by Eric Ture Muhammad

LOS ANGELES�Over 3,000 people jammed the Compton College Auditorium with hundreds more filling seats outside the venue watching via closed circuit as the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan shared the vision for a million families to converge on the National Mall in Washington on Oct. 16, 2000.

�Let me get right to the point, okay.  Brothers and Sisters on October 16, this year 2000, on the fifth anniversary of the Million Man March, the Day of Atonement, Reconciliation and Responsibility, we are calling those million or more Black men who came to Washington and made history to come back, bring your wives, your families, and let us begin a process of mobilizing our people, the Black, the brown, the red, the dissatisfied elements of the white and the other members of the American community, into a force that will bring about the change that will change the quality of our lives.  No longer can we depend on the party or the parties to give us what, in fact, they cannot as they are presently structured,� he said, calling for the Million Family March (MFM).

Commenting on the country�s dissatisfied mass, Min. Farrakhan said with only 49 percent of the total registered voting population actually did so in the last few presidential elections. This meant, he said, that the masses of the people are totally dissatisfied with their politicians and politics.

�In a country that is the greatest democracy on earth, and the right to vote, to chose your leaders, is the hallmark of a democratic society, yet people are not paying it that much attention, that means the country�s in trouble.  There�s mass dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction means that there must be a change,� he said.

Black people, Min. Farrakhan said, were chosen by God to be the cornerstone of change in America. �To produce a change in America will produce change in the world,� he said.

On the issues of family, the Minister said, quite frankly, that, �without family, we�re nothing. I don�t care what we achieve in life. If you don�t have family to share your achievements, your achievement is really empty,� he said.

He spoke of the new reality of America. �The founding fathers did not envision a multi-cultural society multiracial society,� he said. �Here we are. The two�the Black and the Brown�the largest minorities in America. Combined, we become a significant force, and that is why the wicked want to keep the Black and the Brown fighting and killing each other. Over what?� he asked.

�What are you fighting each other for? You both have nothing. But if we found a way to produce the unity of the Black, the Brown and the Red, with the Arab and the Asian and the poor white included � the stone that the builders rejected would then become the head stone of the corner,� he said.

Min. Farrakhan urged the men to embrace their God-given role as the maintainers of women and for women to recognize the consolation they should be for the men. �But in order for the man to find peace and quiet of mind in her, he must meet the needs in the woman that her nature demands,� he said.

In attendance were Compton Mayor Omar Bradley; Dr. Cherlyn Lee; Dr. Alia Karim; Councilwoman Maxine Shaw; Professor Amen Ra; Danny Bakewell of the Brotherhood Crusade; J.L. Guillory of the U.S. Office of Ombudsman; and Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson.

 �If you ever hear Rev. Dyson preach,� Min. Farrakhan said, �he�s an instructor. He knows how to take the word of God and teach people,� he said in great appreciation of Rev. Dyson.

Moving forward into discussing relationships, Min. Farrakhan explained God�s divine purpose for sex. �Sex is for procreation, but sex is also like recharging a battery that has run down,� he said. To many relationships, Min. Farrakhan said, confuse lust with love; and that is one of the reasons divorce rates are so high. He also spoke of the need to restore disciplining of the children in the household.

�A policeman can shoot you down and go before a group, an inquiry. They say your son�s dead and call it justifiable homicide. Some of you go before the judge, lumps everywhere. Police are justified and charge you with unlawful assembly, resisting arrests or felonious assault.� Min. Farrakhan said. �They can justify the whipping that they put on you, but I can�t justify beating my own child�s behind when that child won�t obey the rules that I set up in my house.�

The evening closed out with Min. Farrakhan warning Black leadership and its apologists that the people are tired. �Some of the leaders, you have sold out� to politicians, he said. What leader worth anything would sell out the ambition of his people for a few dollars? the Minister asked.