“Justice or Else”. A theme echoed up and down the National Mall in Washington, D.C. As thousands came together last weekend in a peaceful rally organized by the Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. The first rally was called on October 16th 1995, drawing a crowd of majority black men to Washington from all over the country. On that day in history, Louis Farrakhan spoke about the ills of white supremacy and urged black men to make an honest and solemn vow to stop killing each and to become better fathers, brothers, and husbands. Flash forward 20 years and many of the social and racial problems of that day are unfolding to the detriment of black men today.
As my peers and I made the trip from the University of Delaware to Washington D.C. early that Saturday morning, all I could envision was my position on the timeline of history and that being a part of such a movement of black bodies was a glorious moment for my people. In 1995, America was just three years removed from the violent beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police that led to the L.A. riots and now in 2015, America is only one year removed from the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson that led to the Ferguson riots. History repeating itself or history never repairing its wrongs.
Those wronged by history were black bodies bound in chains and forced into servitude that lasted for over 240 years and were never adequately compensated for their labor. In Ta-Nehisi Coates’ compelling article, ‘The Case for Reparations’ he addressed the systemic pitfall that blacks have fallen into stemming from the moment newly emancipated slaves were cheated of the promise to make liberation meaningful. This moment was further exacerbated when Major General Sherman’s Special Field Order declared each family would be given a plot of up to 40 acres of tillable ground and a loan for a mule. An empty promise still rearing its ugly head in the hopes of maintaining white supremacy.
African-Americans today are still in debt and in bondage by the hands of whites as seen in mass incarceration rates. Termed ‘slavery by a new name’, America’s problem with over incarceration has African-Americans now constituting nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population. The criminalization of black men has shaped the school-to-prison pipeline that now 1 in 3 black male babies are expected to go to jail by the time they hit adolescence, according to the Bureau of Justice. The detriment of black men is 31% of the black male population has lost their right to vote because of prior convictions. Black bodies have ultimately fallen victim to a criminal justice system that prioritizes finality over fairness. America has removed the chains but has upheld the ideals of white supremacy that states black people are not citizens and should be denied the rights of citizenship.
As I stood in the crowd, pondering whether or not times have changed and getting frustrated at the idea that we are still fighting against the same system of oppression, I realized that what’s new is our capacity for intersectionality in the movement. Not only were we rallying against police brutality and supporting the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement but we were also hearing the injustices done to the Native American community as well. What’s new is our generation’s technological advancements that give us the ability to capture police brutality and injustices against black bodies.
On this 20th anniversary of the Million Man March, African-Americans are constantly reminded that the demand for reparations is a call that must be answered. The American economy, since its inception, has been built on the backs of slave labor. The same Capitol building we gathered in front of was built by slaves, white presidents of the past owned slaves and traded them on the very grounds of the White House. Opponents of redress are perpetuating a deceitful amnesia that undermines the reality that slavery was not destroyed only born again in the form of discriminatory laws, unequal distribution of wealth, housing and educational disparities.
When we scream “Justice or Else”, we are demanding that America reckon with their moral debts. Without justice and compensation for those broken by the hands of racial supremacy, America is tearing at the very fabric of the tapestry that has made this country whole.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/16/145175694/legal-scholar-jim-crow-still-exists-in-america
http://madamenoire.com/592281/million-man-march/
http://www.noi.org/about-million-man-march/
http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24170
http://www.eji.org/massincarceration
Beat the Concrete 