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"The
need to save our people - it's so much bigger than the
personality or the baggage that has been heaped on Louis
Farrakhan or others," Farrakhan said. "Katrina
has focused this agenda."
At
the 1995 rally, Farrakhan was "a facilitator,"
said Ronald Walters, a political scientist at the University
of Maryland. Most people had "a range of other
reasons why they came, and I would venture to say that's
pretty much his role this time around."
The
daylong gathering is scheduled to begin at dawn with
a public memorial service for those who died in the
hurricane, followed by music, prayer, dancing and dozens
of speeches.
Event
spokeswoman Linda Boyd said the goal is to build on
the themes of 1995, which focused on urging black men
to take responsibility for improving their families
and communities, creating a movement that gets people
to act for change locally and nationally.
Many
who advocate for disadvantaged groups said the rally
at the National Mall comes at a pivotal time.
Images
of chaos and death as Katrina's flood waters engulfed
black neighborhoods shocked many Americans: poor New
Orleans residents, many black, begging for rescue; corpses
on the street; looting. Prominent opinion-makers from
the president on down suddenly talked about poverty
and racial inequality.
Dianne
Pinderhughes, a political scientist who focuses on race
issues at the University of Illinois, said that in recent
years the nation's generally conservative political
climate has sidelined many of those discussions.
"This
is very much an opportunity to change the tendency that
has been the case in the last 20 years to dismiss issues
of economic standing, equality, all of those things
that suddenly became very prominent in the wake of Katrina,"
Pinderhughes said.
Civil
rights leader Jesse Jackson agreed. "The poor and
the working poor have been locked out of the nation's
consciousness, even by the media and by many ministers,"
he said. "Katrina washed away the debris that was
covering the locked out and left behind."
Days
after the hurricane hit, Morial testified before Congress,
urging officials to set up a victims' compensation fund
similar to that created after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks. Bruce Gordon, president of the NAACP, toured
affected areas and his group has collected more than
$1.2 million to respond to Katrina and future natural
disasters.
Officials
with the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil
rights group, are battling the deportation of some undocumented
hurricane survivors and they - along with the Asian
American Justice Center - are pushing disaster relief
organizations to create permanent bilingual resources.
The
hurricane "is changing the way we're going to be
doing business for quite some time," said Lisa
Navarrete, a La Raza vice president. As of last week,
no one from La Raza had been invited to Farrakhan's
event, Navarrete said, but Millions More organizers
have said all ethnic and religious groups - as well
as women - are welcome, unlike at the 1995 event which
was for black men.
Still,
not everyone is supportive. For months, the Anti-Defamation
League has been urging black leaders to boycott, calling
Farrakhan and another organizer, Malik Zulu Shabazz,
"unrepentant racists and anti-Semites."
Despite
anti-gay statements made by Farrakhan, some black gay
and lesbian leaders have requested time to speak at
the event to no avail. Instead, gay advocates will stage
a "We Are Family United Weekend," a parallel
gathering near the Mall, said Ray Daniels of the National
Black Justice Coalition.
In
recent weeks, Farrakhan has raised eyebrows by speculating
that New Orleans' levees did not collapse beneath the
rising waters of Lake Pontchartrain, but that they were
bombed.
"Is
this a means of getting rid of the poor? The black?"
Farrakhan asked in a telephone interview with The Associated
Press. "Is this a means of ensuring that in the
elections there will never again be a black or Creole
mayor of that city?"
Russell
Simmons, chairman of the Hip Hop Action Summit, who
has helped pull in a long list of entertainers to participate,
said he doesn't know what happened to the levees.
"I
don't agree with every single thing anybody says,"
he said, "but what he (Farrakhan) says about poor
people and spiritual practice and being responsible
for your family ... that speaks to me."
On
the Net:
Millions
More Movement: www.millionsmoremovement.com
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