ATLANTA—From Atlanta’s faith leaders to the city’s rappers, artists and radio show hosts, the principles and message of the historic Million Man March and Holy Day of Atonement still resonates 31 years later. This year’s anniversary and commemoration was held in Atlanta on Oct. 9-11.
On Oct. 16, 1995, nearly two million Black men gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., at the call of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan under the theme, “Atonement, Reconciliation and Responsibility.” Atlanta’s Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and other LOCs across Georgia helped bus thousands to the March.
Before the weekend of events, Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, National Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and member of the Nation of Islam’s Shura Executive Council, went on a two-day media and engagement blitz.
He spoke to the Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta, Inc., on several podcasts and radio shows and to the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. Throughout, his messages was the same point: The time demands Black people to repent and atone to Allah (God) or suffer the consequences of His Judgment now coming down upon America and the world.
Held at the Vicars Community Center on Oct. 8, the Concerned Black Clergy welcomed the Nation of Islam to Atlanta and invited Student Minister Ishmael for a conversation on unity, faith and community.
“This is not a meet and greet. This is a family get together,” Rev. Shanan Jones, president of the Concerned Black Clergy, said. “The Concerned Black Clergy and the Nation of Islam are joined at the hip, and for the 43 years the Concerned Black Clergy has been in existence, the Nation of Islam has been here.”
He called the Million Man March 31 years ago a “majestic day” that lives in his heart.
“During that call, the Minister (Farrakhan) beckoned us to atone —to atone to God and to atone to one another for the disunity, the killing, the mean-spiritedness that spread throughout our community and began to tear us apart,” he said.
Community leader and activist Rev. Timothy Mc Donald shared how Atlanta’s LOC for the Million Man March was one of the strongest in the country. The committee, comprised of several faith leaders, continued meeting years after the march.
“I have never had a spiritual experience, personally, more powerful than the Million Man March,” he said Le Von “Veto” Mc Kee remembers attending the March as a little boy with his father, Lester Mc Kee.
As Student Minister Ishmael spoke of that historic day and the principles it espoused to Black men on the “Vibin with Veto Podcast,” Veto’s father sat in the back of the studio, dabbing his face as he shed a few tears.
Reec Swiney watched the gathering on television at 12 years old. “I was in New Jersey with my father, and I was watching it, and he was like, ‘You’re about to witness something incredible,’” he shared with Student Minister Ishmael on his show, WAMJ Majic 107.5/97.5.
Derrick Boazman of WAOK radio recalled being at a conference learning how to better serve his community during the time of the March. Though he was not physically present, he still recognized the importance of the day and the principles that must continue to be taught in the Black community.
Below is a compilation of sentiments Student Minister Ishmael shared throughout the media and engagement blitz on Oct. 8.
The signs of the time
Student Minister Ishmael emphasized the importance of Black people knowing the signs of the time, sharing that “we’re at the 66th book of the Bible: apocalypse, revelation.”
“The nations are angry, and God’s wrath is come,” he said, quoting the book of Revelation 11:18. “Ukraine is angry. Russia is angry. The United States is angry. The UAE (United Arab Emirates) is angry. Iran is angry. China is angry. Japan is angry.
Dissatisfaction and anger all over our planet, but at the same time, God’s Wrath is come.” He pointed to the rain, the wind, the storms, the tornadoes and the earthquakes as examples of God’s Wrath, along with pestilence, famine, war and rumors of war.
He questioned the pastors, “What is our mission? What is our job now, pastors? What is it? It is to be—not talk, but be Jesus’ disciples.”
The 1995 call
Student Minister Ishmael shared how the Million Man March was the first time in history that Black people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., not to demand the government for jobs and justice but to answer a call from God.
Minister Farrakhan’s call 31 years ago was a call from God. “It was a call for atonement, reconciliation and responsibility. It was a call that resonated in our souls. Why did it reach the soul? It went past the ear, past the mind.
But right to the soul…. So only God can call the soul to itself, and God made that call through (the Honorable Minister) Louis Farrakhan,” he said. “We didn’t hear a man’s faith.
We heard his calling us. Calling us to do what? Repent. What was Jesus’ ministry? What was his call to the people? Repent. What was Jesus’ ministry rooted in?
Love. Unity.”
Student Minister Ishmael shared how labels went out the door. “We saw each other that day as God would have us see each other, as brothers,” he said.
“We share a common root, a common struggle, a common heritage and tradition. That’s why we have to find our way to each other again,” he added.
He further shared that if Jesus and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) were alive today, they would be walking side by side and that all of the prophets of God would be working together to do the Will of God.
A message to Black youth
Student Minister Ishmael was 10 years old when his father, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, departed in 1975. He shared intimate parts of his life growing up: dealing with expectations and judgments as the son of a great man but also, as a teenager, experimenting with things like drugs and alcohol.
“But at a certain point, I recommitted myself,” he said. Around 15, he made a prayer to Allah (God) that he was going to “go away for a minute” and that he might fall and lose his way, but if he does, he pleaded with Allah, “Please don’t forget me. Reach out and pull me out.”
Once he accepted the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad for himself, he called the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and dedicated himself to helping Minister Farrakhan rebuild the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s work.
Now, as Minister Farrakhan’s National Assistant, he is questioning why the story of the Million Man March hasn’t reached the younger generations of Black people.
“That important, most significant day in our history is not even presented to our young people. Why? Because they don’t want your generation and the generation that’s coming up to really learn and see what it will take for us to dwell together as brothers in unity,” he said on the “Vibin with Veto Podcast.”
He sent a direct message to Black youth on WAOK radio with Derrick Boazman. “To our beautiful young people: The answer has always been God, and what you have to do is establish a relationship with God. And wherever we have failed in our struggle is because we deviated from God,” he said.
“You have to make up your minds that you’re going to follow God, follow His solutions to the many problems, follow the agenda that He’s given to us, and as long as you commit yourself to God, you’re going to gain the victory. You’re going to be successful.”
The continued call to repent, atone and accept responsibility
Student Minister Ishmael talked about the importance of repentance, submission to Allah (God) and atonement. “When Jonah preached the message of repentance and atonement, the king of Nineveh heard. The king all the way down to the little man in the street put on sackcloth and ashes and stayed the hand of God. Nineveh had 40 days to repent, and the king heard,” he said.
He also renewed the call for Black people to take responsibility for themselves and their communities. “It’s our responsibility to teach our children. It’s our responsibility to make our communities a decent and safe place to live. It’s on our shoulders to rebuild the Black community, make it what it should be,” he said.
He urged Black people to harmonize with Allah (God) and with the universe.
“There is no higher vibe, no higher frequency than truth. And the Holy Qur’an tells us that Allah created the heavens and the earth and all in between with truth,” he said.
“God wants to harmonize us. He wants us to be in accord— in accord with nature, in accord with creation, in accord with the creatures and the insects and everything that’s in creation, for He made it for us to master. He put the sun, the moon and the stars and everything under the foot of the human being. But we’re out of alignment.
“Everything is a vibe. Everything is a beat. Everything is rhythm. We’re out of rhythm as a people. We ain’t vibing,” he added. “So, you have to strike the right chord, the right note, and in the right note, we start vibing, and that’s what (the Honorable Minister) Louis Farrakhan did 31 years ago.”
