Marchers Step Forward for Family Unity

Five years ago, retired schoolteacher Lillie B. Johnson put on her grown son’s pinstripe suit and hat and disguised herself as a man so she could blend unnoticed into the crowds at the Million Man March.

She didn’t have to do that Monday. She came by bus from Shannon, Miss., this time dressed in her own clothes. “I came so I could witness this grand march, and this pulling together of families, which we need so badly,” she said.

Johnson was one of tens of thousands in a peaceful, celebratory crowd that stretched from below the Capitol steps to the Washington Monument, promoting the strength of the American family.

The gathering was called by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and took place on the fifth anniversary of the original men’s march. The rally seemed smaller than the Million Man March, also held on a Monday, but it is believed to be the largest gathering of African Americans since that march.

Farrakhan, who in the past has provoked controversy with his anti-white and anti-Semitic rhetoric, said Monday that the recent desecration of holy places in the Middle East was “madness.” During a wide-ranging speech lasting more than two hours, he also condemned abortion and described the family as “the basic unit of civilization.”

Members of the largely African American crowd, which included many children, set blankets and lawn chairs on the Mall on the balmy summer-like day and responded with cheers and applause as a steady stream of speakers extolled the importance of strong and unified families. The broad expanse of Constitution Avenue took on the sounds, sights and smells of a street carnival, closed to traffic, and with vendors hawking T-shirts, hats and food.

“I wanted my boys to see how important it is to be family men,” said David Fields, who drove his wife, three sons--11, 13, and 14--and a niece from Atlanta. “This is when they need to learn it. I want them to think back and remember how their own dad was.”

For many who attended the original event, the Million Family March was different--powerful in its own way, but different in tone and mood. “It’s not as emotional,” said Vincent Graves, a firefighter from Hartford, Conn., who returned this time with his wife, Freddie, a postal worker, and two of their three children.

Recalling the men’s march, Graves said: “In the black community, black men don’t bond--and, on that day, black men were bonding. They left their macho at home. It was amazing. This isn’t the same. These are families; people are watching their kids, tending to their needs, and people are doing family things. But that’s what this march is about.”

In that spirit, Graves and his wife said they would renew their wedding vows--their 21st anniversary is next Monday--during the march’s “sacred marriage blessing,” reminiscent of the mass weddings conducted by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, whose Unification Church was a major sponsor of the march.

Farrakhan, along with rabbis and ministers of other faiths, presided over the ceremony.

“I’d like to marry all those men and women who have been married--let’s do it again,” Farrakhan told the couples who participated. “When you leave here today, on your way back home think about family, act like a family. . . . There will be many trials, many tribulations, but you must never think to back out of the word you give to God and to each other.”

The National Park Service has refused to make crowd estimates since its estimates for the 1995 event were criticized. The Park Service estimated 400,000 were drawn to Washington for the Million Man March, while its organizers insisted that the number exceeded 1 million.

There had been speculation before the march that Farrakhan planned to endorse one of the presidential candidates. Instead, he chided them both.

“It’s almost like a choice between Beelzebub and the devil. You lose with either one,” he said. “But you know what? Even the devil will do good under the gun. I’m not talking about a physical gun. I’m talking about a gun of the people’s unity.”

Akilah McCoy, 14, a ninth-grader from Washington, took the day off from school to come--pointing out that it was an “excused absence”--and recalled how she watched the Million Man March on television with her mother.

“My father went and my uncles came down from New York, and everyone was so excited and energetic, and they came home smiling,” she said. “I wanted to come today because it’s historical--and it’s excused. It’s good to see so many young people out here. Everyone is friendly today. There’s no negative vibes at all, just a lot of love and happiness. It’s a comforting feeling.”