lar this kind of talk has made Farrakhan among Jewish groups, as well as other, non-sectarian anti-discrimination groups. Farrakhan got the attention of the entire nation in 1995 when he called for a "million man march" on Washington. The invitation was extended to "all able bodied black men" to gather at Washington on October 16th. The purpose of this march was to "declare to the government of America and the world that we are ready to take our place as the head of our families and communities and shoulder the responsibility of being the maintainers of our women and children." (3) That statement was part of an article written by Farrakhan himself published in "The Final Call," a NOI newsletter. The call to march went out to all black men regardless of religious background, not just NOI members. In fact this march had little to do with religion, and was more of a rally for social change and empowerment of the black race. The Million Man March ended up being a great success, attracting somewhere from 80,000 to a million black men. (2) There were many polls and surveys taken at the march to determine what kind of men attended and for what reasons. Although Farrakhans description of the purpose of the march may have sounded somewhat vague, it is clear that participating in the march meant a lot of different things to different people. One large focus for many was "to make America know her sins," a favorite phrase of the late Elijah Muhammed. For some, that simply meant creating a presence that forced the country to acknowledge the anger and frustration of black people, and hopefully lead to greater tolerance and less racism. For others, it was a demand for reparations by the US government to somehow compensate for slavery, and the eternity of institutional racism that has followed. (2) Many people expressed pride in the fact that such a large number of blacks banding together could really knock some fear into white America. And the march d...
