Champions the Million Man March
West, Cornel
In order to open a discussion of the Million Man March held in Washington, D.C., last October, we decided to reprint Cornel West's op-ed piece from the New York Times, written and published on the...
...King was killed, not only was he working on the multiracial poor people's campaign, he was also meeting with Elijah Muhammad and Amiri Baraka—black nationalists demonized by the white media—to promote black operational unity...
...Third, I must march because the next major battle in the struggle for black freedom involves moral and political channeling of the overwhelming black rage and despair...
...But he realistically assessed the true depth of white supremacy...
...To stand on the sidelines and yield the terrain to Minister Farrakhan and other black nationalists would be to forsake not only my King legacy but, more importantly, my love for black people...
...I believe that if white supremacy can be reduced to a minimum, then patriarchy, homophobia, and anti-Semitism can be lessened in black America...
...In order to open a discussion of the Million Man March held in Washington, D.C., last October, we decided to reprint Cornel West's op-ed piece from the New York Times, written and published on the eve of the march, together with a critical response by Michael Walzer, written a few weeks later...
...I have in mind the general invisibility of, and indifference to, black sadness, sorrow, and social misery, and the disrespect and disregard in which blacks are held in America and abroad...
...In casting the demonstration as "Farrakhan's march," the mainstream media want to shift the focus from black pain to white anxiety...
...Distributed by New York Times Special Features/Syndication Sales...
...If I am wrong, America has no desirable future...
...Can our deeply divided society wrestle with this challenge without exploding...
...Come...
...Needless to say, black rage has risen exponentially since bulWINTER • 1996 • 97 Arguments lets ripped through the Rev...
...Martin Luther King, Jr...
...So I march...
...As the writer Greg Tate has rightly noted, the verdict "may represent the first time in history that a majority black jury has wielded an apparatus of state power against the will of the nation's white citizenry...
...Cornet West On Monday, maybe a million black men will march on Washington...
...If I am right, black operational unity need not preclude multiracial democratic movements that target all forms of racism and corporate power...
...For them, he not only embodies black rage but also black hatred and contempt for whites, Jews, women, gay men, and lesbians...
...For most whites, the Million Man March called by Minister Louis Farrakhan can only worsen race matters...
...Why am I supporting the march...
...King's words even as they kill the substance and spirit of his radical message, I take his last efforts seriously...
...When Dr...
...First, unlike "color-blind" neoliberals and conservatives who cheaply invoke Dr...
...Young blacks are hungry for vision, analysis, and action...
...No one man is the leader of black America—and most of its best leaders are black women...
...Building on a long and diverse tradition of black nationalism—Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Queen Mother Moore, Malcolm X—Minister Farrakhan is white America's worst nightmare...
...After all, I am a radical democrat devoted to a downward redistribution of wealth and a Christian freedomfighter in the King legacy—which condemns any xenophobia, including patriarchy, homophobia, and anti-Semitism...
...The second reason I march: although Minister Farrakhan—with whom I have deep disagreements— initiated this demonstration, the demonstration is about matters much bigger than he is...
...King sought to use moral and political means to transform the capitalist structure of society while deepening its democratic one...
...in 1968...
...West was invited to respond to the critique, but no reply was received by our printer's deadline...
...98 • DISSENT...
...Our fragile civic and legal order, with its precious jury system that does not guarantee justice, must now contend with a level of white rage unprecedented inAmerican history...
...King, the integrationist, had no fear of a black united front and no hatred of black nationalists...
...radical democrats must go to them and be with them...
...The media distort and disparage the motivations of most blacks who will march—men who are deeply concerned about black suffering and are outraged at the nation's right-wing turn yet are neither Nation of Islam members nor Farrakhan followers...
...In short, Dr...
...We hope to continue this discussion at a later date and with a more general reference to racial politics in American life.—Ens...
...Coming after the 0. J. Simpson verdict, the march promises to be a pivotal moment in our nation's life...
...Whether right or wrong, I must fight...
...Copyright © 1995, The New York Times Company...
...We agree on highlighting black suffering...
Vol. 43 • January 1996 • No. 1
