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Uniting for self-help in Oakland

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OAKLAND--Issac Taggart, chairman of Africans United for Self-Help (AUFS), was one of the more than 1.5 million Black men that participated in the Million Man March, October 16, 1995. It was that emotional day, he said, that left a profound mark on his life and gave him a greater sense of brotherhood, pride, unity and love for the Black man.

Although prior to the march, he had been active in the community, it was the march, he believes, that propelled him to new levels of activism. "The march has caused me to be more committed to my people and has made me more willing to sacrifice my time and effort to attend and make a stand at city council, school board and other meetings that will affect the community," he said.

AUFS has been instrumental in organizing responses to key issues facing the community, such as helping to stop participating in a stoppage of a multi-million dollar construction project at the Oakland Coliseum because the majority of the work went to people who lived outside of the community.

The organization has also fought for raising the standards in the public schools system by developing an African-centered curriculum as well as pushing for super-literacy programs to raise the reading levels of Black children. What would Mr. Taggart want Black men to remember from the March? "All of us as Black men should first agree to disagree respectfully and take unity very seriously. Keep your head up as the day is coming near when the first will be the last and the last will be the first, but it will take hard work and commitment," he said.
--Melanie Muhammad