ATLANTA (FinalCall.com) – As race, class and poverty take centerstage in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, standing up for the vulnerable and displaced survivors who must not rebuild their lives and communities has emerged as the core mobilizing issue of the Millions More Movement.
After heading a delegation from the National Exexutive Committee for the Millions More Movement (MMM) on a whirlwind day tour Sept. 11 visiting Dallas, Houston, Baton Rouge and Jackson to assess the facts and listen to survivors, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan returned to the intensive schedule of his 23-city MMM tour, stopping in Atlanta Sept. 14.
Nearly 7,000 people packed the Civic Center for the evening rally, which not only the first city to offer the address live via webcast and two Internet radio , but it was also broadcasted later on over 30 radio stations–with the potential reach of over 10 million listeners and as far as St. Croix, Virgin Islands. On the night of the rally, 450 downloads of the webcast was registered online, and additional 2,500 as of presstime.
Capturing an extraordinary spirit and excitement for the day’s events unlike any city thus far during Minister Farrakhan’s tour, Southern Regional Minister Abdul Sharrieff Muhammad first gathered a powerful assembly of Christian pastors and revolutionaries to address an afternoon community meeting of leaders and activists, hosted by First Iconium Baptist Church, which included Rev. Dr. Barbara King of the Hillside Chapel and Truth Center; and Charles Steele, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Of significant note, Michael A. Battle, the head of the Interdenomination Theological Center, agreed to join the scholars of religion to plan the spiritual and moral development.
With much fervor and joy in the delivery of his lecture, Minister Farrakhan linked the value of understanding the revolutionary life of Jesus to struggle of humanity today, and specifically the Millions More Movement.
“Jesus is the key to the freedom of every human being who lives on this earth,” he explained. “We must understand Jesus the revolutionary because, if the Millions More Movement does not reflect Jesus the revolutionary, it will never be the effective tool for the redemption, reconciliation–of not only Black people, but all humanity–back to God.”
Expounding on his subject of Jesus later in the rally at the Civic Center, Minister Farrakhan cautioned that “the plague of death is over us and we are in the valley of the shadow of death,” because “our hearts are removed from the righteousness of Jesus.”
In a stirring and often personal address, he recounted the events that inspired him to call for the Million Man March in 1995–the cardinal event being the life-changing vision-like-experience in 1985 which has guided his work for the past 20 years–which he carefully and deliberately detailed for the record as never before. From warning Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi of the imminent assassination attempt by the U.S. government to his understanding that the government’s lust for murder included a planned war against Black youth, Minister Farrakhan offered a clear understanding of his motives for the Million Man March.
“I wanted to affect God’s mind towards us, that is why the theme was not ‘Give Us,’ for we were not atoning to the government,” he stressed, “we were atoning to God because we wanted God to show mercy to us.”
