthrightness, we as Black men would have very little. We are asking our wives and daughters to stay at home on that day; not because we don't need you; not because we don't think that you can be of great support to us. You, my dear sisters, have been our leaders, our teachers, our nurses. You have been so patient waiting for us to take up our responsibility; so now that we have made up our minds to stand up for you and our families, we want you to aid us in this march by staying at home with the children teaching them in sympathy with what your Black men have finally decided to do.
You should not go to the store on that day to buy anything. Whatever we buy, buy it ahead of this day. We should not go to the office. We should not let this world see us. We should be in our homes focused on prayer and thanksgiving, praying that Allah (God) will pour out His Spirit and Protection on those who actually march on the streets of Washington, D.C., and those who march with us in spirit in their homes. We want this march to be the real shot heard around the world that the Black man, the Black woman, and the Black family are standing together at last.
This must be a day of prayer. Let all of Us turn to Almighty (God) Allah and pray to Him with our children by our sides-young and old. This should be a day of fasting for those who are able to fast from sunup to sundown. This should be a day when we bow down to the Lord of Creation, to the God of our salvation in remembrance of our ancestors and what they suffered to bring us to this great day. If all of us will unite this one day, then the world will take notice that there is a new Black man in America. We must organize beyond the march for a time of productive activity that Isaiah the Prophet said will give us the means to rebuild the wasted cities.
Politicians are moved by numbers. Politicians know that numbers can determine elections. 1996 will produce the most fateful of Presidential elections. No candidate of either party has ever addressed Black people on an agenda that we ourselves have fashioned and put before them for their consideration. By the Grace of Allah (God) we will present a Black agenda for the candidate of either party to address forthrightly. Since both parties, Democrat and Republican, have never addressed the real needs of the Black people of America. I will therefore ask all Black men to register or re-register as independents, holding our vote to be given to whomsoever will address the Black agenda with truth and with justice. There will be great political advantage in a million Black men representing several million more behind the door. Let us use this political leverage to help our people get up and to help America to see that we intend to use our political power in a constructive way and that no longer can any party depend on our vote or take it for granted.
What is the social advantage? Black men from every religious affiliation, every civic, fraternal or political persuasion, from the revolutionist to the integrationist, from the Christians, to the Muslims, Hebrews and Agnostics - all of us will be together. There will be a common denominator uniting the fractions and the factions. On that one day we will see the value socially of never allowing artificial barriers to impede the advancement of our people.
What is the spiritual advantage? The spiritual advantage is that the greatest force of Allah (God) is not only Truth, but His Spirit which engenders and promotes the love of the brotherhood.
One writer says in the scripture that, "We can tell that we have passed from death into life because we love the brotherhood." The spiritual advantage is that we will find common cause to love ourselves and to love one another. And out of that love, life will increase in our families, in the Black nation in America and in Black people all over the world who will be touched by what we say and do.
What is the economic advantage? We will begin to see as never before the value of pooling our resources to buy farmland, to set up factories, to enter into international trade and commerce, to petition the government that they should not cede manufacturing to Third World countries but the Black community, or the inner cities which are in a Third World condition. Therefore, manufacturing must be ceded to us. We will make the shoes and cobble our feet. We will make the suits and dresses to clothe our backs. We will make the underwear, shirts, socks and other necessities that are now being imported from China, Japan, Korea, and Italy. We will take the responsibility of food, clothing, and shelter for our people, with a partnership with government, a partnership for mutual progress. This army will be the true army of salvation of the Black nation and the army of salvation of America and the salvation army of the world. Will you be there? Let us pray that Allah (God) will increase the spirit in Black men that we will make up our minds to present our bodies on that day as a reasonable and living sacrifice to accomplish what we have determined to accomplish by the help of Allah (God).
Thank you for reading these few words.
(This article originally appeared in volume 14, number 4 of The Final Call newspaper, dated December 14, 1994.)