Black youths hold unity marches in Atlanta and New York

Jet, Sept 28, 1998

The nation's Black youth came together in a display of unity in two recent marches in Harlem and Atlanta.

The purpose of both marches was to focus attention on the plight of Black youth and launch a movement to empower them. The marches were inspired by the historic Million Man March organized by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in 1995.

Among the leaders who participated in the Million Youth Movement March in Atlanta were Rev. Jesse Jackson, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and Rev. Joseph Lowery, past president of SCLC.

Rev. Jackson told the youths in Atlanta, "Young people, you've got to keep marching. But in your marching, I challenge you today to be nonviolent and to be dignified. Be too busy to hate."

Jackson noted, "You can never tell what type of embryo will germinate from an event like this. Will this become Liberation Day? One can only hope they are not too accustomed to oppression."

In Atlanta, there were discussions of how Black youth can end its economic isolation and create a 1990s movement to re-ignite the spirit and values of community empowerment broached at the historic Million Man March.

Mfume noted, "It's significant that this is a movement and that means a process has begun. But this is the first time I can recall our youth from around the country coming together over the serious issues, not games..."

Mfume told the young marchers, "This movement is not about me. It's not about anybody in my generation. It is about you. It is your time now, your time to make a difference."

In New York, the Million Youth March took place despite early efforts of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the city administration, who tried to deny organizers a permit. But a panel of federal appeals court judges ruled that the city must allow the event to take place. The court order curtailed the march to a four-hour time limit.

The New York rally turned violent after the organizer Khallid Abdul Muhammad spoke. As he wrapped up his speech shortly after the four-hour deadline set by the court order, police helicopters flew in low, and angry rally participants threw bottles and debris. Sixteen police officers and five civilians were injured, according to news reports.

Giuliani insisted the only reason police moved in was to enforce the court order setting limits on the rally. "The court said they had between 12 and 4. It means exactly that; it didn't mean 11:50 and 4:30. A court order is a sacred thing."

Black leaders argued that the New York march was peaceful until police prepared to storm the stage at the end of Muhammad's speech.

Mfume and other civil rights leaders said the New York City police overreacted in breaking up the New York march.

"It was regrettable that young people whose sole purpose was to lift themselves up were subjected to that treatment," said Mfume. "There was a clear overreaction on the part of the police department."

Rev. Sharpton, who attended both marches, was joined at a news conference by City Councilman Bill Perkins and State Senator David A. Paterson as they called for a federal investigation into whether the New York police had violated the civil rights of the youth marchers.

Sharpton said the Harlem incident would only reinforce many of the negative messages the young people have about the police. "Their reaction will only underscore what they have heard and how they already feel about police and the mayor there. It shows how insensitive they all are."