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(written circa 2005)

Ten yearz ago, a million plus Afrikan men met in DC for what seemed to beginnin’ of a long awaited change… Bruthaz were finally gonna get it right! I can recall coming off the train onto the monumental stretch of land that led up to the nationz capital. All I could see was bruthaz. “Dam, yo!” I said to my comradz, “This shit feelz great!”

As we walked toward the sea of Red, Black & Green flagz, we noticed a truck to the right of us. It was one of those trucks that opened at the side and sold food. I noticed 30 or so bruthaz standing at the side of the truck waiting for the merchants to slide open the side panel. I thought, it’s early, hedz is hungry, they just waitin’ for them to open. But as we got closer, I overheard some cats sayin’ “Not today… they ain’t gettin’ our money today!” and “why they gotta alwayz show up at OUR functionz?! They just tryin’ to get our money!”

No sooner that I heard last Sunz remark, the side door was lifted and who did I see? Some Asianz tryin’ to sell fried chicken and egg foo yung — in the morning, B! In unison, we all yelled out, “Hailllllll naw! You ain’t gettin’ no money today!!” Hedz was madd rowdy and started hittin’ the side of the truck. The Asianz quickly shut the side panel hopped into the front and sped off. I was surprise ‘po-po’ didn’t give ‘em a ticket!

As the tires screeched as they turned the corner, we began givin’ each other poundz, proof that although we didn’t know each other, we were focused and came here for a purpose… to be lead by Farrakhan to independence!

Fast forward a decade later… we are more off track than before! Not to put solely put the blame on Farrakhan (‘cause you know I have in the past), but when I heard last summer hedz were wonderin’ if there was gonna be a 10th Anniversary Million Man March, I thought to myself, “Why?!” I mean, hasn’t the ‘million-somethin-’ march idea been played out?! On top of that, after Farrakhanz last Million Family March of 2000 with the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, I thought, this million man -ish is way past commercial! Just a couple yearz prior we had the Million Woman’s Mall – I mean, March – where the women were distracted by the amount of vendorz who were there and instead of focused on shopping and listening to sudden-activist’s like Jada Pinkett-Smith?!!?

So when I was asked the question would I support the 10th Anniversary this October, I thought, HELL NO! I mean, what has it gotten us? I still don’t think Farrakhanz come clean of the whereabouts of all that loot they collected in ’95! Trust, I was there when he asked for us to raise a $1-bill over our hedz so that the usherz could pass donation collectorz boxes to help, as Farrakhan stated, “pay for the costs it took to have the march.” It was well over one million Afrikan men there PLUS hedz weren’t holdin’ dollar billz over their head, they were holdin’ $10s, 20s, I even saw a couple Benjaminz floatin’ bein’ held to the sky!

On my ride home after the march, I thought to myself, what did I get out of this march? What did Farrakhan actually leave us with? Actually, what he said was nothin’ we hadn’t heard before – excluding the heavy Masonic overtone and codes with illusionary promissory notes. “We got jacked!” I blurted to mi bredren. “And they got paid! They had to have collected over a million! Now what they gonna do with it, add more solid gold ceilingz in Farrakhanz mansion (from last I heard when he was asked about that, he allegedly replied that this was still Elijah Muhammadz house and not his – but Elijah BEEN dead, yo!)?!”

On top of that, I copped a tape of a lecture that happened the night before the march where several Afrikan-centered scholarz, authorz and speakerz like Drs. Yosef ben-Jochanan and Dr. John Henrik Clarke met and spoke about Farrakhanz deliberate refusal to use the march as a stage to address our issues on a global scale. The taped conference revealed Farrakhan snub to anti-slavery movements posed to address the continued enslavement of Afrikanz by the Sudanese government. Hearin’ this tape on the drive back from DC, I was vexed and felt betrayed. I then vowed to print whatever info I could find on him in my magazine.

Fast forward to April 2005, I’m informed by a comrade of mine that Farrakhanz speakin’ at this town meeting in the House of the Lord church in downtown Brooklyn off Fulton Ave. Havin’ no interest in hearin’ him, I realized it had almost been a decade to the day since I last took interest in what he had to say. I decided to go to the town meeting not because of him, but because to comradz were scheduled to speak: M1 of Dead Prez and Lumumba Bandele of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.

I walked into the church already disturbed by the Nation of Islamz security guardz (the Fruit of Islam or FOI) cocky demeanor. I think to myself, how can they act all authoritative-like to their own people as if we were criminalz?? I don’t see them bein’ that way to the real enemy! After bein’ frisked, like, too many tymz, I decided to just breathe and find a seat. I was in the balcony and recognized several hedz in the audience. I didn’t want to show my skepticizm so I made a point not to say anything negative ‘cause for one, there was security everywhere and I didn’t want to cause a ruckus.

The only thing I dreaded until Farrakhan spoke was the hour or so they used to beg for money. I’ve alwayz had trouble with millionaires askin’ everyday people for money. I mean, just how they different from the Reverend Cash’s and Deacon Dollar Bill??

By the time Farrakhan was to speak I had pretty much had enough and was thinkin’ ‘bout bein’ out, but somethin’ in me kept sayin’ to wait and at least hear what he has to say, after all, it’s been 10 yearz since I last lent an ear to his wordz…

For about an hour-and-a-half, he spoke about the usual thingz: brothaz need to get off drugz, respect their women, don’t be physically nor verbally abusive; for women to uplift themselves and not settle, y’kno, the usual bodda-boom, bodda-bing. But I was only interested in what he was gonna say about the Million Man March anniversary, I’ve had enough cheerleadin’ lectures about how we need to uplift ourselves ‘cause our time is comin’.

But then somethin’ happened. You gotta admit, Farrakhanz got charm and a lil’ bit of humility. I did a double-take when I heard him say he made a mistake with the first march and wasn’t gonna drop the ball again. Just hearin’ him say that was like him sayin’ the first march didn’t reach the potential it should have – a feeling I’ve felt ever since I left DC that Monday, October 16, 1995.

After all the other million-'somethin’-marches, Farrakhan seemed to taking a militant, pro-Black stance as he spoke of his planz for October. As the crowd got hyped, I clutched myself, tellin’ me not to get caught up in his wordz. But the energy was too strong. So I momentarily shelved my opinionz and allowed Farrkhan to paint a picture of what could be. The picture he envisioned echoed the likes of many Pan-Afrikan leaderz like Dr. Clarke and Dr. ben-Jochannan (who was there in attendance). More importantly, I agreed.

After he spoke, it dawned on me that although he’s probably the only person at this moment who could call such a march, he wasn’t the only way it could get done. Just when that thought was completed, it was complemented when Farrkhan announced his position as but a tool for this to happen and it not bein’ his march. Again, he’s an eloquent speaker, so I felt the sincerity, although my skepticizm was summoned.

As I stood there clapping at the end of his speech I thought about a piece I wrote yearz ago entitled, “Back When Revolutionareez Were Real”. I wasn’t sure about Farrakhan; I didn’t feel I could totally trust him, but his trust is not what’s really important at this point, what happenz from now ‘til October 15 this... Havin’ heard Farrakhanz response to what could’ve and should’ve happened in and since ’95 felt as though it was a plea for redemption. It seemed he now knew how powerful an impact it’d be if this platform is used to address these issues globally.

Every person deserves a chance to redeem themselves, so to be fair, Farrakhanz deserves that same chance. However, just as forgivin’ as we should be, should we also be unwavering if he deceives again? See, this compliments the updated piece I wrote on Revolutionareez bein’ real. It is time we put our leaderz on blast!! They should be treated like coaches in the NFL and NBA (personally, I think the current leaderz should be given a lifetime ban for no victories). To summarize the article, basically contracts should be given for an amount of time long enough for them to complete their mission.

We, the people, should be the one’s who create the agenda and pass on to our “leaderz”. Bein’ that most of “our” current leaderz have been self-appointed or strategically positioned by groups from other ethnicities and interest [ie, Jesse Jackson and his affiliation with the Boule’ – which is the breeding pool the One World Government or New World Order (the Rothschilds/Rhodes secret society) created and pullz candidates from].

So all of our current leaderz, Farrakhan, Jesse, Al, Kwame Mfume, etc, are given notice. I call for a committee of young (and elder) Afrikanz to create an agenda of our needz, submit them to these “leaderz” with a 6 month – 1 year deadline. If we see no results or significant progress, they will be fired. During this same time, this committee will be examining applicationz for replacements.

It’s been long over due, these “leaderz” have been leadin’ us where?! We haven’t had any victories in a madd long time! The current leaderz have been in position of this power well over 30 yearz and we ain’t had a winnin’ season yet!! It is time we hold them accountable. Instead of them bein’ the usual reactionary leader; comin’ in to speak and march after a catastrophe against Afrikanz, let’s put them at the forefront and be the active activist’s they’re s’posed to be!

We can start with Minister Farrakhan. For one, this Millionz More March should finally be the pod that will link all Afrikan people’s struggles, globally! Since the march is so close, it’s probably too late to dictate the agenda, so we should concentrate on the aftermath:

(1) Links must be made with other Afrikan countries in the fieldz of knowledge/information transfer; technology – get all countries web-access so that global e-commerce can be established; and trade and tariffs – distribution of all goodz and services nationally and internationally.

(2) Industrial enterprise joint ventures in the realm of electronics, automobiles, farming, travel – so we can become transcontinental citizenz of here and abroad, etc. Basically, as the late Dr. Clarke once said, “We could employ are people the world over if we just took care of ourselves.”

(3) Establish national and international educational schoolz and universities that have an aggressive student-exchange program allowin’ our people to reacquaint ourselves with the many cultures we hail from; and

(4) probably most important, in order to protect what we collectively create, we need to establish some kind of armed force to protect it all. We don’t want another Black Wallstreet happenin’.

These are merely a few suggestionz we could start workin’ on. I challenge you the reader to take, if not these suggestionz, suggestionz of your own, organize a crew of serious hedz, get the appropriate number of signatures and call town meetingz across the country and world demanding these “leaderz” review our agenda.

I know you might feel this is bigger than you, which may in turn, make you feel there’s no way it can be done through you. Many who feel this continue to do what we’ve been doin’… waiting. No, this ain’t some overnight-type -ish. It’s gonna take work, consistency, dedication and most importantly, your involvement! If we cease to do somethin’, how can we actually believe we can have a say on what happenz to us next?!

I intend to collab with cats on an agenda and submit to these leaderz and wait to see if they incorporate these ideas at length.

In addition to Farrakhan – who again, seemz to be the only Blackman who can call for such an occasion effectively – there are some questionz that should be answered after the Millionz More March. For one, he should voluntarily be forthcoming about the moneyz that will be tallied from the donationz from the march. An account of what those moneyz will be used for and lastly, he must give a full explanation of his position of Sudan and the continued enslavement of Afrikanz by the Khartoum government.

It is time we decide our leaderz are no more powerful than the people who anoint them. It is truly the ‘final call’; the summonz has our name on it, our future dependz on it! Get involved, make this happen!!

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