A Chance To Purge The Poison
Before there was talk of a Million Man March, it was not uncommon for me to catch the eye of some other black man on the street and have one of us quickly look away to avoid misinterpretation of the glance. What a wearisome way to live, knowing that you can be shot over a twitch in your face.</br></br>Then came the call, and, long before O.J. Simpson was acquitted, I began to see more and more black men smiling, a gleam in their eyes as they uttered pleasantries in tones reminiscent of the late 1960s.</br></br>"What's up, brotherman?" sure has a nicer ring than the ominous, for whom the bell tolls, "What you lookin' at?"</br></br>I am at once relieved and anxious, for I believe this transformation could not have occurred without Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam. I have seen other black leaders try to rally us to change while expressly excluding Farrakhan, and the record of their accomplishments is not so good.</br></br>In 1991, for example, the 21st Century Commission on African American Males convened an "invitation only" conference in Washington headed by Virginia's then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder (D). Farrakhan was not invited. The commission featured testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs from some of the most respected black scholars and politicians in America. They appealed to the "conscience of the nation" for help in reducing black unemployment, improving urban education and stopping inner city violence.