Millions More Movement (and that’s millions more dollars, not people…fool!)

Minister Louis Farrakhan and his Nation of Islam (NOI) marked the 10th Anniversary of their Million Man March (the March) by calling black men, women and children to the National Mall again on Saturday to launch their Millions More Movement (the Movement). But, since I am still in despair over the dashed hopes and broken promises from the March, I thought it would be too politically masochistic to join the Movement.

But, thanks to C-SPAN, I could not resist tuning in from the comfortable home that my Caribbean work ethic and unparalleled opportunities in America have enabled me to own. And, it saddens me to affirm, that what I saw of Saturday’s activities vindicated my decision not to dignify this occasion with my presence.

(Incidentally, it seems appropriate to note here that the most instructive and useful message of the day was delivered as a self-deprecating aside by my fellow West Indian native Wyclef Jean. He begged the crowd to excuse his perfect English as he shared his immigrant story of coming to America at the age of 10, speaking not a word of English and soon working several jobs at once “the way we West Indians do” to get by. He ended his story by declaring this self-evident truth: that if he could achieve such stellar success in America, then there was no reason why every black American could not do the same! Unfortunately, speaking such obvious truths was not on the Movement’s agenda for this day, as every other speaker - with one notable exception - made patently clear.)

Minister Louis Farrakhan is easily the most articulate, visionary, inspiring, provocative, dynamic and intelligent public speaker in America today (as he has been for decades). But many of us who have been energized and moved by his anti-establishment polemics have come to realise that Farrakhan is just a committed performer who delivers speeches – full of sound and fury, signifying nothing - and then is heard no more...until his next curtain call.

What we witnessed at the March in 1995, was Farrakhan leading an army of one million black men in a spirited denunciation of white supremacy whilst also atoning for the serial failures of black leadership and exhorting us to atone for the self-inflicted maladies of black America. Indeed, he exuded such infectious majesty that even pedestrian black leaders delivered speeches about self-help, black empowerment and personal responsibility - with so much eloquence - that one might have mistaken them for historical black luminaries like Booker T Washington, Frederick Douglas, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet, none of them reached the rhetorical heights where Farrakhan flourished on that day - from the opening of his speech until he ended it with this, now trademark, pitch:

“Now brothers, the last thing we want to say, we want to develop an economic development fund....Inside of one month, we would have over $100 million. And in one year, we would have $1 billion...which means that no Black organization will be accountable to anybody outside of us....How many of you would like to see all our Black organizations free?

A task force will be formed…to make sure that the things that we say today will be implemented....[W]e want an outside accounting firm to come in and scrutinize every dollar that was raised from your pockets to make the Million Man March a success....We will come back...and we will account for every nickel, every dime, every dollar...so that you can trust. I put my life on this.

To rob you is a sin. To use you and abuse you is a sin. To make mockery of your love and your trust is a sin. And we repent of all sin and we refuse to do sin anymore.”

I’m ashamed to confess that I not only bought every word Farrakhan uttered but also contributed to his phantom Economic Development Fund (EDF). Because, as best as I can discern, none of the black empowerment initiatives he outlined or the fiduciary promises he made were executed or fulfilled; indeed, if they were ever intended to be. But it shall redound to his eternal shame that Farrakhan did, in fact, use and abuse the trust we vested in him and (did) make a mockery of the love we bestowed upon him as a leader who, we hoped, would create a “third force” to compel the American establishment to address the concerns of the poor and powerless.

Therefore, as I watched the events of last Saturday, I had an appalling sense of déjà vu as speaker after speaker delivered essentially the same words I heard 10 years ago. Only this time, instead of projecting the aura of historical black luminaries mentioned above, they looked and sounded more like second-rate actors spouting off hackneyed lines about Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq. And, instead of atoning of their own sins, they were blaming President Bush for everything from causing the levee breaks in New Orleans to cutting back their welfare checks.

What I witnessed, from my 1995 vantage point, was a bunch of unrepentant and otherwise misguided thieves returning to the scene of their crime and pulling off the same heist a decade later. Indeed, one of the longest speeches on Saturday was a shameless (but decidedly shameful) solicitation for money by one of Farrakhan’s boosters. In what must be a patented NOI version of Three Card Monty, he entertained the crowd with jokes like a Saturday night comedian and threw them a few religious platitudes like a Sunday morning preacher all whilst coaxing them to put their “Benjamins [100 dollar bills] in the receptacles” like an everyday street hustler.

(Incidentally, these receptacles were conveniently placed all over the Mall and guarded like Fort Knox by NOI praetorian guards. But can anyone recall a rally or march on the Mall where the organizers had more receptacles for collecting cash than trash?)

To deliver Saturday’s pièces de résistance (think Sermon on the Mount), Farrakhan descended the steps of the Capitol like a deus ex machina (black saviour) - escorted by his personal security detail from the Fruit of Islam (FOI) - and wowed the longsuffering crowd with vintage farrakhanisms. The highlight (or most irresponsible part of his speech depending on one’s vantage point) was his call for a separate black government of the United Sates comprised of “black, brown, red and poor people” and complete with Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Trade and Commerce, Defense, Information and Religion. And he promised it would be a government that would forge economic and political solidarity with a United States of Africa and a United States of Latin America and the Caribbean. (W.E.B. DuBois and Jomo Kenyatta must have been rolling over in their graves.)

Intriguing stuff, until one realises that it’s merely a repackaging of the grand platform for the global advancement of black people he presented 10 years ago. But to perfect his recidivism, Farrakhan prefaced the end of his speech with that familiar refrain: Now brothers (and sisters) “we need money.” Only instead of using the pretext of an EDF, he announced the founding of a National Skills Bank where millions of black people who wish to contribute his borrowed vision of a Pan-African world could register their names for a small deposit of $20 and donate “as many Benjamins as you can.” (Farrakhan even pulled a $100 bill out of his pocket at this point and held it above his head so that there could be no confusion between Benjamins and Georges [one dollar bills] when these new suckers make their deposits.)

As for the “millions” who attended, you can believe NOI counters or your lying eyes

Of course, I won’t be at all surprised if - 10 years from now - Farrakhan has nothing of substance to show for all of his talk about the Movement. And I suspect that many other black men are just as cynical. After all, these aerial shots – juxtaposing the multitudes of men only who heeded Farrakhan’s call in 1995 (left) with the smattering of men, women and children who heeded his call on Saturday (right) – provides irrefutable evidence that many of us have become justifiably disillusioned with Farrakhan’s hollow words and no longer wish to be associated with him. (Though listening to speaker after speaker marvel at the “millions” in attendance and suggesting that DC authorities might deliberately undercount them for political reasons, one got a sense of people lamely propagating a big lie about the size of the crowd to serve their own political agenda.)

But before too many people register (i.e., pay) to be used, abused and mocked yet again, I urge all black people of conscience (especially journalists) to demand the financial reports Farrakhan promised in 1995 would be forthcoming, on an annual basis, to ensure fiscal transparency and good governance of his EDF. And, to help frame our demands in this regard, here are just a few threshold questions I would ask Farrakhan to answer, if I had the chance:

1. What is the name of the “outside accounting firm” you promised would audit all of the fiscal activities of the people you appointed to manage the EDF?

2. You suggested in 1995 that “in one year, we could have $1 billion” in the EDF. What was the total amount collected by that fund?

3. One of the most dramatic and “uplifting” moments during your speech in 1995 was when you said that, with so much money in the EDF, you would have your board “call in Myrley Evers Williams and ask her, what the budget of the NAACP is for this year? It's $13 million. It's $15 million, write a check.” How many checks and in what amounts, Minister Farrakhan, did your EDF managers write to the order of the NAACP and other minority organizations over the past 10 years?

4. Please tell us what 3 going concerns (whether businesses, development projects or community outreach programmes) - funded by seed money from the EDF – you are most proud of?

5. You have an impressive network of Mosques all over this country and you seem indiscriminate in your solicitations to help black and poor people of all races, religions and creeds. Therefore, can you tell us what, besides selling recordings of your inspiring words (many of which, I confess, I purchased before the March), has your NOI done to better the lives on non-Muslims in America?

(Incidentally, if purported civil rights leaders like [the fathering babies out of wedlock] Rev. Jesse Jackson and [the chronically indebted] Rev. Al Sharpton had any credibility or clout left, they would’ve quieted Farrakhan by raising these questions through private admonitions long ago. Instead, there they were on Saturday shadowing Farrakhan, hoping to bask in his reflected glow....)

Note: At one point in his speech, Farrakhan ridiculed the $40 billion debt relief African Heads of State negotiated with G8 countries a few months ago. He reasoned that since England alone had exploited more than a trillion dollars from the African continent that this concession was, in fact, an insult (implying, of course, that the Africans are too ignorant or provincial to recognize this). But his reasoning begs the following question: Since black Americans claim that white Americans amassed trillions of dollars by exploiting their labour for centuries, how much have Farrakhan and other enlightened black Americans negotiated in reparations from white Americans? Answer: Nothing! But, ur, HR40 is pending in Congress....

Endnote: As indicated above, there was one notable exception to Saturday’s slew of utterly forgettable speeches. And that redeeming moment came when Erykah Badu took centre stage and refused to sing. Instead, she lectured the crowd about the categorical imperatives of self-love, self-respect and self-determination that she found so sorely lacking in most of them. Of course, as one can well imagine, she came across to these black folks like a skunk at a garden party.

But Erykah never sounded so inspired, and I was really loving it until Farrakhan’s chief of staff and son-in-law Leonard Muhammad entered stage right. (Most Americans would recognize Mr Muhammad as the dark, brooding emissary Farrakhan sent to manage Michael Jackson’s security and, more importantly, his coveted finances after MJ was arrested on charges of child molestation. And, one wonders what ingenious and intimidating slights of hand were involved in establishing that short-lived association of convenience.)

At any rate, Mr Muhammad approached Erykah - as the crowd sat in eerie silence – and appeared to whisper what I suspect were words to the effect of “shut up and sing, bitch!” Because as soon as he left the stage - as stealthily as he appeared - Erykah began singing like a wounded canary. And, the Movement proceeded as planned....

Asalamu alaikum, Allahu akbar!

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