Harlem Youth Rally Stirs Rift Between Organizers, Politicians

It is one of the most controversial rallies in recent New York City history, pitting Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani against the protest’s militant organizers--with many Harlem residents complaining they are caught in the middle.

Orchestrated by Khalid Abdul Muhammad, who holds such strong views that he was dismissed from the Nation of Islam for his controversial remarks about Jews and Pope John Paul II, the Million Youth March is scheduled to take place on Malcolm X Boulevard in the heart of Harlem.

From the outset, the Giuliani administration has viewed the demonstration, scheduled for Saturday, with suspicion.

And after negotiations for a city permit proved both fruitless and bitter, positions quickly hardened.

The mayor denounced the event as a “hate march,” prompting the group’s attorney, Malik Z. Shabazz, to call Giuliani “belligerent, hostile, antagonistic and prejudiced.”

Unhappily mired in the debate are some of Harlem’s most prominent leaders who are trying to ensure that the demonstration does not become violent.

“We feel caught in a political firestorm,” said state Sen. David A. Paterson. “. . . Everyone is talking about public safety.”

“It is a hot potato, a problem,” Paterson lamented. “It is hard to get a clear reading on the situation.”

Muhammad had pledged to hold the rally--now expected to draw about 170,000 people--with or without a permit.

*

Meanwhile, a rival and perhaps much bigger rally, also designed to attract African American youth, is scheduled for Atlanta at the same time. Its organizing coalition includes the NAACP, the Nation of Islam and the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH coalition.

The sponsors of the southern rally believe its broader base of organizational support will produce a much larger turnout than the New York event. But that is of little comfort to police and Harlem politicians who look warily at the rhetoric and relative inexperience of the New York organizers, who have urged members of youth gangs with a history of violence to attend.

Both rallies are an outgrowth of the highly successful 1995 Million Man March in Washington organized by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. It stressed to black men the importance of family and societal responsibility.

Organizers say the themes of the Harlem demonstration will go much further than Farrakhan’s Washington message and will include calls for the freeing of political prisoners and reparations for the descendants of slaves.

In a decision highly critical of the Giuliani administration’s attempts to deny organizers a permit, a federal judge last week ordered that the march be allowed to take place, ruling city efforts to block the event violated the 1st Amendment.

“The Supreme Court has made it clear the loss of 1st Amendment freedoms even for a short time is irreparable harm,” Federal District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan lectured lawyers for the city.

“This court does not condone lawless action,” Kaplan said. “This controversy takes place against a backdrop of overheated rhetoric . . . . Malcolm X Boulevard, like any other street, is a traditional 1st Amendment forum for the exercise of constitutional rights.”

*

Concluding an all-day hearing, the judge said city permit procedures in the case of the march were both “breathtaking in their lack of standards” and a “virtual prescription for unconstitutional decision-making.

”. . . The city overreacted on this one. I conclude the city’s action is unconstitutional as applied. The right of free speech is guaranteed to every citizen.”

Lawyers for the city said they would appeal, with a panel of judges set to hear their arguments Tuesday.

A major issue worrying some political leaders and city officials is the timing. Permits for an additional 108 events in Harlem have been issued for Saturday.

Appearing before Kaplan, police officials testified that it would be difficult to muster the 6,000 officers needed to handle the march--an argument that drew little sympathy from the judge.

“The city is equal to the task,” Kaplan said. “. . . the planning to do just that is well underway.”

The demonstration is not scheduled to end until 7 p.m., leaving little time for crowds to disperse before darkness.

“That could pose a problem after the sun goes down, and that is in addition to the bad faith and inflammatory rhetoric,” said Paterson. “These people don’t know how to run a rally.”

So far, the rally has received little publicity in Harlem. The size of the crowd also could be reduced because some rap artists promised by the promoters may not attend, according to Paterson, who said he surveyed record companies.

Although march leaders drastically scaled down the size of the expected crowd, in their arguments against the demonstration, officials repeatedly cited the original figure of 1 million people--prompting Kaplan to remark: “I frankly don’t think there is any credibility in any of these crowd estimates.”

*

But the march has drawn at least one significant supporter. The Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, a prominent minister with a large congregation in Harlem, gave his blessing to the event, but not to Muhammad.

It also has drawn a measure of neighborhood apprehension.

“It has certainly been most controversial,” said Melba Butler, executive director of the Harlem-Dowling West Side Center for Children and Family Services. “I am concerned about the manner in which the march has been organized, the absence of involvement of community leaders.

”. . . I pray intensely that as it moves forward, it will be safe for young people and community residents.”

*

Times special correspondent Lisa Meyer contributed to this story.