Millions More-A Tale of Two Cities: From DC to Toledo

[Algorem]

http://www.counterpunch.org/taylor10182005.html

By KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR

This past weekend thousands of African-Americans made their way to Washington D.C. for the Millions More Movement (MMM) march. The event billed as a "movement not a march" against racism and the prison industrial complex, to only name a few of its demands, was primarily organized by Minister Louis Farrakhan and his Nation of Islam (NOI).

The MMM was supposed to be the anti-Million Man March of 1995. The Million Man March was largely condemned for its sexist, exclusionary and generally backward politics. Millions More was supposed to be just that, millions more including women, gays, Latinos, whites, socialists, and anyone else with a bone to pick about the destructive direction of this country.

Millions did not show up, but thousands did in search of a political alternative to the politics of racism, scapegoating, war and recession that are on offer from the two dominant political parties in this country. There were handmade signs decrying the injustice of our criminal "justice" system. There were photos of loved ones killed by police or wrongfully convicted. There were signs denouncing Bush. People showed up in search of a new movement, and instead were treated to a who's who of the Black political and academic elite bent on congragulating themselves for their unprecidented "unity".

It is not as if what anyone said was wrong. We heard the requisite speeches denoucing the government's ill prepared rescue and relief effort in the Gulf. We heard the speeches denouncing police brutality. We heard the litany of statistics outlining the ongoing and deepening crisis in Black America. We heard the denunciations of Bush. But it all sadly sounded like we'd heard it all before. To be sure, there were some moments that stood out sharply. Elaine Johnson, mother of a son killed in Iraq, eloquently and impassionately implored Black family members to get involved in the fight against the war...