Tens of thousands of black an brown faces gathered at Washington D.C.’s National Mall for the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March rally – the first men-only march was held on Oct. 16, 1995 and drew somewhere between 800,000 and 1.2 million people. This year’s theme, “Justice or Else,” was a vision of Minister Louis Farrakhan, 82, to bring attention to the over-militarization of the police. In a tweet on the morning of the rally, the Honorable Minister wrote: “Justice and equity cannot wait any longer. We will speak directly to government. #JusticeOrElse.”
During his address to the captive and diverse audience, the Nation of Islam leader decried the countless high-profile killings of unarmed men and women of color as well as called for justice for Native Americans, Latinos, women, the poor, the incarcerated and veterans.
When this writer tuned in from her home in Georgia, he said in part: “Moses was not an integrationist and neither are we. Let me be clear. America has no future for you or for me. She can’t make a future for herself, much less a future for us.”
He impressed upon Black spiritual leaders that it is up to them to “teach love for one another.”
Despite conservatives’ goal to denounce the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement and to virtually label them a hate group, Farrakhan praised the activists and even likened their efforts to that of the Civil Rights Movement. “These are not just young people who happened to wake up one morning. Ferguson ignited it all. So [to] all the brothers and sisters from Ferguson who laid in the streets, all the brothers and sisters from Ferguson who challenged the tanks, we are honored that you have come to represent our struggle and our demands.”
Surprisingly, Farrakhan spoke about women’s private health matters saying, his mother tried unsuccessfully to abort him three times. While he said women have control of their bodies he put the fear of God in us by adding, “but it would be so tragic if the next Sitting Bull was aborted,” or if Malcolm X, Martin Luther King or Jesus “was flushed away.”
Here, we’ve compiled 10 powerful images of participants at this year’s rally that was a family reunion of sorts. A peaceful protest, photographer Raymond Hagans captured attendees waving flags, carrying banners and singing hymns and chants as they weaved their way through the crowd and security.
