black politics once again gained the initiative, which Negro race in America and the world ... either a lunatic they managed to retain for decades, even afler the black or a traitor." A. Philip Randolph's Messenger described nationalist revival of the late 1960s. Only now, after Garvey as "the supreme Jamaican jackass," "an unques- twenty years of aimlessness and defeat, do those ctirrents tioned fool and ignoramus." By contrast, many of today's find themselves cut off from much of their supposed wotild-he Du Boist's and Randolphs have either deluded constituency, giving Farrakhan his golden opporttinity. themselves about Farrakhan, concluded that they can Bringing htmdreds of thotisands of black men to Wash- manipulate him, or (at least temporarily) lost their nerve. ington does not, on its own, mean that Farrakhan's neo- Some of them marched; others came up with exctises for (iarvcyisin will stistain a mass movement. The throngs on not marching; still others stayed silent. If the march's the Mall displayed little immediate interest in Joining tlu; newfangled was a piece of old historical news, ; it remains tinclear how much of Far- the complicity of so many veteran black democrats and rakhan's message they acttially botight. Still, history integrationists marked a genuine rupture with the past. offers little comfort to those saddened by Farrakhan's There were, of course, some notable dissenters: female sudden success. In the 1920s, American liberalism was at leaders like Mary Frances Berry, along with the black low ebb, btit there were at least some signs of revival, like feminists and gays, some of whom excoriated Farrakhan Robert La Follette's Progressive Movement; and, even so, for his views on race as well as on gender; intellectuals it would take decades tor the libetal departtires that like Stanley Crouch (who, sounding like a reborn Ran- began with the New Deal to embrace fully the black strug- dolph, denounced the march as an effort led by "a racist, gle for ci\il rights and economic improvement. Today, lib- anti-Semitic nut leader of a ntit cult"); stalwart African eralism is once again at low ebb, but there are hardly any American heroes like Representative John Lewis; as well hopeful fresh departures in sight and only the vaguest as the beleaguered national leadership of the National sense that the nation's enormotis political blockages Association for the Advancement of Colored People and might be soon overcome. Withotit some dramatic redi- other aging (and recently trotibled) organizations. The rection, what has become orthodox rights-based Demo- best thing to come out of this affair for black America cratic liberalism offers little to combat the economic (and for white America, which has prodticed its own despair and spirittial alienation that has gripped mtich of ample supply of ntits and complicit "mainstream" fig- black America and that feeds Farrakhan's appeal. tires) might be if black leaders, invigorated by Far- Equally important, whereas Garvevism attracted wither- rakhan's challenge, can somehow help re-establish the ing polemical attacks from black liberals and social demo- primacy of democratic politics over authoritarian revital- crats, the neo-Garveyism of the Million Man March at- ization—and help to restore c'lan to what still remain the tracted widespread support from more mainstream black most radical of American egalitarian ideals: integration politicians, intellectuals, clergymen and others, all of and interracial democracy. For the moment, thotigh, the whom vainly attempted to separate the event from the fan- drift of American politics, on both sides of the racial atics who originally planned it. Seventy years ago, W.E.B. divide, leads in the opposite direction, more so after the Du Bois called Garvey "the most dangerotis enemy of the Million Man March than at any time since the 1920s. •

Wrestling with October 16. ONE MAN'S MARCH

By Glenn C, Loury

ry to understand my problem. I am a black intel- Farrakhan denunciation was in this very magazine in lectual of moderate to conservative political December 1984.) To judge from the volume of press instincts. Unlike many of my racial brethren, I inquiries in past few weeks, I nuist have been one of the T have been denotmcing the anti-Semitism of few black men in America willing to state for the record Minister for over a decade. (My virgin my reservations about, and objections to, the Million Man March. I proniiscuotisly expounded my view that it GLKNN (;. Lot RV is professor of economics at Boston Uni- would not be possible to separate the message from the versity and the author most recently of One by OneFrom the messenger and that, in any case, a race- and sex-exclusive Inside Out: Rare and Responsihiliiy in America (Free Press). march would send the wrong message. In short, my cre-

18 THE NEW REPUBLIC NOVEMBERS, 1995 dentials as a "deracinated Negro," able to steadfastly ence from beyond the grave by bequeathing to me one resist the call of tribe, are impeccable. of his most cherished possessions—a complete set of the Imagine my surprise, then, when on the day before recorded speeches of . Had Uncle Moonie the march, as I walked along the Mall from the White lived to attend this march, he would have thought it the House toward the Capitol encountering othei- black greatest experience of his life. men in town for the event, I found myself becoming To be sure, my uncle would not have understood my misty. I watched these "brothers," in clusters of two or public criticism of the march or of Minister Louis Ear- three or six, from Philadelphia and Norfolk and my own rakhan, for that matter. He was no great fan of the non- hometown of (Chicago, wandering among the museums violent philosophy of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and monuments like the tourists they were, cameras in He much preferred the straight-backed, unapologetic hand, and the sight brought tears to my eyes. The march defiance of Malcolm. He would have been puzzled that I had not even begun, and already powerful sentiments, could fmd the opinions of "white folks" worth taking into long buried inside me, were being resurrected. I knew account. He would have rejected the notion that there then that I was in trouble. are ethical and political principles, my fealty to which Here were young black guys, the same ones occasion- could transcend my sense of racial loyalty. ally mistaken by belligerent police officers or frightened In short, were he alive today, I fear that Uncle Moonie passersby for threats to public safety because of the color would be profoundly disappointed in me. Still, those of their skin and the swagger of their gait, scrambling up tears welling in my eyes at the sight of "our brothers" on the steps and lounging between the columns of the the Mall might have given him hope that 1 could yet be National Gallery building, some even checking out the redeemed. The tingle that ran up my spine as I beheld "Whistler and His Contemporaries" show on display that massive assembly of beautiful black men seeking inside. And there were others, sharing an excited unity and spiritual upliftment caused me to hope, for a expectancy with Japanese tonrists and rural whites as we fleeting moment, that 1 could, at long last, go home all waited in line to tour the White House. Taking in again. these various scenes, an ob\ious but profound thought occurred to me: this is their country, too. So, embar- y pre-march analysis was a tight little piece of rassed that I needed to remind myself of this fact, I wept. amateur political theory that ran as follows: The next day, as I beheld hundreds of thousands the problem with the Million Man March is of black men gathering in a crowd that ultimately M that it mixes comnumal and political activities stretched from the steps (tf the Capitol back toward the inappropriately. As a communal matter, a religiously mo- Washington Monument, I would be even more deeply tivated gathering of men seeking to commit themselves moved. Everything that has been said about the disci- to reconstruction and renewal in their personal lives and pline and dignity of the gathering, and the spirit of cama- in their respective neighborhoods, it is highly commend- raderie that pervaded it, is true. It was a glorious, uplift- able. However, as a political matter, gathering on the Mall ing day, and I was swept up in it along with everyone else. at the site of the great 1963 March on Washington—but It almost did not matter what was being said from the now as black men and not as Americans, under the lead- podiuni.Forthefirst time in years, as the drums beat and ership of a Louis Earrakhan not a Martin Luther King— the crowd swayed, I heard the call of the tribe, big time. this is deeply problematic. The sacrifice of liberal demo- cratic ideals and the separatist message is too high a price ingling in that throng, my thoughts drifted to pay for getting our cultural trains to run on time. back to my late Uncle Moonie, the husband Yet, when put to the test on the Mall, this elegant bit of my mother's sister, who, as head of the of theory seemed to collapse instantly under the weight extended household in which I was raised, of a single fact: nearly one-halfniillion African American Mexerted a powerful influence on me in my formative men had solemnly, prayerfully assembled to affirm their years. Uncle Moonie, so called because his large, round intention to take responsibility for the condition of their eyes protruded like half-moons beneath his often- people. furrowed brow, was a barber, part-time hustler and As a social critic, I have called for many years for the admirer (thongh not a follower) of the Honorable Eli- civil rights leadership to reorient itself from a focus on jah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam. My the "enemy without," white racism, toward the "enemy uncle kicked a nasty heroin habit in his youth and went within," the dysfunctional behaviors of young black men on to achieve what was for his generation of black men and women that prevent too many from capitalizing on an impressive degree of financial security. Eiercely existing opportunity. Well, here were some 5 percent proud and independent, he constantly railed against of the age-adjusted national black male population, "the white man," and he never tired of berating those together in one place, supporting this very idea. Stand- blacks who looked to "white folk" for their salvation. ing there, and listening to their collective affirmations, I Occasionally he would take me with him to the state found it hard to deny that the conception and execution prison for his monthly visits with one or another of his of this event had been a work of genius. In the heat of incarcerated friends. "There, but for the grace of God, those moments, I felt confused about my ideals and go you or I," he would say. He encouraged me in an commitments and deeply ashamed to have spoken intelligent militancy and even sought to extend his influ- against the march.

20 THE NEW REPUBLIC NOVEMBER 6.1995 However, I have been an economist for more years or out, could take this literally. Btit the premise that than I have been a social critic. As such, I have learned blacks find our reason for being in the fact of our well the art of tenaciously holding on to a theory that, enslavement and subsequent persectition anchors all by virtue of its elegance and appeal to intuition, "ought that the Nation of Islam undertakes. This narrow, reac- to be true," even when it seems inconsistent with tive self-conception is glorified as manly, truth-telling, the facts. The key is to find another way of looking at clear-eyed realism. the evidence that casts one's favored theory in a bet- Thus, forcing myself to listen carefully to what the ter light. That is not diffictilt in the case at hand, for speakers at this massive gathering actually said, I began what seemed at that mar( h like the salvation of black to fear that, notwithstanding the emotion of the Americans is, upon closer examination, no such thing moment, nothing will really change. We all pray that at all. one-half million inspired black men will return to their Begin with a simple question: How did it come to cities and towns, redouble their efforts and with the pass that this great help of their women moment in American create nurturing fami- cultural politics was lies and community- orchestrated by the based instittitions that demagogic leader of will change the awful a black fascist sect, facts on the ground. while no other nation- But do we have any ally prominent black warrant, based upon leader could have what was said from the pulled it off? The poditmi, much of it answer is two-fold. cliched, resentful and First, Farrakhan, what- conspiracy-laden, to ever one thinks of believe this will tran- him, is a religious spire.-' leader, speaking to a Uncle Moonie has flock desperate to hear been dead nearly fif- an explicitly spiritual teen years now. His appeal. The Nation of was a different, harder Islam has a track time for black men. record of "turning the That he admired Eli- souls" of a great many jah Muhammad is not underclass men, espe- surprising, given the cially in prisons, hi context of his life. contrast, liberal black Now, removed from political leaders, ironi- the passions of the cally drawn substan- tnarch, and having tially from the clerg\'. had the opportiuiity have checked their to reflect, 1 believe iheologically conserva- that my passionate tive Christian witness rejection of racial at the door of the essentialism was right Democratic Party. In for me and, given the coalitions with femi- OCIS lAKKAKHAN IS V \ 1 N I LAW kl.Nt:K h I ) R llll-: M;\V KI 1M 1U.]( context of our lives nists, gays and radical today, for "my peo- secularists, and in reaction against the politics of the reli- ple." The American people, that is. gious right, they have muted their voices on social issues, There are now one and a half million Americans leaving a void in black ptiblic hfe that Minister Farrakhan behind bars. This seems to me a tragedy of enormous has adroitly filled. proportions. Our cities are filled with poor, unedticated Secondly, Farrakhan's message of spiritual ii[)lift is young people, wandering tlie streets aimlessly and with- deeply rooted in a white-man-has-done-us-wrong out hope. This is a blight that graphically reveals the fail- grievance politics. He does not ask blacks to give up tlie tire of our political leadership. We now celebrate in otir latter as he proffers the former. In this, he is being faith- politics the state-sanctioned, eye-for-an-eye taking of ftil to his teacher, the Honorable Flijah Muhammad, human life via capital punishment and the arbitrary who taught that the white man is a blue-eyed devil, a locking away for a lifetime of those who have made btit mtitant breed created by the mad scientist Yakub and three mistakes. I think that this is an abomination unwor- allowed by God to rule over the superior black man thy of a civilized nation. So do the organizers of the tmtil stich time as the black man would return to the march. But, unlike them, I do not believe that our otit- true faith. No serious persons, inside the Nation of Islam rage shotild depend on the racial identity of those who

NOVEMBER 6,1995 THE NEW REPUBLIC 21 suffer. What is morally significant is that they are human; we will have created a culture. Why waste time creating a their chim on our attention derives from this fact alone. conscience for something which doesn't exist? For you The call of the tribe is .seductive, but ultimately it is a see, blood and skin do not ihink." siren call. As comforting as the prospect may seem, the This is the fimdamental point. Skin and blood do not truth, for all of us, is that we can't go home again. For think, or dream, or love or pray. The "conscience of the blacks, as Ralph Ellison has taught us, "our task is that of race" must be constructed from the in.side out, one per- making ourselves individuals We create the race by son at a time. I did not hear this sentiment expressed by creating ourselves and then to our great astonishment a single speaker at the Million Man March. •

men giving me tbeir Metro seals, black teoits day I was "atmtie," 1 was "sister," 1 men calling me "sister" instead of was "daughter." Not "bitcb," not "ho," Queen for a day? "baby." Not all, not even most, but a not "sweet thang." gainst my wi.shes, tbe Million Man very noticeable few. Strangely, Monday kept reminding March proceeded as planned. I followed the maich's progress in me of a very different gathering—the A The organizers did not notice the media and tny own excitement (lay Pride celebrations I attended last that Minister Louis Farrakhan's anti- grew; clearly, we were groping not for summer. Since Gay Pride and the Mil- Semitic, anti-intellecttial, sexist and Minister Farrakhan btit for unity and lion Man March have little in com- homosextial-baiting racism had left me seif-respecl. And maybe we should mon, it was a while before I under- "unable to stipport" tbe march. Not keep Farrakhan's venom in perspec- stood why one reminded me of the "opposed to" it, but unable, in good tive. After all, aren't blacks constantly other. Thien it clicked. At both, I was conscience, to let its supporters have required to look past the Fotmding completely relaxed. Both lacked one any peace. A tiiillion brothers united Fathers' slave-mongering? By the time element intimately associated with the for peace and atonement is every sis- tny family arrived, I was still "unable to life of every tirban American woman: ter's dream. Btit under a banner lioine support" the marcli, but mitcb lessvig- fear. Fear ranging from tbe snatched by Benjamin (^ha\is and Farrakhan? orottsly. We stayed up all nigbt while bag to tbe grabbed ass, past pubic Stnely ue demean ourselves and insult hairs on (^oke catis and dead ahead to they told me of the caravans heading full-scale gang rape. Fear is a low-grade our fellow ^\meric;ins with sucli com- for D.C;. and the camaraderie they fever American women live with every pany. And why must those they claim to shared with tbese strangers on the day, banked but ever present. But, on be honoring remain bebind; wby not road. People bad belped each otber botb these occasions, women were apologize to otir faces? with repairs and places to sleep; they'd given a one-day, fear-free grace period. As tihe march neared, I feared the shared food, chiidcare, directions, life worst: whites, whipped into a post-O.J. stories. My criticisms seemed non Likelastsiunmcr, within minutes, ftenzy, blowing something else up; seqtiitnrs to them. tmconsciotisly, I let my guard down. If a swaggering black youths expressing "We didn't come to join The man brttslied against me, I knew it was their newibnnd pride as racial and sex- Nation," my brolher-hi-law told me in only to steady me as he passed. Both tial aggression; our women working a lone that stiggested I might actually times, my purse swung loose and that mttch harder while our men be misinformed. unzipped as it bulged with sotivetiirs. I attend tnale-only meetings. In this pre- At the march, my sister and I had no fear of drunken brawls, no election year, I dreaded the political roamed that ocean of black manhood dread of iiiaclio confrontations, no fallout most of all. I foresaw a direct for eigbt transilxed botirs. It was the insults to be borne silently. Today, I relationsbip between the number of happiest, most peaceftil .solemnity I could initiate conversations, meet my marchers and the ntimber of new pris- will ever witness. We saw no alcohol, brothers' eyes and .smile as they neared. otis planned. And then, jtist before the no empty liquor containers (although Or, what was even better, chastise that march, I went shopping. I did smell marijuana once). There lone disrespectful man, confident that be would slink away asbamed. My sister, her hu.sband and my was almost none of that male horse- nephew had driven in from St. Louis play and loud talk that characterizes America is right to hold us responsi- so I needed something in the fridge typical social situations—the brothers ble for the company we keep, and our besides beer and portabello mtish- were serious and stibdued. answer must be the .same it gave us rooms. Laden with packages, I su'tig- There were so few women, we abotit Afrikaner apartheid—con- gled from tbe supermarket bebind turned heads all day. We grew hoarse certed, sincere constructive engage- three young black men who looked rettu^ning the respectftil greetings, we ment. Farrakban is not tbe best we can back briefly when one of my bags top- starred on camcorders and posed for do, he's just, unfortunately, the best we pled. One of them stopped, grabbed inntmierable photos. Few seemed to can do right now. Deserving leaders the other's arm and ge.stured toward resent our presence, rather, their eyes will emerge, and we'll stabilize our me. "We should ... do something?" widened, their feet stumbled and their moral core again. One rally won't cure he wbispered with almost comic inten- hands grew awkward. They were black America of its ills, but, when all sity. He looked 18 and scared to death embarrassed. All our dirty little secrets was said and done, I fotmd myself of me. were being aired today, and there standing proud, unafraid and disobedi- didn't seem to be a man on the Mall entamong 1 million of my brothers— The others stopped, blocking my and finallyabl e to support the march. path and looking stupidly around. who could look at us without seeing Brainstorm. "The door! Fll hold the the women they'd left at home to do door!" the .scut work. Paths opened before us; DEBRA DICKERSON The pattern kept repeating itself. chairs appeared from nowhere; men Black men stepping aside with exag- yanked their sons aside saying, "Boy, DEBR-A DICKERSON is a lawyer in Wash- gerated courtesy to lei me pass, black let your auntie by." For an entire, righ- ington, D.C.

22 THENEWREPLIBLIC NOVEMBER 6,1995