Justice or Else rally for Oct. march on D.C.

Keynote speaker Nation of Islam student minister Nuri Muhammad addressed the crowd.

Louis Farrakhan, minister of the Nation of Islam, will hold a march on Washington, D.C. this October 10 on the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March to demand justice for marginalized communities. The local organizing committee held

a rally outside Mosque 11 in Grove Hall on Saturday to promote the cause.

The 20th anniversary march goes under the name “Justice or Else” and calls for putting economic and political pressure on politicians should they fail to take action to redress grievances.

Justice or Else organizers decry police brutality and killings of unarmed blacks, disproportionate levels of minorities in jail, the treatment of Hispanic and Latino immigrants in America, an education system that does not sufficiently serve minority youth, injustices against Native Americans, and poverty and unemployment.

The march is a “blanket cry for justice across the board,” said the rally’s officiator, Brother Randy Muhammad. A specific political agenda is in progress, he said.

The rally’s speakers included representatives of the NOI, black churches, black radio, Mass Action Against Police Brutality, Black Lives Matter, the Black Economic Justice Institute, the NAACP and the hip-and hop community. Nuri Muhammad, NOI student minister, was the keynote speaker.

Everyone’s march

“Poor whites … this government doesn’t represent you either,” said Randy Muhammad.

Representatives emphasized that the march was not limited to black men, but all races and genders. Brother Walter, the event’s photographer, said even well-off whites who recognized flaws in the system should attend. Several speakers also extolled the strong role of women in holding together the black community.

Speakers called for unity across religious divides. Randy Muhammad said that police regarded black people based on race rather than other affiliations or attributes, and so blacks were all in the struggle together.

“When the cops pull you over they ain’t asking, ‘Are you Muslim?’” said Randy Muhammad, “So we gotta stop being divided by these labels.”

Mass imprisonment

Black men represent a disproportionally high segment of the prison population, while increasingly high percentages of black women are entering the criminal justice system.

“If you are not inspired and motivated to pursue change, it [mass incarceration] is going to destroy us, ultimately wiping us out. What’s happening in the United States of America’s penal system is inhumane,” said Reverend J. George M. Walters-Sleyon, one of the rally speakers.

Walters-Sleyon said these mass incarcerations break down and impoverish communities.

“Black families are in jeopardy right now. Mothers are being taken away from their homes. Fathers are being taken away from their homes,” said Lanise Frazier of Black Lives Matter. Frazier is a case manager for black and Latino youth involved with the criminal justice system.

“Today black incarceration is defining black lives,” she said.

Incarceration imposes a lasting quality of life burden as criminal records follow the released, said Walters-Sleyon. These records prevent them from opportunities such as securing loans for business or home ownership and thus from economic, political and social mobility, he said

“These people are a development of an economic underclass in America. … They are locked in a marginalized, impoverished condition.”

School-to-prison

The Justice or Else movement protests the “school-to-prison pipeline” — their term for practices in the public school system that put minority children on the path to incarceration. Across the nation, black students are suspended and expelled from public schools at a much higher rate compared to their peers.

“When they’re expelled frompublic schools where do they go? Into the criminal justice system,” said Walters-Sleyon.

An entire generation is at risk, he said.

Lost history

“They don’t like to tell us about our great leaders. They like to reduce them to slogans,” said Nuri Muhammad. “All we know about Malcolm X is ‘Any means necessary.’ All we know about Dr. King is, he had a dream.”

“Real black history isn’t taught in schools,” said Sister Nadine of the NOI, adding that history classes only represent blacks as slaves and only celebrate figures like Harriet Tubman.

She believes this failure to fully acknowledge how blacks have advanced society makes it easier to dismiss black people’s value.

“[We need to be] equal and just in the education system as well,” she said.

Police brutality

Recent and past police killings of blacks are a key inspiration for the march.

“We’re going to tell the government that we love our children the same way white folks love their children, and we will not allow any racist confederate crack-head police officer to control and harass and gun down an innocent black boy that hasn’t had time to reach his potential,” said Nuri Muhammad.

Economic action

Several speakers said that in order to effect change, blacks should take a more thoughtful consideration of who benefits from their purchasing patterns. Owning businesses and favoring black-held businesses would give greater resources and economic independence to the community, they said.

“In black Boston as of 2008, our purchasing power is $2 billion a year … we invest $2 billion into the city of Boston,” said Charles Clemons, co-founder of the radio station Touch 106.1FM. He urged blacks to redirect a greater portion of that spending into their own community.

“We are the only people on the planet that blame the white man for 95 percent of our problems, but still spend 97 percent of our money on them,” said Nuri Muhammad. He said that in Jewish communities a dollar will circulate 7 or 10 times before leaving the community, but that in Boston’s black community, it only circulates one-tenth of a time.

“From 10-10-15 on forward the call of economic distribution of black dollars should be ‘Shop with your brother before you shop with another,’ ” said Nuri Muhammad.

Justice or Else also seeks to use purchasing power as leverage to back up their demands. Should politicians fail to make reforms, the Justice or Else movement calls for black communities and other supporters to boycott shopping on Black Friday and on Christmas.

Preparations

Justice or Else is organizing bus travel to Washington, D.C. with tickets priced at $70.

The local organizing committee will hold a meeting at the Shelburne Center Thursday September 10th at 6:30pm, open to all.