[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 172 (Thursday, November 2, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S16632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE MILLION MAN MARCH

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, the significance of the Million Man 
March in Washington will be debated a year from now, and perhaps then 
with greater understanding. But we should not wait a year to learn from 
it.
  From my perspective there was both good and bad to the assemblage. 
The good included:
  Hundreds of thousands--the latest estimate is 800,000--of African 
American men came to Washington to send a message to the Nation and to 
their black male counterparts. To the Nation the message of the 
gathering was simple: There is still too much racism and injustice. To 
other African American men: We must do better.
  To have close to a million men as part of a demonstration and not 
have a single incident that called for police action is a tribute to 
participants and to those staging the event.
  Those cleaning up the inevitable debris from such a huge gathering, I 
am told, found not a single beer can. These were men gathered for a 
mission, not a party.
  The size of the crowd, coupled with the decision in the recent O.J. 
Simpson trial and the Rodney King episode, has the Nation talking about 
race more candidly, though the barriers of prejudice or embarrassment 
or awkwardness make candid talk between whites and blacks less common 
than it should be.
  Inevitably, comparisons are made with the 1963 throng that Martin 
Luther King addressed. The 1963 gathering had these advantages over the 
recent gathering:
  It was inclusive. It was a call for the Nation to come together. Both 
the crowd and the message were impressive. And partly as a result of 
that gathering, great strides were made against the cruder forms of 
segregation and injustice. In a brief message, Dr. King called upon all 
of us--across the barriers of race and sex and religion and ethnic 
background--to do better.
  The anti-Jewish message that Minister Farrakhan has delivered--though 
not at this gathering--should be offensive to all thoughtful people.
  I am old enough to have been part of the civil rights efforts of the 
1950s and 1960s. The whites who were with us disproportionately in that 
struggle to secure opportunity for African Americans were not Lutheran, 
which I am, not Catholic, which my wife is, nor Methodist nor 
Presbyterian nor Baptist, but Jewish. The Jews have experienced 
centuries of discrimination, and rose in significant numbers in behalf 
of others discriminated against. It is ironic that people of little 
understanding but large ambition have mistakenly believed that you can 
build blacks up by tearing Jews down.
  My son is a professional photographer. He took pictures at this 
event, and when one of the marchers saw his credentials and read the 
name ``Martin Simon,'' he asked my son: ``You're Jewish, aren't you?'' 
And not in a tone of pleasant inquiry. We are not Jewish, but what if 
we were? Should that make any difference?
  In contrast to Martin Luther King, Minister Farrakhan delivered a 
lengthy speech with no coherence. He had an opportunity to ask the 
nation for two or three things of importance, but he muffled the 
opportunity. That he is a person of considerable ability, no one can 
question. Like all of us, he can grow in the future--away from some of 
his prejudices. He accurately sensed the dissatisfaction level among 
African American men. The 1963 gathering will be remembered for the 
huge crowd and the message. The 1995 gathering will be remembered for 
the huge crowd.
  One other concern: The anti-white and anti-Jewish inflammatory 
rhetoric of some of the pre-march rallies led by Minister Farrakhan's 
followers will do nothing for either blacks or whites. At one meeting, 
which David Jackson, a white reporter for the Chicago Tribune, 
attended--and was the only white at the gathering--a speaker said, ``We 
ought to just turn the lights out and boot your * * * out.'' A small 
group grabbed him and roughly threw him out of the meeting. That type 
of conduct does no one any good.
  Let me add, I am not anti-Muslim. I sponsored the first Muslim to 
lead the Senate in prayer. I recognize the discrimination that Muslims 
encounter, and like all forms of discrimination, it is wrong.
  What all of us must do: Talk candidly about the injustices that still 
exist in our society. And talk not just with ``our'' group.
  Recognize that U.S. poverty exceeds that of any other Western, 
industrialized nation. Poverty falls disproportionately on minorities 
and women. We act as if being poor was an act of God, rather than what 
it is, flawed policy.
  Support those who would bring us together as a Nation, and be wary of 
those who would further divide us.

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