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Afro-American Anger against Washington Mounts
(Pascal Riche, Liberation, 17 October 2005)
The controversial* Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, won his bet: to demonstrate that the spirit of the Million Man March, which brought close to a million Black people to Washington in 1995, is still alive and to refill his organization's coffers. Saturday, in a county fair atmosphere (hip-hop, prayers and beach umbrellas), tens of thousands of demonstrators came together for the day on the Mall, the immense esplanade at the heart of the American capital, to remind the nation of the daily problems of millions of Blacks, but also to flay the authorities over the fiasco that followed Hurricane Katrina. "I'm convinced that if the people who were on the roofs [in New Orleans] had had blond hair, blue eyes, and white skin, things would have been done faster. We accuse America of criminal negligence!" blasted Farrakhan in a speech over an hour and a quarter long. . . . For once, Farrakhan had succeeded in gaining the support of the big American Black organizations, such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded by Martin Luther King. The principal Black Christian leaders - Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton - took their turn at the podium, as did some hip-hop stars - Russell Simmons and Kanye West. . . . All the speakers called attention to the gap that still exists in the United States between Whites and Blacks (about 14% of the population). The poverty rate among Blacks has reached 25%, or double the national average. One out of five has no health insurance. Among black men aged 25 to 29, one out of eight is in prison. The unemployment rate among Blacks is 9.4%, or double that of Whites. Since 2000, average purchasing power of Afro-Americans is in decline. . . . Standing, they follow the speeches on one of the giant screens set up. Most of the speakers refrain from attacking the Bush administration directly, preferring to concentrate their blows against a "system" that, according to them, remains impregnated with racism. The opposition to Bush, in any case, goes without saying: according to a poll conducted by NBC and the Wall Street Journal after Katrina, only 2% of American Blacks still have a favorable opinion of their President, versus 12% some weeks before.

posted by LoZo 5:23 PM