It was beautiful to see so many of my people at one place, at one time, for one purpose - Liberation for the African, poor, and indigenous people of the earth.
These are my Thoughts:
The speakers seemed to have a focus on building on this event in a way where we would put together strategies to bring progress to people of African decent. I do think that there were some problems with the event.
For one, there really wasn't a true statement on what the focus of this movement is going to be. For example, we know that the issue of reparations is something we need to discuss and create a battle plan for attaining, but there was no one saying that reparations is a part of list of issues we need to address as a people. The speeches were great and they did mention our issues, but I don't think we got a direct list to work from.
I did appreciate Minister Louis Farrakhan discussing the various "Ministries" that the Black community need to address our issues (Ministry of Education, Agriculture, Defense, Spirituality, Health and Human Services etc.), and an independent political party. I think his speech was one of the most focused speeches.
On another note, I thought the ramblings of Erykah Badu left much to be desired. Erykah made some good points, she even knew how to speak slowly so her voice would not be garbled by her echo. But she then became repetitive and started to wander.
I also thought that having Jim Jones (?) of the Diplomats perform made no real sense. Not that his song wasn't good (even though it was cut short due to technical difficulties), he is not a guy who I would say represents an image in Hip Hop that should be represented at the MMM. Where was Kanye West? Where was Talib Qweli? Where was Mos Def?!!! On the other hand, Wyclef Jean was very good, and he got the crowd going with his carnival inspired tribute to New Orleans.
I also had some problems with the way certain people were rushed, while others were given all day to speak. Dorothy Height, bless her little heart and her trademark hat, was able to take her time. On the other hand, when the coalition of representatives from youth groups came to the stage, they had to beg for time to give their message. I see this as a problem. No movement can be successful without our young people.... No movement can work if young people are not at the forefront! Thus, it would make sense that young people are able to participate in discussing their plans and concerns without being rushed off because grown folk have to talk. Erykah Badu should have been rushed off (I really do love Erykah, but she could have been two minutes shorter).
Then there were problems with who did not get to speak. Apparently, someone representing the gay and lesbian community was not able to speak. It has also been said that Mumia Abu Jamal had recorded a taped message that was due to be played at the event. This is crazy. The gay and lesbian thing is predictable since Black folks have yet to truly deal with issues of homosexuality in our communities. We can't marginalize our gay and lesbian siblings; it is self-destructive. The Mumia thing is ridiculous! Mumia is one of our most important political prisoners. And though many speakers gave lip service to the freedom of our political prisoners, having a message from Mumia would have been so poignant and powerful for all those in the audience who have yet to hear this amazing man's voice. In addition, no one from the various reparations organizations spoke. This also makes no sense since that topic came up so many times during the day, why not have someone who has actually been on the forefront of fighting for this issue speak to the people.
Given all the criticisms that I have and that others that I read have, this was still a momentous occasion. I enjoyed my day so much and felt filled with so much pride that so many people from all over came out to celebrate each other and to hopefully build with each other.
It's funny, a lot of people have come away saying that they wished that we came up with a detailed strategy of how we are going to achieve all the things we need. I don't know why people are saying this... it is not possible to come up with a detailed plan in such an atmosphere. An event like this is not the place to come up with a detailed plan. Detailed plans need to happen where you get a whole bunch of like-minded people together, where we can brainstorm, suggest ideas, suggest changes, come up with critiques, actually organize and assign jobs for everybody to do individually and in groups in and around our communities.
October 15, 2005 was an event. The reason I'm glad they called it the Millions More MOVEMENT, is because we can't stop at October 15, 2005. We have to keep moving, keep coming up with ideas, plans, strategies, organizations, coalitions etc. to progress. Right now, if we're going to be too focused on the event, we have already failed. It's like a marriage - sometimes we get too focused on the event (the wedding) and we don't think about the process of staying in a marriage, staying a family, staying in love. A lot of people plan the dress and tuxedo they will wear, how many people they will invite, what will be the first song they'll dance to, what the flavor of the cake will be etc. However, people do not put as much energy in the marriage relationship itself.
Similarly, we need to think beyond the event of MMM on 10/15/05. It is done, but our movement is not. The movement needs to continue. We need to focus our energy and the energy we received on that day and put it into building this movement. So in the words of Wyclef Jean, "we buiding more than a march, we're building a movement, a million more movement." So, let's build!
