Dr. Maulana Karenga, Rev. Dr. Willie Wilson & Ron Moten on The Carl Nelson Show

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And Grand Rising family, and thanks for making as part
of your morning ritual. Today will sort of reminisce about
the Million Man Marshal took place thirty years ago today.
If you're black men in America, you probably remember where
you were thirty days, thirty years ago today. Quanzer creator,
doctor Milana Krenger was one of the first persons that
Minister Farkhon called me part of the committee to put

(00:20):
together this historic meeting. Doctor Krenger even wrote the manifesto
for the Million Man March. And you'll be here. But
before we hear from doctor krenga DC community activists, Ron
Molten will outline some of the events to commemorate the
march and also the unifest celebrations. But to get a
started moment, show and speak with DC activists and from
Union Temple Baptist Church, the Reverend doctor Willie Wilson. But

(00:42):
let's get Kevin to open the classroom doors versus Thursday Morning,
Grand Rising, Kevin, Grand.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Rising, indeed, Carl Nelson, my man, my man, how you feeling.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
I'm still learning, brother.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes, sir, and that's quite a good habit to acquire. Meanwhile,
there's also unlearning that needs to do that some of
us need to do as well. You know, you got
those habits and you need to unlearn some things in
order to create the new identity in your life.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Have you ever thought about it that way?

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Yeah, because sometimes you you you have a belief that
and you thought that was right, you know, and you
got it for years, and all of a sudden you
find new information that directly conflicts is what you thought.
And you have a choice. Either you're going to go
with the new stuff that that that's you know, this
is obviously that's right, or cling to the old stuff
that you believed in right and you know, you know,

(01:40):
that's a cognizant distance, that's what they call it. So
that's when you reach that juncture, you have to say, Okay, man,
I was wrong all these years, all these years, I
thought this was happening, or this person was this kind
of person, and I mean this person, that person is
nothing like what they're telling me is, you know, Or
this this thing that I thought was one way is
directly the opposite. So yeah, you have to make the

(02:01):
choice right, right exactly. It's all about the identity. It's
like I thought that I was supposed to do this
and find out I'm supposed to do that. I'm sure
Reverend Wilson can tell us about living life on purpose,
so I won't.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Step on his shoes there.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
But look, man, there's this No King's protest planned nationwide
October eighteenth. And you're saying that the No King's protests
are international, and so I looked that up. And the
international protests have been organized by groups such as Democrats

(02:40):
abroad and have occurred in cities across Europe like London
and London has a king, right, Paris, right, Rome, Tokyo
and Toronto. And the whole idea is that they pushed
back against perceived authoritarian and billionaire first politics.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
So so for those overseas, it's not directly against Donald Trump, Yeah,
because it's going to be in Canada as well, in
Mexico and Span so SPAN's got a king, So it's
not it's not directly. You know, there's something in the
opposition to Donald Trump. Is that what you're telling us?

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, that's right, it's it's it's sort of generated by,
you know, the Trump movement, But at the same time,
on an international level, it's about all kinds of authoritarianism
and billionaire first, you know. Now, I mean you can
count the number of billionaires on two hands.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
I guess that are in the world.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
But meanwhile, the international protests coincide with the US. So, uh,
the initial Note Kings protest back in June and the
military parade that President Trump had then it kind of
brought a brought the optics, if you will, for the

(04:06):
No Kings protests worldwide.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right and in DC. It's going to be on the
National laul. I understand that Mike Johnson, the House Speaker,
he was on the Fox and the what he asked
about it. He says, I've had it with these people.
Quote unquote, he says, I'm a very patient guy, but
I've had it with these people. Whatever that means, you know.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
So I think it goes on to say that most
people are that they hate America and their Antifa. He
goes on, you know, America hate us. He never references Trump,
you know, but he says, folks who partic participate on Saturday.
Whatever is it Saturday, Kevin oct eighteenth? Yeah, yeah, yeah,

(04:51):
they hate the country.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
So yeah, wow.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well, according to the No Kings website, demonstrations are planned
in all fifty states with major events happening in cities
like New Orleans, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, d C.
Right in front of the capital, according to the Hill newspaper,
and that almost sounds like lyrics from Living in America.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
By James Brunn.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
And the president thinks this rule is it's absolute, not
absolutely absolute. But in America, we don't have kings and
we won't back down against chaos, corruption and cruelty. And
that's a direct quote from the website. And the website
is titled no Kings, right.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
And all they're doing is reporting the news. They're not
making this up, they're not behind it, so you know,
they're just reporting the news, which is which is interesting
because the Pentagon, I don't know if you saw the story, Kevin,
the reporters who cover the Pentagon that you know, they've
got their little offices there and hexstaff told them they
cannot report any information from the Pentagon unless they get
it's okay, you got to check with me first before

(06:00):
you go on the air with it or write about it.
So what they did they all turn it, well in
all of them, but ninety nine percent of them turning
their badgers and pack this stuff and left because yeah,
because he wants to sanction everything. I think America. I
was aon or that the Conservatives small network. They're the
only ones who stood by who agreed to report whatever

(06:22):
the Pentagon hexcess himself has to check off before it's
being reported.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Man, so much for freedom of the press.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Huh oh yeah mean speech.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Meanwhile, going to the news one, Federal workers are also
being encouraged to take part in the no Kings movement,
and they are urged to participate. The American Federation of
Government Employees called all its members to take us stand,
don't fall for this, take us Dand you know, man,

(06:56):
I tell.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
You and I feel for some of those folks, Kevin,
because here you are, you not getting paid. Some of
it you have to work, you call it essential workers,
so you have to show up, but you're not getting paid.
But the rent is to the car notes, do you
got to get food?

Speaker 3 (07:12):
You know.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Exactly, And that direct deposit isn't showing up this morning.
So you know, they're probably a little peeved. And Congress
is getting paid. They're still getting paid. You know, they're
the ones who if they were and they were government workers,
they shouldn't get paid too. They should figure outay how
to you know, because they'd be more motivated to reach
a settlement if they have salaries, even though most of

(07:35):
many of them are millionaires, if their salaries were impacted.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, it is the government, even though they're the decision makers.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
You're right that they should be deciding to go on there.
I guess it's because.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Their own salary involved would seem kind of disingenuous.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah, but we pay them though. You know, this is
something that a lot of times goes beyond American people
to understand it. Right, we pay them. We pay them
to be handled the fiduciary part of America's money, our bank,
you know, that's our taxpayers money. You got one Stewart's
You got one job, right, You've got one job. Make

(08:16):
sure you can do that.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Make sure you keep the government open. Hey, look in
the good news area. Have you heard of the iron
Man World Championship.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
Have you ever heard of it?

Speaker 5 (08:25):
No?

Speaker 1 (08:25):
I have not philisent.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Well, the iron Man Championship is it's like a triathlon
event where you swim, you bike, and then you run.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
This year, an eighty year old grandmother becomes the oldest
woman to finish the iron Man World Championship, eighty years
old man and she won.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
Can you can you imagine that?

Speaker 2 (08:49):
We're talking about how time flies day by day and
how things change. But this lady, for the most of
her name is Natalie grabbau grab Bo, and she didn't
even know how to swim most of her life. At
fifty nine, she decided to learn to swim so she
could face an even bigger challenge. It was a big hurdle,

(09:10):
she said, I had to overcome in order to do
a triathlon. And she's now being haled as an inspiration
to us all. Not only did she learn to swim
and then compete in a triathlon, but the eighty year
old grandmother just became the oldest woman, like I said,
to finish the Ironman World Championship. And can you imagine

(09:31):
training for that? The announcer said, is absolutely incredible as
she crossed the finish line. One other thing about that
she lives in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. Plunged into the
ocean water of Koloa Bay on Saturday morning. She swam
two point four miles, then hopped on her bike to

(09:52):
cycle for one hundred and twelve miles on a highway
that twists and turns through the lava fields. And then
she ran twenty six point two mile road course, the
length of the marathon, where steep stretchers contribute to an
elevation gain of more than one thousand feet, and she
finished the unforgiving course well within the race's seventeen hour

(10:13):
cutoff time at sixteen point forty five and twenty six seconds,
on a day when more than sixty other athletes in
the field of more than sixteen hundred failed to finish.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Imagine that, Yeah, one an accomplishment.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Imagine And there's some people that don't want to walk
to the bus stop, you know, you know what I mean,
or run, you know, to catch a bus. So I
just wanted to share that like a little good news. No,
you know, you're never too old to live.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
You're just true.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Well, what's bringing that doctor? The reverend doctor Willy Wilson
of introduce him to the family camp.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
Yep, good morning, pastor Willie Wilson. How you feeling morning?

Speaker 6 (10:55):
Good morning, good, I'm feeling great. En route to Baltimore
this morning or prayer breakfast for the med man march.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Can you tell us about the well before we get
to that though, But you were part of the the
early people, I guess in the formation of the million
man march. Minister Farkind called you one of you and
I know doctor Krenger, some other folks, and you guys
were sort of the committee that created this. Can you
tell us when what you thought about when the minister

(11:25):
called you and says I want to convene a march
of a million mayre in Washington, d C. How did
you what did you say when he said that to you?

Speaker 6 (11:34):
Well, we got to explain that in the context of
the minicine my relationship. We have been brothers since nineteen
seventy seven when I first invited him to the Union Temple,
and he came every year all the way up into
the two thousands, and so I had conversations along the way,
and he had talked about different individuals that he had

(11:56):
talked who had met with regarding this and made the huh.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Plan, are you still there with us? Rap? I'm here, okay,
I think we were lost. You probably in a dead spot.
So so the relationship goes way back. And so when
he called you, you do you you were on board
right away?

Speaker 6 (12:24):
Correct, There's no doubt about it absolutely.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
Did.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Did he did he outline the reason for the march though?
Did did he say, uh? Uh, Reverend Wilson, this is
why I'm doing this, this is what this is what
I'm trying to achieve, or did you get the details?
So did you guys work that out later?

Speaker 6 (12:43):
Well, given all the killing that was going on, black
on black homicide, of course, as you might know, he
went on a year long tour across the nation, uh,
stopped the killing tour, and uh he felt the need
for a day of atonement. That's the undergirding spiritual base
for the Millionaire in March, that we would atone first

(13:06):
to God and then to each other and stop the
killing and developed the kind of moral and spiritual base
that would bring about a resurrection of our people in
our community, particularly our black men. So that was the
basis upon which he called. Of course, it had in
it a day of fasting in prayer, a day of

(13:29):
absence where we would not go to work on that
day but devote ourselves to atonement and reconciliation. So that
was the foundational the philosophy of the whole effort of
the Milliamaire March.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
Yeah, some of the detractors say that it was, you know,
just a fessional claphand festival and then nothing happened After
the march. Everybody went home and they were cool for
a few months, and then they went back to the
their old vices, if you will. How do you responding
when people say that.

Speaker 6 (14:02):
Well, a whole lot happened. One we had over two
million black men who had never voted before to register
to vote. That were businesses started. And you cannot measure
cause this is the greatest, most important, most miraculous, largest

(14:23):
gathering of black people in the history of America that
has been lost on so many And it's almost like
I was talking to Bob law out of New York,
who for many years did the Nightlife at New York
show on Black Network Radio. Talked to him a couple
of days ago, and I'm praying for.

Speaker 4 (14:42):
Him, and that's you to remember him.

Speaker 6 (14:44):
He had a major stroke. But he was saying, real,
you know, it's almost like the Million March did not
happen because people have not And of course a lot
of that has to do with the media and those
who were posed black people coming together. But by far,
this march was bigger, almost ten times bigger than the

(15:08):
March on Washington. It's bigger than a June thieenth, It's
bigger than pretty much anything that you can name. But
we have not done a great job of keeping it
alive and promoting it so that it really should be
a holiday for black people because of the magnanimity of
that whole event and what it was able to do
at a time of course, obviously, when over and over

(15:30):
again we have been faced with opposition in terms of
coming together as the people to realize the miracle of
black men from all different religious persuasions and walks of
life came together in the unity.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
Now and hold that thought right there, rav We've got
to step aside for a few months. I'll let you
pick it up on the other side, and please tell
us why nothing negative happened, No fights, nothing, no pickpocket
none of that. You know, just black people come together
and for one purpose. Don't you explain that for us?
Seventeen minutes after the top of their family good morning,
thank you for joining us. I guess there's the Reverend
doctor Willie Wilson from you and Temple Baptist Church in Washington,

(16:08):
d C. Talking about the Million Man March where were
you thirty years ago? We'll take the phone calls next
and Grand Rising family, thanks of waking up with us
on this Thursday morning, the thirtieth anniversary of the Million
Man March. I guess is the pastor emeritus of Union
Baptist Temple Church in Washington, DC, Reverend Doctor Willy Wilson,
who's part of the group that Minister Farca and commissioned

(16:28):
to put the march together. So we get in some
background information before we left. You will tell us about
what happened that morning at Dr Wilson, So tell us
how you know all these brothers were so well behaved.
How did that happen? You know, because people looking at
you can't have a couple of brothers together in a
room and no fights. Nobody stepped on somebody's toes, no,

(16:49):
you know, no, no drugs, no, nothing negative happened. Explain
that part for us.

Speaker 6 (16:54):
Well. Are two things one one year solid of going
across this nation. Honorable Minister Para Khan calling for a
day of unity and a day of peace, and that
will be no violence. You have to understand and appreciate
the influence and the power of the Honorable Minister Lewis
Farrakond number one. And secondly, I would say that, as

(17:18):
theologians call it, one of those chirotic points in history,
where you know that God Almighty helped us and led
us to make this a success in a day of
peace and harmony. There's no other way that you can
measure that other than to those two factors. The fact
that you brought that number of black men together, not

(17:41):
one negative incident throughout the entire day, from four in
the morning until the sun went down that evening, and
that in itself is an amazing, amazing feat.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
Were you surprised that it was so successful?

Speaker 6 (17:58):
No, I wasn't, you know, because I could see as
I saw crowds gathering. I know when we had a
rally here in Washington, d C. We had about fifteen
thousand black men to come to the DC Armory, and
you could feel the spirit, you could feel the electricity
as I went all over the country, as I went

(18:18):
up to Howard University's the School of Divinity, the professors,
the students, everybody was on fire anticipating this great day.
So I was already anxious and full of anxiety about
what was going to happen, because I saw it building
and building and building, And by the time it got

(18:39):
to that night, I got a call. I was in
the hotel room putting the final touches on the program,
and the brothers knocked on the door and said, reh,
it was almost three hundred four hundred thousand black men
out there already. That was four am in the morning
when we got the call that some five hundred and
some buses were on their way into the history. That

(19:01):
was two days before the event, So we knew at
that point it was going to be a large gathering,
although we didn't know it was going to be over
a million, almost two million black men, but we knew
it was going to be a great, great, great day
in a great crowd.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Well did you take into account, Reverend Wilson, at that
time that you were setting a historical precedent?

Speaker 3 (19:23):
Did you guys think about that this is going.

Speaker 6 (19:24):
To be not and I think it hasn't done on
people to the degree that it should. Even today, this
was history. I have to reemphasize the largest, the greatest,
the most important gathering of black people in the United
States of America any history.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
But while it was happening, you didn't see it as
a historical.

Speaker 6 (19:45):
No, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
This is going to be in the history book forever
and ever.

Speaker 6 (19:50):
And of course, even at this point, it's not particularly
among our own people. There are so many who have
not understood the value and the importance of that day
and the history making that it represented. That's one reason
that we're doing what we're doing here in the DMB,
trying to reignite that spirit, because that becomes the basis

(20:13):
for our people coming together. When you see all these
religious denominations, all these different organizations, the common Black man,
all of us coming together, it's just an amazing, amazing,
amazing thing to see and to witness, and so we're
excited about it what we're doing right now, and hopefully

(20:36):
it should be something that moves all over this nation,
so it becomes a holiday really needs black people, regardless
of whether the government recognizes or not. This is so
monumental that it should be a day when black people
just stop everything they're doing, try to reinvigorate and reignite

(20:56):
that spirit of the Million Man March. It's just that important.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Well, have you thought about writing the book about it yourself?
You know, the event behind the scene.

Speaker 6 (21:05):
I thought about it many times. But I haven't. I haven't.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
Haven't actually sat down and began beg.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
You haven't actually sat down to begin writing out the notes,
writing out your outline.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
No, get a ghost writer.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, please do that, doctor Wilson, because you know our
history is being erased. He didn't know that for a fact.
Family just joined us in twenty five minutes after the
top day. I guess at the revend. Doctor Willie Wilson
is the past dameritors from Union and Temple Baptist Church
in Washington, d C. He's one of the architects of
the Million Man March. We're going to hear from doctor
Krenga later. He's another one of the architects. These are

(21:48):
some of the first persons of the Minister of farc
called when he decided to put this on. So a
couple of questions. First, did he explain why he wanted
to do this, That's the first question. Second question, did
you get you had any pushback, any heat from the
sisters because this is the Million Man marsh Did the
sisters feel that they were left out? So I'll let
you address those two questions for us, Doc Okay.

Speaker 6 (22:12):
Number one, Obviously, from the very beginning, there were some
black women who took offense to the fact that was
only for black men. In fact, they wrote some pretty
bible articles in the national newspapers, the Washington Posts, et cetera,
voicing their dislike for the fact that women were not involved.

(22:34):
Of course, along the way, women did become involved to
a large degree in some of the greatest black women
in our history, as you know, participated in the million
man mark, doctor Dorothy Height, Betty Shabbaz Rose of Park,
Maya Andelou and others doctor Darty Height who participated on
that day. So yes, we did have that kind of

(22:56):
opposition in the beginning, but it was through some of
the black women who got with those women and convinced
them that this is something that needed to happen and
they should stop writing negative stories about women not being
able to participate in. Because of that, they kind of
quieted down and everything took off. And when those great

(23:18):
women who did it then came on board, of course
that was enough to quell any dissent from anyone about
women not being involved. But because they recognized at that
point the critical need for black men to come together
on that occasion.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
Well, Doc, did any of the women speak all of those.

Speaker 6 (23:39):
Women that I just mentioned, spoke Rose the Park, spoke
doctor Doarthur Height, and one of the most powerful things
that she said. Even as she received arguments from people
telling her not to support because National Council of Negro
Women owned their only black office building downtown Washington, DC

(24:00):
on Pensilvania Avenue, she decided to come. And when she
spoke at the million Man March, she looked out across
that crowd of almost two million black men and said,
I am here because of you. In other words, I
don't care what these people are saying, because what you're
trying to do and coming together as black man, I

(24:22):
am here because of you.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Wow, it's almost reallieving the event all over again. Reverend
twenty eight minutes after the top of that family just
waking up, I guess, is the pastor emeritus of Union
Temple Baptist Church in Washington, d C. One of the
city's oldest black churches and one of the most well
known church and the country as well. Union Temple Baptist Church.
He was one of the conveners of the Midi and

(24:45):
Man March that happened thirty years ago. Reverend Wilson Justice
has calling from Las Vegas said I think he has
a question or a comment for you, son, like two
grand rising justice here on REVERI.

Speaker 4 (24:56):
Wilson, Yes, hope.

Speaker 7 (24:58):
As a matter of fact, that was a lord has
been president of National Action Network. When I took our
group on over to the million Man March and then
to Union Temple as well, good morning, I greet you
with the greedy words of peace. But here's the thing
that I yes, I like to place emphasis on a

(25:19):
tone man and what that meant and the significance of
atone men black men atoning. That's the emphasis that I
speak on.

Speaker 8 (25:34):
What do you?

Speaker 6 (25:34):
What say you?

Speaker 7 (25:35):
Pastor WILLIAMS.

Speaker 6 (25:38):
Wilson. Wilson is the name two things one one the
word atonement at eighty one at one with God's first
mint is the process of becoming one with God first
and then becoming one with each other. That word was

(25:59):
quitted to the medium and munch in emphasizing the fact
that we must make amends too and ask for forgiveness
from Almighty God for our transgressions, for the black owned
black homicide, for not treating our women, our wives the
way we should our children, etc. And then submitting ourselves

(26:23):
to a power greater than ourselves, and the significance of
that is again all these different religions coming together, as
we have been doing here in Washington, d C. Over
the last month. We've had a morning prayer at seven
am every Monday morning starting in September, and we've had
these religionsing together. Then the events that we have on

(26:49):
the eighteenth, we have again all these religions and all
these organizations coming together. The question has been asked, for example,
should we have another Media Man March, And my unequivocal
answer is, know what we do need is the spirit
of the Media Man March. You can't if you could

(27:10):
put that bottle mat and reignite it and set it
on fire in the year twenty twenty five, there are
great things that we could do for our sell.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
Twenty nine away from the top of our family. Just
checking in Reverend Willie Wilson from Union Temple Baptist Church
in Washington, D C. So, I guess he's one of
the architects of the Million Man March thirty years ago.
He was out there at this time in the morning.
He says, thousands of brothers were already out there on
the ball, but Pastor wilson't go going back to your
conversation with Minister fire Khn. Did he say how the idea?

(27:44):
How did he get the idea? Was it a dream?
Or who spoke to him? What made you know? Because
I'm almost interested in how folks were producers, even if
he's music or writing a book or something. Where did
you coach out from this start having a million black
men come to Washington, DC? Did he ever share that
with you?

Speaker 6 (28:03):
Well, one thing was I think it kind of came
together in pieces, you know, he said. James Bebell, who
was one of the lieutenants for Martin Luther King Jr.
Said to him, we need to have a tonement. We
need to have a tonement among our men, among our people.

(28:23):
Then there was another who came and said, we need
to have a day of absence. He said that subconsciously,
sometimes when different thoughts are given to you by other people,
it comes out of your mouth. And he said, then
one day it just came out of his mouth. We
need to have a million in March. But it was

(28:44):
the result of having heard Reverend James Bebell say to him,
we need a day of atonement. And then another brother said,
we need to have a day of absence. Of course,
as you know, those were two of the aspects of
the million man March.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Were you surprised if brothers from all over the country
they flew, They took trains, it took busses. And one
of the critiques Reverend Wilson was the fact that, well,
the white folks are making money because we don't own busses,
we don't own planes, or the hotels in Washington Sea
predominant all white armed. What we're doing is kicking back
this cash to the white community. How do you respond

(29:24):
to that?

Speaker 6 (29:25):
Well, important, no matter is we had to get here,
and unfortunately we don't have the kind of vehicles and
buses that we need to have as a people to
make it happen. But far more important than that was
the fact that we did come together, and we came
together without any negative incidents or any negative thing to

(29:46):
happen during that day. I've got to emphasize again that
this is the most important gathering of black people in
the United States of America. It is the largest gas
in history, and that point cannot be emphasized enough. And
it must not die, it must come alive because it

(30:09):
can be the jumping off point for us coming together
as eight people. I was just listening this morning. I
found out my wife came across this. A group of
seventy of the top black entertainers in America came together
under the leadership of Di Angelo, and we call his

(30:30):
name today because of course many of you know he
made his transition this week. He wrote and produced this song.
You will know. Eight seventy black artists came together, Divarge,
Tevin Campbell, so many other recorded this song about what
that Mellian Man marched. Right after the Million Man March.

(30:53):
They recorded that song. Many don't even know that, but
that's some of the influence that came out of the
Million Man Watch. All of these artists got together, had
made this song and put it out. Babyface was among
them as well, to talk about the low level of.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
Hoops. I hope we haven't lost to Reverend Wilson. There,
he's on his way to Baltimore, by the way, he's
using his cell phone, so there with us family, because
there's a lot of stuff going up in Baltimore. He's
going to tell us about that too. Also, we're going
to talk about Unifest, the celebration of Unifest as well,
because this is a historic day. Those of you will
remember the meal in Man March. You were here thirty
years ago, and I'm sure many of you were. Remember

(31:36):
where you were some of you attended. If you did attend,
let us know and then tell us why you did
decide to attend the million man marching and if it
actually changed you because some people said they went and
there would change the critique as they changed for a
few weeks or a few months, and then they went
back into the old habits. And the question is what
could you think today's environment and you know what I'm

(31:56):
talking about, today's social and political environment, could amim march
and take place? Could we convene two million brothers on
the mall in Washington, d C? Without any fights? Without it?
And you know now we know about you know, all
all the sellers that we have in our community. Could
would they try to sabotage it? What were your thoughts?
Eight hundred four or five zero seventy eight seventy six.

(32:20):
I'm looking at the clock. We got to check the
news and trafficing with in our different cities, and we'll
take a break and we come back over we get
Reverend Wilson back with us again. But if you want
to join in and tell us where you were thirty
years ago. Did you participate or did you watch it?
Did you listen to it? Reach out to us at
eight hundred four or five zero seventy eight seventy six,
and we'll take a phone calls after the news that's

(32:40):
next and Grand Rising family, thanks for waking up with
us on this Thursday morning. At seventeen minutes away from
the top of the hour, I guess the past day
emeriagis of Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington, d C.
There'll be the Reverend doctor Willie Wilson discussing the Million
Man March thirty years ago. Hundreds of thousands of brothers
who are on the mall already in anticipation for the
Million Man March. One of the architecture was Reverend Wilson.

(33:02):
So it's given us some behind the scenes incidents that
took place putting this together. Along with Dr Malaana Karrenga,
he's gonna be here as well later this morning. Doctor
Karenga actually wrote the manifesto for the Men and Man March.
We're gonna hear his thoughts as well. In between that though,
we're gonna hear from DC activists that Ron Moulton. Ron's
gonna give us some information about unifest that just take

(33:23):
place in Anacostia. And also Reverend Wilson is gonna be
all over the place today. I know he's on his
way to Baltimore. His bulb be back in the district.
So Rev, can you tell us what's gonna happen today
in Baltimore? Are you the only way to Baltimore?

Speaker 6 (33:37):
Well, there's a prayer breakfast. Of course. The LLC in
Baltimore is on a tremendous job, I may maintaining stay
in intact for twenty nine years. Ever since to me
in man March, they have not disbanded. They've continued to
have a sunrise prayer service and then a breakfast. So
I'm going over to the breakfast this morning. Revend ben

(33:59):
Jabers will be there and others will be there. I
just want to go and encourage them and share a
few remarks and then run back to DZ for a
press conference at eleven thirty about our events that are
going on this weekend in Washington, DC.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Can you share those events for us?

Speaker 6 (34:16):
Reverid Wilson Well tonight, just what we've been doing the
last few moments. We have a group of persons who
are going to share some of the behind the scenes
stories of what happened Coral Matthis Barrett, the wife of
the Mayor for Life, Marrion Barrett, who rolled out the
red copy. Without WM we could not have done the

(34:38):
Mellia that much. She will be sharing some of the
pressures that he had to undergo as the mayor of
the city making it possible for it to happen. We're
going to have the founder we Act Radio who started
his radio station after hearing the minutes to make the
call to go back home and do something. We have

(34:58):
a young lady on that path. I was going to
share how stories about her family who would plan their
family reunion in Washington, d C. So that they could
be in Washington when we have unifest where we brought
all the city together and even vendors from all over
the country came to Southeast DC for that. So that

(35:20):
panel will take place. We also have the current President
and CEO of the National Council of Negro Women. She
will be speaking tonight at Union Temple because doctor Hite,
the founder and the longtime president of the National Council
of Negro Women, played a pivotal role in the Media
Man March in advising me because she had participated in

(35:45):
every march from the Sleeping car Porters all the way
up to the Million Man March. And so we're honoring
her tonight. We're going to be honoring all of the women,
some of whom have made their transition, but we're going
to honor them on October eighteenth, on the big gathering
on Saturday in Anacostia. And I thought to do it

(36:05):
right in the heart of the community, not down on
the National Mall, but right in our community, right in
the community where Union Temple is. The police have caught
an off a four block area. It's going to be
a great coming together. We're looking for a great crowd
on the eighteenth. Go to tonight, I'm sorry, Tonight at

(36:28):
Union Temple at seven o'clock we'll be gathering for stories
about the background situations that occurred that people don't know about.
And then on Saturday, the big day, from nine am
until the sun goes down, we've got go go music.
We've got gospel music. We gotta have some of our
culture in it. But we have every segment of the community,

(36:51):
the Masons, SCLC, community organizations, religious organizations, everybody coming to
govern of beneficials. That may is going to be the
city council versus are going to be. There is going
to be a great day similar to the same kind
of format that we had in nineteen ninety five, but
a collective coming together so that we can be first

(37:13):
of all, as malelonaca Ringe says, we must be responsible
to ourselves first and then to each other.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Oh wow, I'm glad you shared that with us. Some
folks are getting up and hopefully Ron Moten is going
to be up next to I'm sure he's got some
information about especially about Unifest for the folks who are
not in the district, who did not live in the district,
does not do not know much about Unifest. He's going
to fill us in on that. But let me ask
you this though, twelve away from the top of our
Reverend Wilson, the spirit of the Mill of Man March,

(37:43):
that's what we're trying to recapture. Now we're in there's
time and space where they're trying to erase our history.
Can we how can we keep the spirit going. How
can we make sure the people, the youngsters who weren't
around thirty years ago, understand what the Millia man launched, did,
what he'd achieved, and how it came to How do
we keep that going?

Speaker 6 (38:02):
Well, just like we're doing right now. You're talking about
it having events around it. That's why we're doing what
we're doing this week and this month. All month long,
we've been having different activities to in fact, let those
two generations who were not around, were some who were
not even born to know about this historic day. As

(38:23):
I said before, and I can't emphasize enough the largest
and the most important gathering of black people in the
history of the United States of.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
America ten away from the top of hea Ver Wilson,
did you get any pushback from your Christian brothers because
you're working with you're working with the Muslims, and some
of them feel that that's not a real revision. I've
had experiences with some Christian pastors tell me that when
we put on an event with the faith people and
they said they're not going to participate because the members
of the nation was involved. I'm just thinking of brother

(38:59):
from His name is Scott Scott, but who was part
of it. You see his face right now, but they
wouldn't participate. Did you get any pushback say that you
you know, because you and the minister been friends, so
you understand universal language of love and faithfuness. But some
folks feeling, you know that being Islam is below Christianity

(39:20):
for example. Did you get any pushback for any of you,
your Christian brothers and sisters about working with the nation.

Speaker 6 (39:26):
That's on both sides. That had been the case. But
I think when the greatest examples of the media, Man March,
and of the long standing relationship between the ministers and
myself is that we have stood together for forty eight years.
I think that's one of the greatest and most positive

(39:46):
examples that came out of our relationship and out of
our working together on the media. Man much we showed
that we could rise above religious differences. We've demonstrated it,
and of course that played a role, and I've been
able to bring all of these religious denominations together, which

(40:08):
we did in nineteen ninety five. We had every pretty
much every Christian denomination in America was represented and participated
in the media, Man Marsh. Some of them had apprehension
at first, but a lot of it had to do
with my relationship with them. Doctor Hyde taught me this,

(40:28):
She said, revenue a lot of this. When you're building
a coalition, it has to depend on relationships. And so
what did I do. I went to many of these
Christian religious leaders and who had apprehension, I said, well,
do it for me, Come because I'm asking you to come,
and they did when they got to hear the minister

(40:48):
and the powerful message that he brings, the truth that
he brings, that kind of brought down a lot of
the concerns that they have. And might I say, in
all the years that Administer Phara Khon came the Union
Temple every year when he first started those beginning years,

(41:08):
you couldn't count the cameraman thirty forty fifty camera men
in the back of the church. But when they saw
how they were helping to spread the truth about who
Minister Phara Khan was, in the latter years, you could
count the cameras on your hand in the back of
Union Temple because they realized, Wow, we're helping people to

(41:30):
really understand this great man and the truth that he speaks.
So we're not going to cover him anymore. But that
enough of his message got out so that most of
our Christian leaders by now understand what a great leader
he is and was, and therefore they don't have those
kind of concerns that some of them had in nineteen

(41:53):
ninety five.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Yeah, one of the things they probably found out that
the ministers, you know, is well schooled in the Bible,
go toe to toe with any Christian minister when it
comes to dissecting the Bible, quoting Biblical verses. I know
his very adept at that because I've known him since
nineteen seventy four when he was doing radio first in
New York, and he knew it back then. I know

(42:16):
he knows it now. I've hurt him quote scripture and people.
Some people are surprised that he knows the Bible that well,
but you weren't.

Speaker 4 (42:23):
Or you aren't right.

Speaker 6 (42:25):
Absolutely, yea, he knows the Scripture and more than than
his power and the truth that he speaks. You know,
even those people who were in the closet in terms
of recognizing him and standing with him, they knew and
know that he speaks truth.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
He certainly does. Family. Just waking up at seven minutes
away from the top of the eist with our guest,
the Reverend Willie Wilson from Union Temple Baptist Church. He's
a pastor their marriage at that church as a church,
and he basically built in Washington, dcate. It's a landmark
in the district and that's where a lot of the
organizations for the Million Man March took place thirty years ago.
A lot of the groundwork footwork took place at the church,

(43:07):
and they're going to do it again thirty years from now.
So but Reverend Wilson, how do we keep this How
do we keep this vibe alive? We're in a situation
now where they're taking out all the information about our
history out of the schools, out of the universities, out
of all the libraries, and you know, all the places

(43:28):
where we would go for our history, they've been erased.
And this country right now seems hell bents on doing
that is if we you know, they're trying to erase
our presence. But this is important, this is part of
our history. So how do we keep this going? So
the people the next generation comes up, we'll hear what
we did. They know about the March on Washington, but
they also need to know about the Media Man March.

Speaker 6 (43:48):
Well, this is why we're doing what we're doing. And
of course we can't depend on the history of books
and that have been written by our pressa all the
government to teach our history. They never have and they
never will. That's why that's a good thing and a
lot of respects that they're trying to erase because we

(44:09):
are responsible. But teaching our own history, that's one of
the things that we're working on with this effort. I
don't want to share everything that we are doing in
that regard, but we have determined that we must teach
our own history and we will be doing that in
various kinds of ways, and that's the whole effort. Let

(44:30):
me just say also that Union Temples started Unit fast.
We incorporated it as a program that would build the
same thing as the Media Man months, and that's why
we are putting those two events together, two iconic legacies,
both of which talk about faith, talk about atonement, talk

(44:51):
about collective responsibility, talk about coming together to do for ourselves.
It's time for us to turn inward to ourselves. I
know that there's this big no walking thing going on
that's wonderful downtown, but it's time for us to turn inward.
We're gonna be in Anacostia, We're gonna be in Southeast
d C. Trying to reignite the spirit of the media

(45:14):
man march and unit fast and come together as a people,
because the one thing we do not alp is unity.
And when we have unity, there is absolutely nothing that
we cannot do. That's what the mea man Mont showed us.
It showed us that we can come together, and we
want to build on that. And because that's once we

(45:37):
have that unity, all of the things that we need
to do, economic empowerment, teaching, our history, you name it,
we can do it if we unify.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
So true, Rav, We're gonna let you go because I
know you're busy this morning. You've got to that prayer
breakfast in Baltimore on your way there, and then you
got to rush rush back to the district for the
press conference. So I just want to thank you for
sharing your thoughts with us this morning.

Speaker 6 (46:01):
Absolutely pray for it because we backed up in this
traffic so we can get there in time.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Thanks all right, thank you. Speaking about traffic, we've got
to step aside and get caught up and keep listening
to Rave. You get the traffic report that's next four
minutes away from the top. They our family. We're going
to continue talking about Unifest and also the million man
March that happened thirty years ago, but as I mentioned,
we got to step aside and get caught up in
the traffic and weather that's coming next. And then we'll
take your phone calls at eight hundred four five zero

(46:26):
seventy eight seven six. All that's next and ground rising family.
Thanks starting your day with us. Thirty years ago we
had the million man March and thirty years ago two
million brothers you know. Send it on Washington, DC to
make it a toment. We want to hear from you
though this hour. What are your thoughts? Where were you?
Do you remember where you were? Let me being Kevin first,

(46:47):
asking where Kevin, where do you remember where you were
thirty years ago?

Speaker 2 (46:51):
I'm sitting behind this microphone likewise, yes.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
You know, somebody's got to do it. We were, you know, kind.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Of watching and giving updates of what was going on
at the time.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
You know, and we were in l A and we
carried it. We carried it live. We we do the
morning show, the program we did in the morning. We
just decided we're going to just run the middle of
Man Marsh and had the list of the speakers and
then we were gonna, you know, start start, They're going
to start the morning show at I think it was
seven o'clock. They're going to start the morning show. Then
the boss calls and says no. Because I was handing

(47:28):
over to the morning for folks. They are ready, they're decide,
they study are ready to get going. He said, no,
keep it going, keep it going.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
You know.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
We just kept that going and every now and then
they're popping and said, so how long is this going
to go? How long you going to do this? Until
the boss says no, he said, and periodic call and
say keep it going. You still got it? You go,
and we carried it. Kevin, you understand this because you're
ready on the folks are listening, probably understanding. There was
no commercials nothing. We had to make up all these
commercials and we started four o'clock in the morning, carrying

(47:57):
it live to four o'clock that afternoon. It was just
walled to wall the million Man March. He thought it
was that important for our people to hear the Million
Band March because you know, I don't know if they
it was carried on TV or c Span carried it,
and I don't know if that happened back then, but
nowhere else in southern California, because you hear what was

(48:17):
going on in Washington, d C. And we were carnting,
you know, wall to wall coverage, and my job was
just basically identify who's coming up in case there's a
lull in the when they changed you over speakers and
had to figure out if they because sometimes they didn't
go buy the script. You know somebody, Oh that's the Gregory.
You hear the voice, you know that person, Oh that's
so and so. Yeah, So that's how it read for us.

(48:39):
But I don't know how you guys did in DC.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
Well, some of the people who were speaking came by
the station. I do remember Montsamela FuMO, Mark Thompson came by,
you know, because he spoke there and then came to
the station and talked about it, and a few others,
But I don't remember all of the names of every
everyone who stopped by conveniently to tell us what was

(49:02):
going on from a personal point of view, and it
was really cool. I wanted to ask Minister Wilson, wasn't
the million man monster? Asking YouTube, perhaps wasn't the million
Man March? A cummulation of other group groupings that he
had had none as large as a million men, but

(49:23):
he had Minister Farrakhan had gotten groups of men together
before and just realized, perhaps we should do this with
a million men.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
Didn't he have, you know, other large groupings before?

Speaker 1 (49:37):
You know, I can't recall you know, I be honest
you I can't recall maybe people listening around the country,
because I know he did go on to you know,
he went around the country. But maybe that's a question
for uh, doctor Kranka when he comes in, because he
was part of that that meeting. They I know it
because we've had this conversation with doctor Karrenga and Minister Focoon.
They would have meetings on the phone that you know,

(49:59):
and then deciding how they were going to do it,
and it was just like, Okay, yeah, a million men
are going to come together, and there's a question whether
they could attract a million brothers on the mall. But
I think Kevin, what stood out to me was that
there were no problems.

Speaker 6 (50:14):
Yo.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
Can you imagine that there were there were no problems.
You got a million brothers out there. Somebody had to
step on somebody's toe, and nobody swung, nobody tried to
pick in the pocket, nobody's smoking weed. I mean, it
was just And this is what I wasn't physically there.
So this is this is the reports, all the reports
I got back. If you were there, give us a
call at eight hundred four or five zero seventy eight

(50:36):
seventy six. I want to hear if it impacted you,
because I've met so many brothers, Kevin that they say
they were changed. I met a brother who actually joined
the nation after going to the march. He's just something
he told me he was he felt compelled to go
to the march. When he came back, he started his
own business. So I don't know if you ran into

(50:56):
any of those kind of stories.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Well, I think the most powerful phrase that Reverend Wilson
brought up and Justice brought up was atonement. Atonement is
there aligning themselves with God. And that was the biggest issue.
So it became a spiritual issue at thet with the
energy of a million or more men at the same time,

(51:19):
and and so that that's part of the conversion. I
believe that had so many people inspired to make moves
to change some things because you know, according to Wikipedia,
now during that time, there was the Contract with America
and the fact that the African American men were being shunned,

(51:41):
and and so the whole idea was to go with
God and make those changes that you know that you
feel led to live a life of purpose. And you know,
just my quote, but Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke there as well.
So and I could see people, you know, choosing their

(52:04):
new fate, their new destiny based on that.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Yeah, but you know, I could see the religious folks
when it comes to torment, he says, I have wronged,
you know, forgive my sins and all of that and
making and confession and profession that you're going to change.
But for the folks who are not uh, you know,
inclined in the faith, and you know, not everyone there
was a member of the National or from a religious

(52:28):
aspect of the Brothers who are probably atheists, but they
still still bought into the fact that Minister Farca talked
about a torment. He says, hey, hey, you know, I
have sinned, you know, and I'm going to change. I'm
going to make a change. When I leave here, I'm
going to make a change. And I'm just wondering because
here be hearing on the radio, being there's two different things,

(52:50):
you know, the feeling that you get. It's like watching
a basketball game on TV and being actually being at
the game, because you're actually there. And this is just
me for the million man march, but hearing on the radio,
even though it's close to it on the radio, but
the folks who actually did That's what I want to
hear from some people who were at the march and

(53:11):
what he did for them, if they atoned, if they change,
or and let's put it this way, Kevin, let's let's
some folks who didn't agree with it or didn't think
it worked. I think it was a waste of time.
I want to hear from those as well, because you know
when when Manisovarka and went on his tour, he went
on a tour across the country and explaining why he's
doing this, and that's where he had the tractors. They did.

(53:33):
It's not going to work. You know, He's gonna be fight.
So somebody's gonna you know, the co intail pro people
are gonna get involved. All that kind of heat. Then
he said, he kept hearing all that negative sty but
he put that to the curve. But he had felt
in his heart that we as black people as a nation,
not just black men, but black people as a group,
we needed.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
This well now.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
And can we look at the non religious definition of atonement,
which basically means at one where all of the black men.
You know, of course there's so much deaf and so
much crime going on, so much black on black as
they would say, going on. So it was to agree
and to get out of that disagreement and become at

(54:16):
one and having all of those men together to unite
with a singular purpose, and that is to stop the disagreements,
to stop the enmity in the black community.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
Would you agree with that?

Speaker 4 (54:32):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (54:33):
Yeah, for sure. The question is, though, how can we
keep that spirit, that vibe alive. Somewhere along the way
we sort of lost it, We dropped it. I don't
know how, or maybe it's generational thing, you know, if
just imagine if we could have passed on that that
spirit to our young people. Wow, that's what I'm talking about.

(54:54):
Ten and a half the top of the our family
just joined us. This is the anniversary of the Midland
Man March, and we just using the march. Did it
impact you? Did you go or if you didn't go,
what's your thoughts about it? Eight hundred and four or
five zero seventy eight seventy six Carls calling us from
Virginia's Online one. Carl, your thoughts about the mail of
Man March?

Speaker 9 (55:14):
Just good morning?

Speaker 6 (55:15):
Hear me?

Speaker 9 (55:16):
Yes, sir, okay, I just wanted to say I called me.
I'm on the Metro because it was allowing the backround.

Speaker 10 (55:22):
This where he is?

Speaker 11 (55:23):
But I was, I was like in attendance that day,
but I wanted to see there because I was in
the service. I was in the Navy. We were out
to speak at the time. I remember on the lead
up to the march and when the.

Speaker 6 (55:39):
Minister had all of the different.

Speaker 11 (55:41):
Stop killing of reading for men only, and he was
selling out all these.

Speaker 7 (55:47):
Different places because brothers were.

Speaker 9 (55:49):
Dealing with the violence.

Speaker 11 (55:50):
Going on in our community.

Speaker 12 (55:52):
Well that was going on.

Speaker 11 (55:53):
But also remember in nineteen ninety five we also had
the OJ verdict came out like right in October, right
before the march.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Remember yeah, yeah, go ahead, Oh, I mean there.

Speaker 9 (56:08):
Was a lot of there was a lot of the
atmosphere was very highly charged and whatnot. And so when
when the ministers even you came around and kept doing
to stop the chilling talks and everything, that really put
us in the right frame of mind, in the right
spirit to go forward in the march. And there was
a lot of haters and a lot of doubts outside
of the community. Yeah happened, but it did.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
Yeah, So thanks carl Thanks for sharing that. Those those
haters in Dallas, they didn't want to see it happen.
They didn't want to see black man come to there
in unity gose. All they wanted to do is see
is fussing and fighting is Bob Marley would say twelve
after the top of the let's go to Raleigh, Charles,
Charlie is waiting for us. He's online. Three Charlie, your
thoughts on the middle of man March.

Speaker 8 (56:51):
There's carl I was there and I was the care
of dub at the time in Baltimore, and I picked
up two uh there's two two random brothers man and uh.
We rode all together and like I said, it was
it was just beautiful and grand.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
Rising to your call, Charlie, did you did impact? You
did you change after attending the march.

Speaker 8 (57:09):
Of course, I was a pothead during that time. And man,
I quit smoking putt.

Speaker 4 (57:15):
Yeah I did. It really changed me.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
Call and I think you haven't smoked a joint since. Yeah,
and the backside this man.

Speaker 4 (57:23):
It's been and man, it's been over thirty years.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
Man, yeah, wow years congratulations thirty years. Yes, it is
thirty years today. Thanks to some of the.

Speaker 4 (57:34):
Brothers, they were selling plaques. Uh huh. I happened to
get a plaque, you know, saying I was a tenant
to me your man march. So I got the history too.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
Good and share that with your children passing, do you
know what I Yeah, back on my mental Good for you, Charlie,
thank you, thank you for checking in for rally. All right,
Sister Fahima is calling online. Seven She's calling from Washington,
d C. Grand Rising Sister for Hima.

Speaker 13 (57:59):
Yes, wanted mister Nelson. I was a student at Howard University.
I just began that year and at the crack of dawn,
I made my way to the DC Armory to meet
my then boyfriend along with hundreds of other men, beautiful
black men who were coming down from New York City

(58:21):
on buses. That were coordinated by brother Bob Law and
it was a wonderful experience to see beautiful black men
just there. As you mentioned, there was no conflict, there
was no issues. And then ten years later I had
the privilege of being one of the co anchors of
the Million Mores March that took place on the mall,

(58:44):
and that's all I wanted to wanted to share.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
No, before you go, though, did did you feel left
out when Minnisofaca a million man marches a woman? Did
you feel that, you know, women should have been included
at a certain level, No.

Speaker 13 (58:57):
Not at all, because there were women who were involved
in the organizing. The late doctor Betty Shabaz also spoke,
and there were other women who were there. And again
I was there waiting the arrival of my then boyfriend
at the DC Armory where we you know, where the

(59:18):
buses that came in. And no, not at all.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
All right, thank you for sharing that with us, Sister Fahima.
Fourteen after the tough there, Ron motens joining us, Ron
Grand Rising.

Speaker 4 (59:32):
Are you doing, brother Rising?

Speaker 1 (59:34):
Hey, good to have you. Ronnie is one of the
movies and shakers of the events that are going to
take place in Washington, d C. He's going to share
that with us now, not just the anniversary of the
Melee Man March, but also of Unifest. So Ron were
you at the march? Can you can you share that
with us?

Speaker 4 (59:51):
Oh? Yeah?

Speaker 12 (59:52):
It was one of the most impactful moments of my life.
Not only was I at the march, I was working
with She's I Don't Smoke, the Brothers and Sisters, and
I was a youth spokesperson at the time and it
allowed me to work with the Millionaire in March and
speaking from a youth perspective in organizing youth around the region.

(01:00:13):
I actually spoke with minutes of Furricon on the same
stage at Howard University organizing youth and met people like
Winniam Mendela Stokely Carmichael before he passed. And that's something
that money can buy. And you know, the day other
mediumare in March, we were there six and five in

(01:00:33):
the morning setting up to sell shirts and it was
cloudy and looked like it was going to rain, and
I remembered the livation and the drums playing in the
sky opening up and I never forgot that day. Going
back to when people said the milliamare march wasn't going
to happen to the day where it looked like it
was going to be gloomy and rainy, and the sun

(01:00:54):
came out. And that experience has given me a different
level of spirituality, trying to stand that the God and
need but having a connection with my creator that when
we not want to manifest something, nothing.

Speaker 4 (01:01:06):
Can stop us but us and fear.

Speaker 12 (01:01:09):
So we believe and we practice, then we had the
power to do whatever we want to do. So this
is a very important day for us and for me
because a lot of things that I've been able to
do comes from not having fear and believing what I
can do from this very day.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
And Ron hold that thought right there. We got to
step aside for a few minutes. I'll let you finish
your thought when you come back. And also wanted you
to fill us in about Unifest for the folks who
are not from Washington, d C. If you can tell
us about Unifest how that came about, because also that
the anniversary is going to be celebrated as well this weekend. Family,
you two can join this conversation on the anniversary of
the Million Man March. Reach out to us at eight
hundred and four or five zero, seventy eight, seventy six,

(01:01:49):
and we'll take your phone calls next the top for
our factual rolling with us on this Thursday morning here
the thirtieth anniversary of the Million Man March. I guess
this Ron moten Ron is going to give us some
information about the festivities for the Million Man March celebration,
also for Unifest as well. Before we do that, though,
I will get some calls about Channel on ninety five
point nine. So so Kevin has been pushing the button

(01:02:10):
and say Kevin, what's going on? Hey listen, Hey, come man.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
I've been getting a few calls of people trying to
reach us on ninety five nine. But now ninety five nine,
I'm proud to announce is a news station that's I
don't know if it's part of Radio one or not,
but it's a Spanish station. And my associate here is saying,
because he doesn't speak Spanish, we don't know what to

(01:02:37):
call the station except.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
It's no longer w O L, and that's that's what
it is.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
So for those of you who've been calling, you could
probably reach WOL on HD three you go to on
your radio, you go to one oh two point three
and then go tuned down to the HD three frequency
and you'll be able to pick us up loud and clear.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Wald Wall all right. And also I think on HG
three on the ninety three point nine just turn your
dial down to the HG three channels on one or
two point three is Kevin said, and ninety three point
nine twenty one after the top. Dah. Let's keep rolling
though with Ron so ron uh for Unifest. Also you're
involved in Unifest. Ron is the go go king of Washington,

(01:03:25):
d C. Rod tell us about unifestor the folks who
aren't familiar with Unifest, because that would stopped for a while.
But also you're going to be celebrating that this weekend.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (01:03:36):
So the Unifest was created by Reverend Willie Wilson and
his team at Union Tymbo Baptist Church. I forgot the
exact year, but some time ago, and it was a
festival in Washington, D C. That you know, what are
the many festivals that are gone that was gone? For instance,

(01:03:57):
the Georgia Avenue Caribbean Festival? Did they do in Baltimore
Georgia Avenue Day? Adams Morgan and other family family cookout
that we used to do every year downtown and over OURFK,
Like all these these cultural festivals that are so important
to preserving our culture, handing traditions down to our young people,

(01:04:21):
we're gone. So I've been talking to Reverend Willie Wilson
for years, and he decided this was the best year
to bring it back because it was a horrific incident.
The cause of the go away we had no control over.
And I think it's been gone for like nineteen years.

Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
So now.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
Now, was it always held in Anacostia? Was it always
held in Anacostia, NFL?

Speaker 12 (01:04:45):
Yes, always in Anacostia, yep. And this I mean it
brought out all the activists, all the artists from around
the country, the gospel, the go go, the R and
D vendors from all over the world.

Speaker 4 (01:04:59):
Team.

Speaker 12 (01:05:00):
I mean, you're talking about hundreds of thousand people that
came out for a two day festival in Anacosta in
the heart of Washington, DC.

Speaker 4 (01:05:09):
And then we bringing it back.

Speaker 12 (01:05:11):
Willie Wilson made the call and this year we're gonna
block off W Street. He would have the stage there,
we would have performances until four o'clock and then after
that We're encouraging people to go to the different businesses
in Anacosti who will also have events like the Go
Go Museum. We have two bands performing. We had the
museum open. We have wild Wheels for the children to

(01:05:34):
cross the street in a parking lot where they can
ride these cars and obstacle courses made up. I mean,
it's gonna be wonderful. It's a craft feast. There's some
other people doing around the corner. I mean, Anacosti is
DC's bets kept secret. So that's why this walk that
we're doing this evening that Radins been talking about, we

(01:05:56):
did it for June Team, for me and the sisters
Malane Douglas in the business in the Anacostia. We put
it together and we're re enacting the lantern walk that
our ancestors took every evening after work when they walked
into Barry Farms and built it with their hands with
the money.

Speaker 4 (01:06:14):
For the Freeman Institute.

Speaker 12 (01:06:16):
And these same formally enslaved people were going to take
the money that was left away and built started the
construction of Howard University. And so telling these stories in
this history is important because it connects us to our
ancestors and lets our young people know how great we are,
but also the things we had to go through to
build beautiful institutions and communities in Southeast so they appreciate

(01:06:41):
it more.

Speaker 4 (01:06:42):
You know.

Speaker 12 (01:06:43):
So this is very important. So we're gonna be doing
that this evening in the spirit of the media man March,
and then there will be a celebration in the church
led by Reverend Willie Wilson that we've been working on
for like the last six weeks with reverends and community
activists and man men, I must say, to put this together,

(01:07:03):
called matsis Bury. I was just on the phone with her,
That's why I was late, making sure we have everything
straight with the young people who are going to be
the Blacks and Wax from the Southeast Tennis Learning Center
who will be one will be dressed up as Frederick
Frederick Frederick Dustas giving a speech so journal truth. I
believe Harriet Tugman and one of the nakastine Anacosti Indians

(01:07:27):
who once resided there. So I mean, this is gonna
be a very impactful. We had forty children at Anacostia
a Library making lanterns with their hands last night and
the side by Side band was there performing with him.

Speaker 4 (01:07:44):
And then.

Speaker 12 (01:07:46):
We also I ran into a brother and the bank
for one of the fraternities and he's bringing forty children
this evening.

Speaker 4 (01:07:52):
He said.

Speaker 12 (01:07:53):
I said, I got some landers for it. He said, no,
we already made ours. So like this is like a
very very powerful a situation going on. I'm in route
right now in Baltimore to meet my Baltimore brothers because
we're locking in with them brothers in Baltimore and Annapolis,
and they were prayer breakfast this morning and then they're

(01:08:15):
coming down to DC on the train the same way
they did during a millionaire in March to March for
this diseasing. So if that ain't powerful, I don't know
whether's brother all.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
Right, Thanks for sharing that with us. At twenty eight
after the top, they have again family. If you missing
us on a ninety five point nine, it's go school down.
If you got HD in you're radio. Most new cars
have HD now and you can pick us up on
let me see here one of two point three and
also ninety three point nine on the HD three channels.
HD three channels on one of two point three and

(01:08:46):
ninety three Port nine, or you can just download the app.
But Wldcnews dot com and wl the Baltimore dot com
and you can listen that way. Most people listen to
online anyway. But Ron, I want to go back to
unifest Snow unifest what how did that start? How did
that that come about? Because that was that was before
I think that was before the million man marsh That

(01:09:07):
was in nineteen eighty two that it was launched.

Speaker 4 (01:09:11):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 12 (01:09:11):
It was before the media man March as it was.
I know, I came home from prison in ninety one.
I'm sorry, I went to prison in ninety one, came
home in ninety four. When I came home, I didn't
miss a unifest ever ever since then. You know, I'm
saying from that point on, it was it was so

(01:09:31):
powerful man, to see so many black people together like
a Black renaissance, and so happy and celebrating, so many vendors,
so many there's so many people young, old.

Speaker 6 (01:09:48):
You know.

Speaker 12 (01:09:48):
One of the things that stopped in our community is
the intergenerational unity, you know, working together and talking and
spreading messaging and folklore and things that we went through
in our in the past. And that's what the Unifesse
was about. It was about connecting young people with the

(01:10:10):
older people. Nobody felt out of place, no matter what
your age was, and we got to bring those type
of moments back. And that's what we're doing today in
the third year anniversary, in the spirit of the Media
Man March. And that's what the Media Man March did.
They brought young and old together. They had young and
old helping make it happen. It wasn't just our elders

(01:10:31):
doing it. They made sure they had young people from
around the country involved in the organizing. And that's one
thing I think that our leadership has lacked in some degree.

Speaker 4 (01:10:41):
You know.

Speaker 12 (01:10:41):
We had people in office about to die in office,
you know, and having told anybody to come behind them,
and we had to get out of that state of
mind and stop being selfish and make sure that we
bring back the intergenerational collaboration and teaching and loving each other.
So I think that's what so powerful about today and

(01:11:02):
what was so powerful to me about the Nia Man
March because Al Malakue and Reverend Wilson and some of
the great sisters who were around at that time, Man,
they rapped they wrapped their arms around brothers like me,
and that wouldn't have made it without them.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
All right, Well, I thought, right there, Ron, thirty minutes
after the time of their family, just checking in. I
guess there's Ron Moten. Ron's a community activists in Washington,
d C. You should giving us an update on the celebrations.
They're going to take place all this weekend, actually the
midle of Man March and also a unifestor in Anacostia,
and all these things are going to be in an
Anacosta section of the district. So Ron, but let's go

(01:11:40):
back to the Million Man March. Did you when you
heard about the march? Do you think it would be
that successful? What about that you wanted to go? What's
what spoke to your your spirit that you wanted to
join this celebration if you will?

Speaker 4 (01:11:53):
Well, I got said.

Speaker 12 (01:11:53):
I had just came home and I was working with
SEASPI and al Malite was connected to the nation and
so we were going to the meetings up on Kennedy Street.

Speaker 4 (01:12:04):
I spoke at the press.

Speaker 12 (01:12:05):
Conference announcing the million Man March, one of them. Anyway,
I still had to picture on my wall at the
podium with the brothers from ce Final and smoked the
brothers and I was speaking and I will never forget that.

Speaker 4 (01:12:16):
Like it was so before this. I went to.

Speaker 12 (01:12:19):
Prison five times, and every time I came home, I
didn't use my talent that God gave me the right way.
I had people like civil rights attorney Willan Haywood and
de Wi Browntree to help raise.

Speaker 4 (01:12:32):
They were family, you know.

Speaker 12 (01:12:34):
I had all type Malcolm xIC with my cousin. I
had all types of things going for me, but I
didn't use the right way. I decided to be a
drug dealer because nothing was came to me to say, hey, boy,
used your skills the right way. And this time when
I came home, I came home right around the time
of the development of the Million Man March, you know,

(01:12:54):
and it was the best thing that could ever happen
to me because I was able to use my skills
set the right way to uplift my people and uplift myself.
And it gave me opportunities to meet people and be
around people for them to breathe in me and to
see how they moved. And that was the blessing in
the Media Man March for me and so many others

(01:13:15):
who experienced the same type of things with different brothers,
different organizations, different sisters who breathed into us, and that's
what these young people need today. You know, young people
go in and out of jail, but if they don't
come home to something that that's going to show them
how to use their challenge the right way. Normally you
go back to what you know best. And unfortunately with

(01:13:35):
the music being corrupted with this poison, they put in
it because they know how powerful the music is and
what is has led to all of our movements, but
advocacy and activism, then this is what happens. So movements
like the opportunities like this, they're so very important and
it was so very important to my spiritual and growth

(01:13:57):
as a leader.

Speaker 1 (01:13:59):
Family back and then twenty eight minutes away from the
top of the hour, I guess it's a community activist.
He's part of the One of the persons who set
up the Go Go Museum in Washington, d C. Is
Ron Moten. You just heard his story. This is the
thirtieth anniversary of the Million Man March.

Speaker 3 (01:14:12):
I fewer there.

Speaker 1 (01:14:12):
Close up and let us know and let us know
if it changed you, Ron says, it changed him. What
what do you think about it that changed you? Ron
what you heard the minute to speak or was it
some other other There's a whole bunch of folks who spoke.
It was like all day from six in the morning.

Speaker 12 (01:14:27):
For me, it was about being involved and seeing something
that everybody said wasn't going to happen happen, you know,
And that's why we got to make sure young people
are involved. Like a lot of leaders now, they speak
to the choir. So when they speaking, they're speaking older
young People's here is they not speaking to the same
frequency because they're not engaging with the young people. So

(01:14:50):
they can speak on the same frequency when needed. So
we have a lot of brothers and sisters that speaking,
but when they speak, they speaking to the choir. You
know what I'm saying. They're not on the same frequency
as some of our young.

Speaker 4 (01:15:03):
People, so they can't pull them in.

Speaker 12 (01:15:05):
With a millionaire in March, there were people who were
speaking on the same frequency as me, and it was
involved and engaged, So it was easy.

Speaker 4 (01:15:13):
For me to get pulled in. You know.

Speaker 12 (01:15:17):
It was sexy for me. You know, it was something
that I wanted to do. So we have to do
the same thing now with these young people when they
can pull it in every direction where the coolest guy
now on the block sometimes the guy with the biggest gun,
not the guy with the with the brains.

Speaker 4 (01:15:32):
Right, So.

Speaker 1 (01:15:35):
How do we change that, though, Ron, how do we
change that? You were so right about that, But how
we changed that mindset with our young people?

Speaker 4 (01:15:42):
Well, I give you a prime example.

Speaker 12 (01:15:44):
It ain't got nothing to do.

Speaker 4 (01:15:45):
With the streets.

Speaker 12 (01:15:46):
So one of the things that happened in d C.
Let's go back to the Control Board in nineteen ninety sixty,
the Control Board ninety six ninety seven came. One of
the first things they cut in DC was music and
trades out of DC keep public schools, which took away
the direct lines to the middle class in Washington, DC.

(01:16:07):
Because when you left DC public schools, you worry about artists.
You had to trade, or you went into government, or
you went to college, right, but you had a way
to be successful and make.

Speaker 4 (01:16:16):
It to the middle class. Right. So what happened was.

Speaker 12 (01:16:21):
After that they start closing all the go gos down
all the things that we did to engage young people
and give them positive platforms to get attention doing the
right things. So for the last fourteen years, for instance,
in Washington, DC, young people have nowhere to go to
be young people like we did. So what they did
was they created their own platforms. They use social media

(01:16:44):
and they do these meetups with no guidance from adults.

Speaker 4 (01:16:47):
And you see all this.

Speaker 12 (01:16:48):
Craziness like you saw the Navy yard and everything else,
and everybody blames the young people, but we don't blame
the fact that ourselves that we took away all the
positive platforms that young people had to get it. These
go go bands and these DJs and all these other
things that young people did were the things they did
to get attention. Doing positive things.

Speaker 4 (01:17:09):
They kept them off the streets.

Speaker 12 (01:17:11):
The other thing they did was they took out the
only program that had a positive in an action with
police and children was the officer friendly program, right and
the Metropolitan Boys Club, where young people, for instance, in
Ballou were twenty three different neighborhoods came there every day
and engaged with the police who didn't have police outfits on.

(01:17:33):
But they were their tutors, they were their coaches. They
gave them a place to be safe, and they had
to put the children out of school every day. They
had to put them out of school every day because
the school was safer than some of their.

Speaker 4 (01:17:47):
Households, right, and they got rid of that program.

Speaker 12 (01:17:50):
So these are all the things. And twenty three different
neighborhoods who had a positive interaction with the police. They
knew it was about locking them up and they can
go have a conversation prevents them from happening first of
them just getting locked up or being labeled as a snitch.
So these are the things that we took away from
our community and we got to bring back. We got
to bring back things for young people to get attention

(01:18:13):
doing the right thing, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:18:16):
And Ron, hold that thought right there. I'll let you
expound on that in a moment. We got to step
aside and get caught up with the ladies news in
our different cities. Family, just checking in. This is the
anniversary of the Million Man March. It took place thirty
years ago. Where were you If you were there, let
us know, give us a call it eight hundred four
or five zero seventy eight seventy six. You can speak
with Ron Moten and myself and we'll take your phone
calls after the news. That's next. Frand Rising family, Thanks

(01:18:39):
for staying with us on this Thursday morning. Here the
anniversary of the Million Man March. Thirty years ago, two
million brothers gathered on the ball in Washington, d C.
The commissioned to hear speeches from a variety of folks
are out there, including the Minister of our Congress there.
And our guest right now is Ron Moten. Ron is
a community activist in Washington, d C. They have whateveral

(01:19:00):
events taking place to commemorate that march and also unifest
as well that it takes place in Anacostia, and they've
actually started before the Malie Man March. But before we
go back to Ron, let me just remind you come up,
another of the architects of the Millionaire March will join us.
I'll be doctor Milana Krenga, doctor Karenga, along with pastor
doctor Willie Wilson. As you heard earlier, they were some
of the folks that Minister farakahnt call first when he

(01:19:22):
decided to put this march on. Doctor Kring is going
to give us his side of the story, what happened
and how it pulled it off. In fact, he wrote
the manifesto for the Million Man March, and that's where
remind you. Tomorrow is Friday and Thursday actually so no,
Tomorrow's Friday. That's for real, Tomorrow's Friday, and we're gonna
give you a chance to free your mind and join
us for our open Phone Friday program at beginning promptly

(01:19:42):
at six am Eastern time right here in Baltimore on
ten ten WLB and also in the DMV on AM
fourteen fifty w L. This is where you get a
chance to you know, let us know what's going on
in your community or response to some of the guests
you heard of this week. So make sure that you
join us starting early at six am Eastern time, because
a lot of folks went to the last minute and
we don't don't get a chance to speak with them.

(01:20:03):
And Ron said, I'll let you finish your thought, but
well it's taking place.

Speaker 12 (01:20:07):
Yeah, like I was, I was, we were talking about
things that we need to do. I think one of
the things that I left out too is our spiritual institutions,
which many of them had been under attack, and places
like DC. A lot of people don't remember when their
gentrification started and they started taking all the parking spaces
of the churches in Washington, DC and force the congregation

(01:20:30):
to stop coming because they couldn't even pop outside of
their churches. So there was an attack on our spiritual institutions.
The memberships went down, churches had they had to start
selling the churches, the mosque and things of that nature.
So now we had to understand that that was by design,
and we had to figure out a way to get
our people back into our spiritual institutions. Doesn't matter what

(01:20:53):
it is, but we had to start doing the things
that our ancestors did to connect, educate, and move our
people forward. Because a lot of us see the things
that we see in society now because people are not
spiritually in clarent to the things that God is where
we at. So I just think that that's another piece
that we had to focus on. How do we get

(01:21:14):
our people back into our spiritual institutions and practicing not
the spoochism, but the stuff that brings us together and
unice us and gets ready to fear that we see
often with people to sit around and go along and
get along, and it sets us back so much, so
far all.

Speaker 1 (01:21:35):
Right, thirteen away from the top of our family. If
you attend the Millia Man Marshal, it changed you. Let
us know. If you didn't, you're against it, then your
thoughts about it. Reach out to us. At eight hundred
and four or five zero seventy eight seventy six, Gloria
is calling us from Arlington and Virginia. She's on line
one Grand Rising. Gloria, your thoughts on the MAILI Man
March rom with Ron Morten.

Speaker 14 (01:21:57):
I remember my sons attended the Million Man matt I didn't.
I stayed at home that they and cooked food so
and I took him down to the Pentagon so they
could uh get on the subway to go over there.
And uh some young men came up from Florida and everything,
and uh I stayed home all day and listened to

(01:22:19):
the radio the TV. I think you had a station
dedicated to where you could see the Million Man March.
And uh they when they came when when they got out,
I fixed food. So I'm and everything and we had
a good time. Hello.

Speaker 1 (01:22:42):
Let me ask you this story, cause do you feel
left out? Did you feel left out when you heard
about the million Mare in March? Because as a woman,
did you feel like you were being kicked to the curb?

Speaker 6 (01:22:53):
No?

Speaker 14 (01:22:54):
I mean I I wasn't concerned about that kind of stuff.
I have my own mind. I just stayed home and
took foods of them and picked them up. And I
have a picture of my son at the Median Man
in March, and I called it the Median Man in
March and he had on his uh toofy hand and

(01:23:18):
vest that I had made him and they had a
good time.

Speaker 1 (01:23:22):
Yeah, as this Ron mentioned, he changed him and Ron
song with us right now, Glory, did he change your son?

Speaker 3 (01:23:29):
Did?

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
Were they changed after the March? Did you see a
change in them?

Speaker 14 (01:23:32):
Well, my young son he's dead now, but he always
was a rebel and did what he wanted to do.
My oldest son was more conservative, but he still went
to the media man in March. I don't know. I
guess it changed him some too.

Speaker 1 (01:23:49):
All right, thank you for sharing that with.

Speaker 6 (01:23:51):
Us, Gloria, Okay, then thank you all right?

Speaker 1 (01:23:54):
Uh Ron. She mentioned one of her her sons was
conservative ones the rebel. I guess that's a lot of
family diamond Usually one goes one way, one goes the
other way. But do you think conservative brothers and sisters
showed up to the Marchians, think that they had an
impact on them or did they stay away?

Speaker 4 (01:24:11):
I think all type of brothers showed up. Now, when we.

Speaker 12 (01:24:15):
Talked about conservatives, I don't know is that the right word.
I consider myself conservative in some ways. I'll never forget
when Donald Trump won and I went to a meeting
at the Trump Hotel and it was all these black
brothers in there, and I went in there and I was.

Speaker 15 (01:24:36):
Like, WHOA.

Speaker 12 (01:24:37):
I don't never see you guys in my community, you
know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:24:40):
So a lot of people.

Speaker 12 (01:24:42):
Call these self conservative. I don't know if they really conservative,
because to me, some of the things that our grandparents
did were very conservative. So they don't practice with our
grandparents practice. They don't come back to the community uplift
the next brother and sister. They don't make sure that
things that were passed down come down to the children
where they do. A lot of people call theirself conservative

(01:25:03):
these days. They just figured out a way to get
money and forget about their people. So I don't know
that's really conservative, you know what I'm saying. So I
think that some of the people who were conservative then,
like Brothers in the Nation and other people.

Speaker 6 (01:25:19):
Are being screened by a smart call blocker. Please say
your name, is that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:24):
Your is that your faens? Now that's not mean, Kevin,
we got yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 4 (01:25:31):
So so No, what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (01:25:34):
Is this number. Are we screened by a smart call blocker?

Speaker 1 (01:25:39):
Kevin? Can you can you get that? Take that out
for us? All right? Ron?

Speaker 12 (01:25:45):
So what I was saying is I think the Nation
of Islam is conservative. I think Reverend Willie Wilson is conservative.
I think we we wed let people tell us what
conservative is versus what it really is, you know what
I'm saying. So I think all the conservative brothers and
sister we're there, those who fight for black liberation. To me,
that is being conservative.

Speaker 4 (01:26:06):
So I think they were there if you ask me.

Speaker 16 (01:26:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:26:09):
But you know, Ron, that's a good point because many
of us black folks are socially conservative, fiscally conservative, We're
just not politically conservative, you know what I'm saying. I
think that's where the difference lies, and that's where we
draw the line. But I want to go back to
the events that are taking place later today, because are
you You said you're on your way to Baltimore. Correct,
I'm here.

Speaker 12 (01:26:29):
I'm sitting right outside. I just saw Reverend Willie Wilson
walking the door for the brunch, me having out here
with the brothers from Baltimore.

Speaker 4 (01:26:36):
So yeah, I'm excited, man.

Speaker 12 (01:26:37):
I mean, this was all about anything that brings us
together as a people and also have us connect with
people who might not look like us, who love us,
because there are you know, I studied on the devil
Amelia Bodon Robinson and Annie Lee Coop.

Speaker 4 (01:26:53):
I used to take.

Speaker 12 (01:26:53):
Buslows and children to Alabama and one of the things
they taught me was never become a racist yourself. And
they told me, make sure you organize that your people
and connect with good people in other places. And That's
what I've always done, and that's why I've always been
able to survive no matter what happens. And I think
we got to teach our people that you get yourself
together first, but then you find good people other places

(01:27:16):
you work with them too, for the greater good of humanity.
And I think that's the message here, and that's the
message we have to continue to follow. We don't love ourselves,
we can't expect nobody else to love us, and loving
ourselves is holding people accountable in our community. You know,
one of the reasons why Trump was able to get
the green light to come to DC is because we

(01:27:38):
had young people out here contacting people before and five
times and right back in the street, and we didn't
do nothing to hold them accountable. So if we don't
want the police to hold people accountable, we got.

Speaker 4 (01:27:48):
To hold them accountable. Somebody got to do it, because.

Speaker 1 (01:27:50):
Well, let's go, let's go there for a minute, shaving
away from the top. Now, the city council in DC
is thinking about, well, considering extending the curfew. They blame
a lot of the violence, if you will, on our
young people, and they did it over the summer. It
now school's back in sessions, so they figured they could
drive the curfew. But you've got one city council person
who wants to extend the curfew, and your thoughts on that.

(01:28:14):
Did the curfew work? Did it curb the violence in
the in the district or not?

Speaker 12 (01:28:19):
I think it helped in some ways, but I don't
think it's the answer. My thing is, how do we
get parents to be parents again? You have children, twelve
thirteen year old children on business strips breaking in cars.
I came outside one day in average city seventeen cars
broken into seventeen.

Speaker 4 (01:28:38):
Cars, right, Like, nobody's going to accept that.

Speaker 1 (01:28:44):
And my thing is the second though, the wrong. Were
they just broken into it? Just people just smash the windows.
Were it's just vandals?

Speaker 4 (01:28:52):
No?

Speaker 12 (01:28:53):
No, they have a thing now where they got this
device where they can break a window in a second
and they'll hit cars. They organize, They jump off the
car and one person's driving, the other two people are
going to each car that they breaking and going in.
One's breaking, one's going in and looking for guns and
money and things like that. So that's what they do.

(01:29:13):
But my point is things like this and carjacking. If
we don't want the police and others to deal with
our people, we gotta deal with it. And there's no
way in hell the twelve and thirteen year olds are
out at two and three in the morning in locations
and terrorizing people. And my thing is, like, I know
how this happened. We talked about they took away all

(01:29:34):
the activities that a lot of us had when we
came up.

Speaker 4 (01:29:37):
We know what the root causes are, but.

Speaker 12 (01:29:39):
The same took it. What are we doing as a
community to help these parents but also hold them accountable.
We can't keep on blaming the white man for everything.
Some of the stuff we can do in house and
or the white men get the opportunity to come and
deal with our people the way they want to deal
with them. So we can't have it both ways. We
have to address it. I've seen it worked. I've been

(01:30:01):
a part of a program where we had the most
violent children in DC when we had peace of all it.
And what we did was we had a program called
Aggressive Mentoring. They let brothers out with crimes like this
old worse. But what we did we went and made
sure they went to school every morning. We made sure
they made their curfew every evening.

Speaker 4 (01:30:19):
But we took them on trips.

Speaker 12 (01:30:20):
We took them down south to meet people like Belva
A Million, Boughton Robinson, Annie Lee Cooper and things like that.
We put food and refrigerator. But then we held their
ads accountable. We said, we did our partner, Now you're
gonna do your damn party.

Speaker 4 (01:30:33):
It ain't no more excuses. Can't keep making up excuses.

Speaker 12 (01:30:36):
But you can't hold people accountable if you're not dealing
with the issues that caused the problem simultaneously.

Speaker 1 (01:30:43):
Right and hold up there right there, we got to
take a set beside and get caught up in the ladies'
trafficking rather than not that differenceeas wanted to come back though,
explain how the events are going to take place this weekend,
the Milli Man March anniversary and also unifast dinniversary, how
they addressed those problems that you just shared with us. Family,
You two can join our conversations. Rondon is a community
actress in Washington, d C. Reach out to us at

(01:31:03):
eight hundred and four five zero seventy eight seventy six
and we'll take your phone calls. After the traffic and
weather that's next and grand rising family, and thanks for
starting your Thursday with us. I guess is Ron Moten.
Ronnie is a community activist in Washington, d C. Before
we left for the traffic up data tell us about
some of the issues with our young people in the district.
But also this weekend is going to be u It's

(01:31:24):
the anniversary of the commemoration of the Middle and Man
March and also Unifested Table all weekend long in Washington, DC.
Those of you with the march, let us know and
let us know if you were changed or it impacted you.
So Ron, tell us what some of the events that
taking place. I think they start today. If I fund.

Speaker 12 (01:31:40):
Mistaken yesterday we had the unity walk, and there's the
lantern up as we reenact what our ancestors did walking
across into Freedom across the even Street bridge was caused
Freedom crossing. And then there's going to be a big
celebration in Union Timber Baptist Church following us at walk.

(01:32:02):
The walk starts at five twenty six, twenty eight shop
at sunset and we're gonna walk straight to the church
and celebrate the Navy Yard on M Street.

Speaker 4 (01:32:15):
I needs a bridge.

Speaker 12 (01:32:17):
That's where we're gonna start twelve oh one M Street,
come across the light down Eleventh Street into Anacostia. Like
I say, it's gonna be a lot of people. It's
gonna be very spiritual and powerful. We encourage everybody to
come out. If you need any information about the march,
you can email me at info at go Go Museum

(01:32:39):
Cafe dot com and we will respond with all the details.
Or you can go on our Instagram page. On my
Instagram page Ronald Molten on Instagram might have all the detail.

Speaker 4 (01:32:50):
All the posts about everything that's going on.

Speaker 12 (01:32:53):
With the Unifest and today and tomorrow's the day of
fasting and meditation, and then Saturday is the big Unifest day.
So let's get going, y'all. And there are things we're
setting up for actors. We rathers called on people to
organize men bring back some of those programs, writes of

(01:33:15):
passages and other things that we had for our young people.
So there's some organizers going to keep people engaged with
each other after the walk in our community. So, and
we got to lock in with brothers in the region.
We got to all come together. We got to start
working together. The brothers and sisters. We are the answers
to our problems.

Speaker 4 (01:33:34):
So and we can.

Speaker 12 (01:33:36):
We have a lot of successful people in our community
who have the answers and doing great things.

Speaker 4 (01:33:41):
And we just got to work together better and more.

Speaker 1 (01:33:45):
The young people. Do you have something because you know
some of them weren't around. This was especially for the
Melian March that was thirty years ago. Do you have
any events for the young people sort of you know,
shared the spirit of that march thirty years ago and
she can infuse it. Why young people, because you mentioned
some of the problems that our youngsters are getting involved
in in attrition, do you have things for them to do?

Speaker 12 (01:34:06):
Yeah, So we have activities all the time at the
museum where we bring young people and you know older
people together, intergenerational, we know other people who are doing
the same things in the community. I think that we
just got to come together and bring those young people
together because one of the things I tell people a
lot of times we create gangs as adults. How do

(01:34:27):
you do that, Well, you separate yourself from these adults
or I don't work with them over here. I don't
work with those people over there. We don't go over there.
And the young people are listening and watching, so they
picked up some of the habits that we have. So
when adults do the right thing, a lot of times
the children follower. So our goal is to get the
organizations working together more and bringing the young people together more.

Speaker 4 (01:34:48):
Work with the coaches.

Speaker 12 (01:34:50):
The coaches have a lot of influence over our young
people in the community. So we got to empower the
coaches with just more than twos to coach, but twos
to deal with mental health, twos to bring the young
people together outside of the football field, the basketball fields.
I mean, if basketball courts, to track fields and things
like that. So we have to strategize. But to me,

(01:35:11):
the most important thing is just to do something. A
lot of people talk, but they don't do every day
that you come on MLK, We're open our doors to
do something. They are others who are doing the same thing.
We just have to work together. And one thing about me,
I don't have no problems following anybody's league. So I'm
gonna be helping Revel what he's doing. And we're going

(01:35:31):
to keep on doing the things we're doing with the
culture and teaching people our history so do they be
motivated to do the right thing. So those are things
that I will continue to do with don't new DC
and all the other things that we've been doing for
years that have gotten policy and things change to have
help black people dramatically. For instance, we have over six

(01:35:53):
new businesses, restaurants and a concert.

Speaker 4 (01:35:56):
Because of policy.

Speaker 12 (01:35:57):
So when we start talking about helping black people, I
also got to be talking about policy.

Speaker 4 (01:36:01):
Because all the wars that.

Speaker 12 (01:36:03):
Are being fought in the United States right now about
beliefs and policies and politics are local.

Speaker 4 (01:36:10):
So the local.

Speaker 12 (01:36:11):
Politics affect us all more than anything, and we had
to be engaged and make sure these policies are uplifting
and helping us do the things that we're talking about
as well.

Speaker 4 (01:36:20):
Hey, brother Ron, economics.

Speaker 2 (01:36:23):
Hey, brother Ron Modin, I wanted to ask you. You
were talking about the initiatives to help the young people,
and now you're talking about the political entrees you may
have to perform. What would it take to bring back
those programs? I love the go go music idea you
had earlier. And what will it tag? And you know,

(01:36:45):
some sort of movement, a go fund me account or something,
what do you think.

Speaker 12 (01:36:50):
Well, we're raising money for the museum to do some
of the programs that we talk about. You can go
to our website. But there has been a movement that
not just me, but a lot of young people that
have been a part of the Washington DC and that
movement has brought young people back into activism, but it's
also given young people victories.

Speaker 4 (01:37:10):
That we haven't seen us sometimes.

Speaker 12 (01:37:12):
So if we empower young people to be activists, but
also teach them how to be activists, because you have
it's one thing to be in the street protesting, but
there's another thing knowing how to take a protest into
a strategy, to action to victory. So we have to
teach young people not to be used by so called movements,
but really creating movements that lead to action, they get

(01:37:34):
the outcomes that you want. And that's what I'm into
teaching young people. You know, I've had a lot of
people that have come behind me who are doing great things,
who come after me, and I'm proud of them. I'm
proud of the work that they're doing. So there are
a lot of young people doing positive things. They just
don't get the spotlight. So we got to highlight them
and enhance what they're doing, because we can't be the

(01:37:55):
people who just hold on to the mic and hold
on to everything, don't show them how to follow and
then fly higher than us. And that's what we have
to do more in our community because there also were
going to keep it doing great things. We just need
to get more of them and connect with them and
fly together.

Speaker 1 (01:38:13):
Got it and Ron right after top there doctor Krengus
joining this Moman child. But let me my question to you,
how do we keep the spirit of the Milieman March, Floyd,
How do we keep it continued? Because it seems like
when after the march, right after March, everybody was jacked
up and you know, wanted to help and there's all
this unity talk, and somehow it dissipated after the years
going on, by how do we.

Speaker 12 (01:38:34):
Reclaim I don't know if it dissipated. I mean I
never stopped, and I know a lot of people who
never stopped. The problem is, you know, they gave ferkon
the mic and that was a big mistake they realized,
so they never gave him or people like him the
mic again to show what we're doing. So a lot
of the things that are happening that are positive in
our community never get it get a shout out, They

(01:38:55):
never get the spotlight. And if you can convince people
that there's no hope of it, there's no power, then
you win, right. So in a lot of cases, there
are a lot of great things that happened that nobody
knows about. So I wouldn't say that the.

Speaker 4 (01:39:09):
Spirit of the Millionmare March stopped.

Speaker 12 (01:39:11):
I would say that people always try to find the
negative and highlight that versus all the great things that
came from things like the millionaire in March. And I
can tell you firsthand, I know countless people who started businesses,
and some of those businesses are still going on. I
can tell you countless people who got married. You know,
I'm here with d Chase and Baltimore. They have a
group of forty brothers and sisters that do business together.

Speaker 4 (01:39:33):
They are all married.

Speaker 12 (01:39:35):
A lot of that came from the Million Man March.
So like, these are the things that.

Speaker 4 (01:39:38):
Are not highlighted.

Speaker 12 (01:39:39):
So like right now, and in many cases it's not
cool to get married, But how do you build family
and community without marriage? You know, I say what I'm saying.
So I'm just saying, these are the things that we
have to start talking about and teaching right and highlighting
that are going on.

Speaker 4 (01:39:54):
So people most think that the million maare Man shouldn't
have an impact, because it did.

Speaker 1 (01:39:59):
Right tall, We're gonna seak with doctor Malana Karrenga. He's
one of the architects of the meliam Man March. But
ron before we let you go, how can folks find
out more what's going on this weekend in Washington, DC?

Speaker 12 (01:40:10):
So they can go to the Union Temple's website. They
have the whole iterary of everything that's going on. And
then like I said, they can follow, don't you DC,
They can follow Ronald Moten. We posting everything up that's
going on, and we really appreciate everybody. We hope you
can come out this evening and make a statement. Man,
it's nothing like young people seeing Black people together in

(01:40:33):
unity and love, and they need to experience this just
like we experienced.

Speaker 4 (01:40:37):
It, you know.

Speaker 12 (01:40:38):
I mean, it's so impactful for me as a young man,
a twenty five year old young man who just came
home from prison a year before the box. So I'm
just saying, we had to get these young people these experiences.

Speaker 4 (01:40:49):
It's spiritual, so we have to bring them out.

Speaker 12 (01:40:52):
We have to come out ourselves if we don't have
no young people and show them what love looks like,
show them what unity looks like, show them how we
connect to our creator and our ancestors.

Speaker 4 (01:41:02):
Because it's powering us.

Speaker 12 (01:41:04):
We hope everybody can come out and then come out
for the unifest and bring back this great day of
love and unity in the community that was so powerful
not just for that day, but it brought people together
to work together after that day.

Speaker 4 (01:41:19):
So hope everybody can come out.

Speaker 3 (01:41:21):
We appreciate you.

Speaker 12 (01:41:21):
I'm about to step inside and pray with my brothers
from Baltimore and DC and eat some good food and
then I'm heading back to DC and get ready for
a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful day and Anacostia, the same bridge
that I enslaved ancestors walked across into freedom and build
a legacy in Anacostia. And I hope you can join
us today. So instead of marching downtown, we're marching into

(01:41:44):
Anacostia in unity and love and transitioning our resources into
that community.

Speaker 4 (01:41:50):
And hope we can build more communities like.

Speaker 12 (01:41:52):
Anacostia in Deanwood, Deposit, PG County, Baltimore, Annapolis, Virginia, and
keep it moving.

Speaker 4 (01:42:00):
I love y'all, have a blessed day, all.

Speaker 1 (01:42:02):
Right, thank you. Ron. Ron Boteney is a community activist
in Washington, d C. Is also I'm going to give
him a title the Mayor of Go Go Music. He's
built up the Go Go Museum in Washington, d C.
It's part of the panel that's putting on the anniversary
celebrations for the Million Man March in d C and
Baltimore and also the unifest as well. Let's turn our
attention at twelve. After the top of that turn, next

(01:42:22):
guests who happens to be one of the architects of
the Million Man March, Doctor Milana Karenga Grand Rising and
Habari Gane, doctor Korrena, Welcome back to the program. It's
doctor Krenga there.

Speaker 17 (01:42:39):
Kevin, Yes, I'm sorry, good morning meeting everybody, got it.
Carl Yes, sir, thanks as usual for the invitation. It's
always good as to come on your show.

Speaker 6 (01:42:49):
And discuss with you issues. It's so critical to us
as the people into the world and be forward to that.

Speaker 1 (01:42:57):
Let me just give you a little bit of a
background because folks just think that to just create a
quansa and that was it. But you've been one of
our top scholars for years. Also you're the chair of
the Department of African Studies Africana Studies of cal State
Long Beach. Doctor kreng is the creator of the Pan
African cultural holiday Kwansa the Angusu Sawa that's the Seven Principles.
He's also the author of the authorative text titled Kwanza

(01:43:19):
Celebration of Family, Community and Culture. He's an activist scholar.
He's chair of the Organization US and the National Association
COAITA Organizations, an executive director of the African American Cultural
Center and Kawaida Institute of Pan African Studies. It's also
the chair of the Black Community Clergy and Labor Alliance.
Doctor Kurenga is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books,

(01:43:39):
including essays on struggle, position and analysis, Kawaieda, The Question
of Life and Struggle, My Art, The Moral Ideal of
Ancient Egypt, The Study of Classical African Ethics, Introduction to
Black Studies, fourth Edition, Huisa, The Sacred Wisdom of Ancient
Egypt U The Ethical Teachings. And he's also currently writing
a make work on the social and ethical philosophy of

(01:44:03):
Malcolm X the title The Liberation and Ethics of Malcolm X,
Critical Consciousness of Moral Grounting and Transformative Struggle. Doctor Karenga's
recipient and numerous awards for scholarship, leadership and service, including
the Paul Robinson Zora Neil Hurston Award for Scholarly Work
of African World Culture, the CLR. James Award for Outstanding
Publication of scholarly works that advanced the discipline of Africana

(01:44:26):
and Black Studies, and also the Presidential Award for Exemplary
Service of standing contribution to the field of Black Studies,
all of this from the National Council for Black Studies.
It's also the subject of a book by doctor Malefia
Santi titled Milana Kurenga Intellectual Portrait. Also he wrote the
manifesto for the Million Man March. So I just got
to share those things with our audience again, Doctor kurank

(01:44:49):
because they think that it's just sort of one dimensionally,
so to speak. But I want them to know much more.
But let's get doctor Kranka. It will come upon a break.
I want to talk about Kwanza. I want to find
out not one's I want to talk a by the
mill and Man March or fifteen after the top they
are and how you got involved because you and doctor
really Wilson. Willie Wilson was with us earlier and he

(01:45:10):
was how you got the phone call. We want to
hear all about that, the background, what took place in
the background and put it on the Million Man March,
and what Minister fire Cohn said to you to convince
you that you were going to be an integral part
of putting on this historic gathering. But anyway, let's take
the break and we come back and we'll get to it. Family,
you want to join this conversation with doctor Milana Karenga.
Reach out to us at eight hundred and four or

(01:45:31):
five zero seventy eight seventy six, and we'll take your
phone calls after the show breaker's name and Grand Rising
Family twenty minutes after the top there with our guest,
Dtr Milana Karrenga. Doctor Krengo is one of the, as
I mentioned, one of the architects of the Million Man March.
Today's the thirtieth an aversue of that historic gathering in Washington, DC,
Doctor Karenga. When you got the call from Minister fire

(01:45:52):
Gun and he explained to you what he wanted to do,
How did that go down? And were you did you
see that his vision right away?

Speaker 4 (01:46:00):
You know what happened?

Speaker 17 (01:46:02):
We did, but we had some reservations. And what happened
is that, you know, there was a controversial at the
beginning of the whole idea of whether or not we
should have the conversations, whether or not Minister fact cond
should say to the women stay home. That was a

(01:46:24):
big thing, not only.

Speaker 6 (01:46:26):
With the women, but with some.

Speaker 17 (01:46:29):
Of the nationalist organizations that believe that the women can
be a part of it, but men must be at
the leadership and the fundamental focus of it.

Speaker 6 (01:46:42):
And we thought that women could be part.

Speaker 17 (01:46:47):
Of the national Organizing Community executive committee, but black men
had to be in front and own focus. That was
a big conversation, and we said, why don't we uh
call uh people were saying they wanted to be a
part of it, the nationalist community that I know right

(01:47:08):
all across the country. So I said to the group
that we were talking it was informa, had no name,
but it was some of the major people, and we said, uh,
we have to do something. So I said, well, let's
call Minister Faccond and asked him can he be flexible
in this and change the language and the and the

(01:47:29):
interesties and don't don't don't change the focus, but change
the language. That the women should stay home. That was
a big thing, that the women should stay home. And
you know, we believe that we have to do everything together.

Speaker 6 (01:47:43):
But just like we have fraternities and saraties, we could
have all men's uh project. You know, this is a
man's project.

Speaker 17 (01:47:52):
This a million man march. We got to be able
to do this because and I put this in the
mission statement and when to when and I wrote it,
you know that one of the things that we have
to face is that when we talk about men. Usually
we talk about them as a problematic, Black men as
a problematic. So we said, our priority call the black

(01:48:17):
men to stand up and to assume this new and
expanded chense of responsibility, is based on the realization that
the strength and resourceulns of the family and the liberation
of our people require black men at this juncture in
history stand up, step forward, and assume a new responsibility.

Speaker 6 (01:48:41):
And then we said, also look at this that some.

Speaker 17 (01:48:44):
Of the most acute problems facing the black community within
are those polls by black males who have not stood up.
Also that the carring and responsible father in the home,
the responsible and future focus male and female relations, and

(01:49:06):
the security of the community right and the family's capacity
right to avoid poverty and to push our lives forward
as a people and as a community, all dependent upon
the black man standing up. And also that in the
context of a real and principled brotherhood, those of us

(01:49:28):
who have stood up must challenge others to stand up also.
And we said, finding that unless and until black men
stand up, black men and women can't stand together and
accomplish the awesome tasks before us. And that's that all
go and struggle to be ourselves and free ourselfs and

(01:49:49):
build a good world we all want and deserve to
live in and struggle so hard to achieve. So it
was that thinking that when and so we called a
meeting uh uh Minister fact Con to meet with us,
and we met at Third World Press with Hakim doctor
Hakim Makabuji, who who you know as you know as

(01:50:10):
producer a public publisher of Third World Press, uh, the
oldest black continued black press we have. And so I
think it's very important for us to know their history.
And one of the things I like that history is
because Minnester time was flexible. And he said, okay, how
how do y'all want to do it? And so we said, well,

(01:50:31):
let's get out a statement so that we can know
that everybody know what we stand for and what we're doing,
and that's the that's the project we're going to work from.
And so we agreed that men would continue to be
the focus, and then we all get Ryan Daniels put
that forward that he was at the meeting, Doctor Ron Daniels,

(01:50:54):
that we have also a day of absence and for women.
Women could come to the meeting and they could also participate.

Speaker 6 (01:51:03):
But the focus.

Speaker 17 (01:51:05):
And the fundamental thrust must be from men because it's
a man project, and you know, men, black men at
that time, just like now need to stand up in
a special way because we'll target it in a such way.
That's the negative, but the positive is that that's the
way history unfolds. Right if black men are absent, if

(01:51:29):
black men are not doing what they're supposed to do,
it's hard to talk about a black feminly and a
Black community that's vigorous and healthy and actually is doing
what they're supposed to do and bring good in the
world and leave a legacy worthy of the name and
history African. So that's how that is. That we did

(01:51:49):
the mission statement, and we agreed to certain principles, and
one of the most important principles we agree to is
three atone men, reconciliation, and responsibility. And this says all.

Speaker 6 (01:52:05):
Of us agreed to all three of those. But it was.

Speaker 17 (01:52:07):
Clearly Atonement was the Muslim idea, Reconciliation was a Christian idea,
and responsibility and love life and struggle was the nationalist
community uh idea. And so we put that together. But
we agreed to all of all three of us Greek,
but in terms of how it was an operational unity document.

Speaker 6 (01:52:30):
That's another thing. I introduced the concept of operational unity
at the meeting and before unity and diversity, unity without uniformity,
Unity and first principal, Second unity and purpose. Third unity
in practice, Unity and purpose apartment Unity in principal, purpose

(01:52:52):
and practice.

Speaker 17 (01:52:53):
We have to start with principal. But to speak truth
two Justice, care for each other, be committed to honor
and our elders and our ancests, and cheerish and our
and challenging our chisen here for the poor and the
vulnerable among us, having right relationship with the environment.

Speaker 1 (01:53:12):
And doctor Kranker, I'm curious that when Minister Farca contacted
you and said he wanted to do a million man march,
did he tell you why how he conceived this this idea.

Speaker 6 (01:53:27):
No, No, we we we we we We didn't talk
that much about how we were going to do it.
We said we're going to meet and talk, and we
were kind of had a good iron understanding. So when we.

Speaker 17 (01:53:40):
Talked about it in Chicago, when we met, uh face
to face, well, you know, and had the meeting that
we just I was just describing with you, he was
he talked about the vision that he put forward that
it was a critical time for black men to stand
out and that that we were in a crisis. And

(01:54:02):
we all agreed that we were in a crisis that
only black men standing up can help pass through. And
we're in the midst of a major struggle, struggle for
the life and health and wellbeing of our community, and
we need to come together. And you know, the philosophy
actually is written out and based in the book. And

(01:54:24):
that's why it's so important because you know, Minister fact Coon,
you know, he's a religious leader, and he has visions
visions of things, you know, and the vision is usually
a religious vision, right, and so are the social issues
and the political issues. That's where we come in and
that's where we laid out certain things that need to

(01:54:48):
be done along the lines of you know, if you
if you read the mission statement, we went into challenges
for ourselves, challenging for the dovement, you know, challenging for corporations.
That kind of conversation he usually doesn't have. He usually
has a conversation for the spiritual uplifting about people. And

(01:55:13):
there's references to economics and some maybe some politics, but
mainly his is the spiritual well being of the people.

Speaker 1 (01:55:24):
All right, thirty minutes out the top of our family.
If you were at the Mailiam Man Marsh, let us
know if it changed. You reach out to us as well.
You can speak to doctor Milana Krenga at eight hundred
four or five zero seventy eight seventy six and doctor Crank.
You mentioned that you carved out a space for the women.
I'm sure the sisters were calling you guys and say, hey,
we run in on this. How did you break the
news to them that we want to let you in

(01:55:47):
but you're not going to be front and center.

Speaker 6 (01:55:49):
Yes, well, you know what's interesting about this, but it's
not it's not a real conversation. Phrase like that if
you say it has a even kind of an approach
to it, because it's like giving you a ticket to
do something where you ought to be in and out.
Our position is that our woman should always be beside us,

(01:56:11):
but sometimes we have to take care of certain things
that we will say, can we do this ourselves here?
Because unless we stand up, we can't stand together. And
I repeat that unless the black man stands up, then
the black men and women can't stand together and build
a family. And community and world we all want and

(01:56:32):
deserve to live in and build so we can leave
it as a legacy worthy of the name and history African.
So what we said is that, oh there's flexibility here.
We're going to all work together. The women who want
to participate can participate, right, but the focus and emphasis
must remain on the men, and men must be the major,

(01:56:59):
the major. What do we call facilitators of this march?
Otherwise the march? What is the march for? What's march for?
The march is a million man march.

Speaker 17 (01:57:12):
Later on we will have a million family march. But
we have to have a million man march to get
to the million family in march.

Speaker 6 (01:57:19):
And then we had to have a million women in
march to get to the family march. So we had
a million man march, we had a million.

Speaker 17 (01:57:25):
Women in march, and then we had a million family march.
That's the stage of it. And just like building fraternities,
building sarrarities, building men's group, building women group, there's nothing
wrong with that.

Speaker 6 (01:57:38):
And that's why.

Speaker 17 (01:57:39):
But what we had to do is change the language
the language.

Speaker 6 (01:57:42):
And that's why.

Speaker 17 (01:57:43):
If I seem to be meticulous about and careful about
this language is because I don't want to say we're
dominating with shutting.

Speaker 6 (01:57:52):
Out and all that.

Speaker 17 (01:57:53):
What we're doing is choosing a special space in which
men can come and talk. They reaffirm each other in
our soulfulness, our sacredness, the resilience and resource for us.
Our people are known for it, so that black men
can stand up and again, so if we stand up,
we can stand together with our women in a good

(01:58:16):
and meaningful ways.

Speaker 6 (01:58:17):
And also, as you know, had laid.

Speaker 17 (01:58:19):
On a million youth march, nobody said where the old
people in that?

Speaker 6 (01:58:23):
So we got to be able to do that without
their breath telling us we're oppress it.

Speaker 17 (01:58:28):
But if the language is not right, it looks like
instead of raising black men up, we're putting black women down,
and the pressor always plays on that and tries to
divide us rather than see this is not only a
contribution to black men standing up. It's a contribution to
the black man standing up, coming back, being with his

(01:58:52):
women in a rightful way, right without without the braggadocia,
without the violence, without their absence, out all those other
things that can happen if things go wrong and relations
are not rightful, if they're not rooted in mutual respect
and shared work, and and and and shared love and

(01:59:14):
shared struggle again to build a good world first a
good family, the good community, to good society.

Speaker 6 (01:59:21):
And the good world we all want and deserve to
live in.

Speaker 17 (01:59:25):
So that's why I'm very careful about the language. And again,
the women built the project called the Day of Absence,
and the day of Absence? Are they those that didn't
go to the march? They stayed home, and they uh
stayed in the city, in the home city, and they
built projects, teachings, broad casts from businesses and just just

(01:59:49):
discussing and organizing and discussing the meaning of this historic moment.
What black men coming together making a commitment to practice.

Speaker 6 (02:00:02):
Those three principles are told.

Speaker 17 (02:00:03):
Me, reconciliation and responsibility, And I like to talk about
those if we can. So the atonement had to do with,
you know, recognizing that we've got a problem and being
able to say it without seeming pathological. So sometimes, you know,
it's not that we don't have problem, but sometimes we
talk so bad about the problems we have, and we

(02:00:26):
generalize them so terrible that nobody's an outstanding. So if
we talk so bad about the black man that nobody's outstanding.
We can't even have a million man march, and we
can't have a million march because if we listen to
the propaganda of our president who's pathological himself and pathogenic,

(02:00:47):
not only sick but also producing sick people, then we
don't even have anybody to call the march. We don't
have anybody to organize the march. And here I wanted
to say, this is so important for us to make
this distinction and to give each other credit.

Speaker 6 (02:01:03):
For what we've done. And so I want to do that.

Speaker 17 (02:01:05):
First, give minutes of third time credit for the conception,
give the nation of it's time credit for forming the
fundamental structure, and then give credit to the over three
hundred and eighteen local organizing committees that came out of
that meeting that we had and continued with the work

(02:01:27):
that the nation had already begun to build this mark work.
Close to two million people came to b C and
did so without incident, and committed themselves first to atonement,
to consider and to.

Speaker 6 (02:01:45):
Admit the harm that has been done and that we
have not always done what we're supposed to do right.
And some of the language is very beautiful so I
just want to share it with you and so and
said that Toment is the best.

Speaker 1 (02:02:01):
Nown't you want hold that thought right there, Doctor Karenga,
I'll let you expand on a tony got this I
think is key to understanding of the what's behind the
scenes of the million man March and why he was
put on and doctor Krenge futures join his family was
part of the behind the scenes guys, one of the architects,
if you will, along with doctor Willie Wilson, and he
mentioned Ron Daniels. Some other folks were there when when

(02:02:22):
doctor when Minister Farker and called them to, you know,
say it was going to have a million who wants
a million brothers to come to Washington, DC? And they
pulled it off successfully. So we'll get into that as well.
You got a question about how it came down, reach
out to us at eight hundred four or five zero
seventy eight seventy six and will take all your phone
calls and Grand Rising family thanksually rolling with us on
this Thursday morning. I guess there's doctor Milana Karenga, many

(02:02:44):
of you know from putting a quoset together, but he
was an integral part of the Million Man March, and
today is the thirtieth anniversary of the Million Man March.
Those of you who attended, we like to know if
you were impacted by the march as well. Doctor kereng
is getting us some behind the scenes efforts it took
place to put the march together. I just want to
remind you that tomorrow is Friday, so we're going to

(02:03:04):
invite you all to Jonas for our open phone Friday
program again promptly at six am Eastern time, right here
in Baltimore on ten ten w LB. Also on the
DMV on AM fourteen fifteen w L. We start at
six am Eastern Thomas I mentioned, so be on time.
A lot of folks wait for the last minute. We
don't get a chance to hear from them. But let's
go back to doctor Korrenger. Doctor Krenger, you mentioned atonement.

(02:03:25):
How did that sector come in and for the folks
who don't understand why atonement and what does it really mean?

Speaker 17 (02:03:33):
Yeah, because that was one of the sticking points about that.
And before we leave, I wanted to make sure we
have time to discuss the new Mei Man March Mission
statement that I also also as a result of collaboration
and conversation with the thirtieth Anniversary me Mayn March Mission

(02:03:54):
Team Collective, the thirtieth Anniversary MEI Man March Collective, and
that's important.

Speaker 6 (02:04:01):
But also before we go, I wanted to make sure
we say, we had structures. So the Executive Council was
the group that helped put the group put the march
together in its final form. And then we had a
larger group with over that with the National Medium Man

(02:04:22):
March Day of Absent Organizing Committee. So the Medium Man
March Organized National Organizing Committee, but the Executive Council members included.
And this is in alphabetical orders so we know it.
It's not in terms of you know, the status and anything.
Certainly Minister Farkind is the first person we can name,

(02:04:44):
but just in fact put it like so I can
get all of them.

Speaker 17 (02:04:48):
So doctor Benjamin Chavish was an executive direction of the
Medium Man March Organized Committee. Uh doctor Ryan Daniels Campaign
for a New Tomorrow Men of course myself and then
uh Mawiena Caryati who was All African.

Speaker 6 (02:05:07):
People's Revolution of Party. She was the only woman owned.

Speaker 17 (02:05:10):
Executive committing and you know all African People's Party made
that a point. Uh certainly, uh uh that was important
for us uh too that again we don't exclude women,
but at the same time the men must be the
focus and the major factor in this. So mister Bob

(02:05:32):
Law was a million Man March citywide coordinating council for
New York, doctor Haki Matabuji, Third World Pressed, mister Lennard Muhammad,
the Nation of Islam, doctor Emia O by Daily Republic
of New Africa, Reverend doctor Frank Reid, who of course
bishop now better uh emeritus, that's the best. The African

(02:05:57):
Methodist Biscal Church, Reverend Willie will of course that we
mentioned already Union Temple Baptist Church, and doctor Conrad Ward,
the National Black United Front. So that formed that small
united group that was at the head of this in
terms of the executive council. But then we have this

(02:06:19):
national Mee Man March Organizing Committee where at the last
day there were as many, if not more women at
that organizing committee than men. But again men were the focus,
the empants and the fundamental facilitators and leaders of this organization,

(02:06:39):
and that was important. And of course at the head
of this was a Minister of Lewis Fahirkrid, whose idea
this was, but also who provided the basis structure in
the nation of Islam.

Speaker 6 (02:06:53):
So we always have to stress that again and again
because this was historic and we could talk about why
it was his to it in a few minutes after
we come back with answering your question about this idea
of a home man, and this was minutes of fra
Kn's idea. He put this down as fundamental to what
he was doing. And when you.

Speaker 17 (02:07:13):
Asked me about his ideas again, I told you his
ideas were mainly spiritually grounded, and so were the Christians,
even though they have a practical aspect to it. They
would bring forward this spirture idea. So by toment we
defined in this statement that a toment in the best

(02:07:35):
spiritual and ethical sense is to recognize wrongs done and
make amends, to be self critical and self corrected. It
means turning inward and assessing the right and the wrong,
recognizing shortcoming and committing ourselves to correct them. Coment means
being always concerned about standing worthy before the Creator, before others,

(02:07:58):
and before the creat being humble enough to admit mistakes
and wrong and to bold, be bold enough to correct them.
And so then we may just spledge and say to
the extent that we have failed to do all that
we can in the way we can, to make ourselves
in our community the best of what it means to
be African and human. We ask forgiveness from the Creator

(02:08:22):
and each other.

Speaker 6 (02:08:23):
And therefore we dare.

Speaker 17 (02:08:25):
To atone number one for all the offenses, all the
offenses intentional and unintentional, against the Creator, against others, and
against the Creation, especially those offenses caused by accepting the
worst and weakest conceptions of ourself. That's like the first
problem when we accept weak and wrong and nakeadive and

(02:08:50):
noxious conceptous conceptions of ourselfs. Because how we understand ourself
determines how we assert ourselves in the world. And if
we have diminished conceptions of ourself.

Speaker 6 (02:09:01):
That's how we will assert ourselves.

Speaker 17 (02:09:03):
The second we said a tone for not always following
the best teachings of our spiritual and ethical tradition of Islam, Christianity,
Hebrewism or Judaism and Hebrewisms, Black Hebrewism, My your our time,
cow eater and all others in sacrifices and ignoring the

(02:09:23):
spiritual ethical in pursuit of material things. Also, we've ton
for over focusing on the personal at the expense of
the collective needs of our families and our community.

Speaker 6 (02:09:35):
We're told for collaborating in our own.

Speaker 17 (02:09:37):
Oppression by embracing ideas, institutions, and practices which deny our
human dignity, limit our freedom, and dim or disguise the
spark of divinity in all of us. We're tone for
failing to contribute in a substantial and meaningful way and sustained,
diminish way to the struggles of our people for freedom, injustice,

(02:10:01):
and to building the moral community in which we all
want to live. With tone for failing to do as
much as we can to protect and prepare the environment
through practicing and struggling for environmentally friendly patterns of consumption
and production. With tone for any time we've turned a
blind eye to injustice, an a depth ear to truth,

(02:10:23):
or an uncaring heart away from the suffering and pain
around us. With tone for not resisting as much as
we can set this ideas and practices in society and
then our own relations, and failing to uphold the principle
of equal rights, partnership and responsibility of men and women
in life, love and struggle.

Speaker 6 (02:10:45):
And we're Town for.

Speaker 17 (02:10:46):
Lacking the moral consideration and human sensitivity toward others that
we want for ourselves. And finally, we are Tone for
not always practicing the seven principles in Gusosaba unity, self determination,
collective work and responsibility, cooperative economic purpose, creativity, and faith.

Speaker 6 (02:11:08):
And therefore we commit and recommit ourselves to this day
and afterwards to constantly strive to be better person, to
live fuller and more meaningful life, to build strong, loving
any Galateeeran families, and to struggle to make our community,
our society, and the world a better pace in which

(02:11:29):
to live. That is how we explain atonement.

Speaker 1 (02:11:36):
All right, eight hundred and four or five zero seventy
eight seventy six, ten minutes away from the top of
Mark's calling from Baltimore, has a question for doctor Karenga.
Is online too, Grand Rise and Mark your question for
doctor Karenga.

Speaker 16 (02:11:48):
Oh okay, good, we are our work.

Speaker 1 (02:11:52):
All right, Mark's not ready. Let's move on to line three.
Thomas is in Washington, DC. Grand Rise in Thomas and.

Speaker 15 (02:12:00):
Rising, I will say, long live the spirit of the
Million Man March. I was there I was there, and
I remember it as if it was yesterday. I think,
by now, do you think this is a question, brother Karinga,
By now do you think that, like they say, we

(02:12:23):
can talk and to bubblegum at the same time. Next
week October twenty fifth, nineteen ninety seven was the Million
Women March, which will be next weekend, and it would
be more focused on Howard's homecoming and the Woman's March

(02:12:43):
will not even be mentioned. Don't you think by now
we should combine the two efforts? By now? Thirty years later,
the Million Women March was a grassroots protest and when
they walked down the street, they were chatting. By the thousands,

(02:13:05):
we are at war. And now when we see three
hundred thousand black women has been fired from their jobs,
I think it is time. Do you think it's time
that we correlate the two together and highlight that because
the mother is the first teacher the child. So don't

(02:13:26):
you think now, by now we should be correlating those
two movements together and make a strong power fit in
a new movement of a march as correlating them two together.

Speaker 1 (02:13:40):
All right, and let's give them a chance to respond.
Thanks Thomas thanks your call, Doctor Karrenga.

Speaker 6 (02:13:45):
Yes, Tom, you know you're right.

Speaker 17 (02:13:47):
I mean, how could I make it argue against us
being together black men and black women.

Speaker 6 (02:13:53):
And that's essential. No matter what other relationships we.

Speaker 17 (02:13:56):
Had, Black men and women are central to the founding
of the world and the continuation of the world. We
can't move away from that. No matter what other discussions
we have, we cannot move away from that.

Speaker 6 (02:14:10):
So certainly is that So the only thing I would do.

Speaker 17 (02:14:12):
I wouldn't start by criticizing or making it look as
if black people are not doing something they ought to
do it in a pathriological way. But I would put
it in something let's do this and then we praise
both of them, rather than refer to negative things people
are not doing. Let's say what otitively is being done right?

(02:14:36):
And if somebody thought of this before this day, the sixteenth,
when the march is on, right, So we're not going
to do much about that except Cark and maybe go in.
He doesn't like even if he wanted to do it.
You know, he had to open up and say people
come in.

Speaker 6 (02:14:54):
And talk about the march.

Speaker 17 (02:14:55):
To let the million women in march. And by the way,
it was two million march was as large as ours,
if not larger, and I wanted to give them credit
for that, Sister Filey and other one of the sisters
that helped build the march. But I wanted to say
that they should be praised and also should have conversation

(02:15:18):
in their own space as well as here, so we
have time to build for them and to talk about
this and if they want to and we get together
and build it, yes, but they have to have the
initiative as well as us. We're supposed to reach out,
but it's their decision. If we make the decision that
about me man March, then they must make the decision

(02:15:41):
about to me and.

Speaker 6 (02:15:42):
Woman Mark and how it works. But you know you're right.

Speaker 17 (02:15:47):
Unity is always good, but it has to be a
principal unity, a purpose for unity, and a practice unity
as well as a discuss doing it. So that's what
I would I would say, yes, yes, we need to
do that, but let's always put our conversation in a
positive way to say what we should do rather than

(02:16:08):
what we haven't done, What should we do?

Speaker 6 (02:16:10):
What is to be done? And then what have we done?
So that we can build on the best of our
ideas and practices so.

Speaker 17 (02:16:18):
That we can build a good world we all want
and deserve to live in. And of course the family
is a foundation of that.

Speaker 1 (02:16:26):
All right, and thank you for your call, Thomas. We'll
come up on a break, doctor karng Go when we
come back, though, a question for you, a tweeted question,
do you think anybody else in the black community could
have pulled us off? I guess it's implying that only
Minister Farkhan could have done that could have made this
the success the Million Man March family? What are your thoughts?
Did you attend a million Man March? Let us know

(02:16:47):
if it did he change you, let us know about
that too. And if you didn't tell us why, you
didn't know why you were opposed to it, you know,
you don't have to you don't have to hide. Let
us know because not everybody was down with the march. Now,
let's let's remember that. But uh, we got to step
aside so some of our stations can identify themselves down
the line. We'll come back with doctor Karenga's answer. Hopefully
Mark in Baltimore is ready for us as well. You
too can join our conversation. Just reach out to us

(02:17:09):
at eight hundred four or five zero seventy eight seventy
six on ticket phone calls next and grand Rising family,
thanks are staying with us on this Thursday morning. Our
guess is doctor Malana Karenga, doctor Kring of course the
creative quandjet, but also he was one of the behind
the scenes persons for a million Man March. And today
is the thirdieth anniversary of the Million Man March and
all sorts of events taking place to commemorate the thirtieth

(02:17:32):
anniversary of the march. He helped put it together, wrote
the mission statement if you will for the million Man March.
She liked to speak to him eight hundred four or
five zero seventy eight seventy six. And doctor Krank before
we left, had a tweeter wanted to know if you
think that only minister Farkh could have pulled us off?
Could any other person to pulled it off other than
minister Farakhn.

Speaker 6 (02:17:51):
I appreciate what you said.

Speaker 17 (02:17:52):
If I'm saying, Gwen, it's a beautiful question, and it's
to pay right for hobbies a minute for fair cut.

Speaker 6 (02:17:58):
I mean we can never as Musids say, we're forever grateful,
you know, to him for the work he's done for
the ideas. But I also want us to remember it
was his initiative, right, but it required the people to
make it work. And I said this, and I said
this again. I created Quansa, but without the Black people

(02:18:23):
celebrating it and bracing it at their own, it would
not be this worldwide a holiday and value system practice
and uniting us in ways nothing else does.

Speaker 17 (02:18:37):
And every continent in the world throughout the world, African
community celebrated by means of people.

Speaker 6 (02:18:43):
Right.

Speaker 17 (02:18:44):
So yes, Men's of Firkin deserves they're great praise for
conceiving the idea, but equally, and see this is important
for me answering the invitation of history. I want Black
people to give credit to our people, to each person
who has a great idea increats great things, but I

(02:19:06):
want them to put it in the context of the
history of the.

Speaker 6 (02:19:09):
People, so the people are never far from making everything work.
We've got to give our people more credit without denying
the credit to the person that did what they did. Right.

Speaker 17 (02:19:22):
Sometimes people give too much credit to the anonymous people
and they don't can't explain anything what the people did.
That's because they don't spend a lot of time saying
what the people did. So what I think is very
important for us to say is.

Speaker 6 (02:19:36):
That, yes, minister fair Kind was the man of the
hour who accepted the invitation of history, the invitation of
history at a critical time when we said, you know, like,
we are conscious of the critical juncture of history in
which we live and the challenge it poses for us.
And we're concerned about the increasing racism and the continue

(02:20:00):
commitment the white supremacy in this country to deteriorating social condition,
degradation of the environment, the impact and the impact of
this on our community.

Speaker 17 (02:20:12):
The large society and the world. And we're committed to
the ongoing struggle for a free and empowered community, a
just society, and a better world. A Minnester fair Kinds
stepped out on the stage of history and called us
to act on this issue. And then the nation give
it also credit when you're talking. So you've got a

(02:20:32):
larger We got a larger history, right, and we've got
to do it without.

Speaker 6 (02:20:37):
Diminishing quest started from right. And then the second thing,
the thirty three hundred and eighteen plugs local Organizing Committee.
Don't forget them. This was not magic. This, like FEDO said,
we are the ones who make the magic. We're the
ones who make the miracles. It's the people that make
the magic and the miracles, right, So Minnester fair can

(02:21:00):
all said. The nation gives a fundamental structure for it, right,
and the practice and the core group for it. And
then the three one hundred and eighteen.

Speaker 17 (02:21:09):
Local organizing committit. And then of course the million men
and women.

Speaker 6 (02:21:13):
Supporters who worked, you know, who put the thing together,
came to whet and who got the buses right through
the and got the tickets and exend and playing it
all coming different way. And finally, of course I'm back
to our people. I begin with our people and I
end with our people who were never ending right, our.

Speaker 17 (02:21:32):
People who welcomed this historic initiative bi Minister fact time
and the nation supported it as persons, supported it, as families,
supported it, as communities and as a people conscious of
itself and obviously struggling to be itself, to free itself.
And that's what made it historically significant, and we wrote

(02:21:56):
about the historical significance of it.

Speaker 6 (02:21:58):
It was agnificant first.

Speaker 17 (02:22:00):
Because it was a timely and necessary statement and challenge
both to ourselves and the country in the time of
increasing racism, a tax on hard won gains, just like
now and continually deteriorating condition for the poor and the vulnerable,
and therefore in urgent time for transformative and progressive leadership.

Speaker 6 (02:22:22):
It is a tire historical.

Speaker 17 (02:22:23):
Significant because it was a celebration apart me a declaration
of the resolve.

Speaker 6 (02:22:28):
Of black men in particular and the Black.

Speaker 17 (02:22:31):
Community in general to mobilize and to struggle, to maintain
hard won gains, resist evil and wrong wherever we find it,
and to continue to.

Speaker 6 (02:22:41):
Push our lives in history forward.

Speaker 17 (02:22:43):
And need is historically significant because it is a reaffirmation
of our self understanding, as I said, as a people,
that we are only liberators black people, that no matter
how numerous or sincere, our allies are the greatest burdens
to be born and the most severe sacrifices to be
made for liberation or essentially our own, our own black

(02:23:06):
people who are also a significant because this was an
effective way to reinforce and expand discussion on critical issues
confronting our people, the country, and the world, and put forth,
our position owns these That's why we've got to talk
about And you're doing this, car and I'm so glad
you do it. Every year you do it.

Speaker 6 (02:23:28):
Talk about the mission statement and the issues. We got
to talk about the issues. Awfter we praise the people,
we got to talk about what they need and what
we must kill.

Speaker 17 (02:23:39):
You to struggle for. This is historical significant also because
it was both an example and encouragement of operational unity.
One of the most important things for me call is
the operational unity. That it required a unity in diversity,
a unity without uniformity, and a unity owned and purpose

(02:24:02):
principle and practice or principal purpose and practice and for
our collective good. And it was significant. It remains ongoing
and significant because it was a galvanized and mobilizing process
to raise consciousness, to cultivate commitment, and lay the groundwork
to increased positive social political economics by activity and finding them.

(02:24:26):
It was a necessary contribution to our ancient and living
moral tradition, the speaking truth to power and to the
people and seeking power for the vulnerable, justice for the injured, right.

Speaker 6 (02:24:41):
For the wrong, and liberation for their breasts. That's the
beauty of it, and that's how we have to talk
about it. Otherwise we reduce our discussion to personalities and
we forget that then the far kind came as a
person who was sensortive to the suffering and struggle of

(02:25:02):
our people, and he accepted the invitation of history which
called him for it, our people called him for it.
For that, I mean, that's how I see it. That's
how I always be.

Speaker 17 (02:25:14):
It, in historical terms and in people terms, and it
still leaves him with the rightful phrase, uh and recognition
he deserves.

Speaker 1 (02:25:26):
Got you And after the top of the doctor Milana Krangers,
I guess he's one of the architects of the Million
Man Martian Days. The thirtieth anniversary of that march marks
joining us. He's in Baltimore's online too, Grand Rising Market.
I'm with doctor Karenga.

Speaker 18 (02:25:39):
Hey, Grand Rising guys are happy, uh with his thirtieth
Man of Burns three of the Meridian Man margin. Yes,
and thank you doctor Krenga for for the Kuans of the principles.
But my question is because because me and Carl always
say this, we got to do better. And uh, people,
what's her name? My modirl I was gone now, but

(02:26:02):
she came. She said the counter racist behavior, Doctor Welson.
They put the onus on us, just like you said.

Speaker 6 (02:26:11):
And that's you know.

Speaker 16 (02:26:12):
That's why I'm so disturbed and what we're doing to
each other, what we do to we don't have any
respect for.

Speaker 18 (02:26:19):
Our seniors and stuff like that.

Speaker 16 (02:26:21):
Even a lot of the young politicians think they know
more than us. So what do you think about it?
And I think this could be a day of self reflection.

Speaker 6 (02:26:32):
Jabe, appreciate what you said.

Speaker 15 (02:26:34):
Brother.

Speaker 6 (02:26:36):
I just think thank you for your question. Always, thanks
for the question. I want to go back to what
I said.

Speaker 17 (02:26:43):
Let's phrase that differently. In other words, let us say
that what we want to do is increase greater respect
from my youth for our elders. That way, we give
credit to those youths that due respect, and we don't
look like a totally pathological people are always fighting the

(02:27:05):
same problem, never seem to get anywhere, Okay, So I
want us to say that, yes, we always. And one
of the points we make in the million man mark
there some mission statement is that we must be of people,
and I repeated it in the current mission statement.

Speaker 6 (02:27:25):
We must always be able to say that we.

Speaker 17 (02:27:28):
Are our elders and our ancestors, cherish and challenge our children.
We must have that at the poor and we must
challenge our youth, even as we cherish them, and sometimes
we cherish them to a fault because we think just
loving them is enough. No, we've got to cherish and
challenge there, challenge them to be the best of what

(02:27:48):
it means to be African and human.

Speaker 6 (02:27:50):
We always say in our organization US and then.

Speaker 17 (02:27:53):
Our philosophy kawaia Africa means excellent. African means excellence.

Speaker 6 (02:27:58):
Right. If it doesn't mean that, what doesn't mean.

Speaker 17 (02:28:01):
And we must strive and see ourselves as an excellent people,
as a sacred people, as a soulful people. And we
can't do that if we keep talking about the pathology,
and don't we and put it in pathologically we can
have problems. And I'm not saying don't talk about a problem.
You know, we got to read problem right because if
we don't, well he's a problem.

Speaker 6 (02:28:22):
We can't solve the problem.

Speaker 4 (02:28:23):
Right.

Speaker 6 (02:28:24):
But at the same time, it's how we pose it right.

Speaker 17 (02:28:27):
That's what I want us to do, is to see
ourselves as constantly unfolding, constly struggling to be the best
of what it means to be African and human in
the fullest sense of the world.

Speaker 6 (02:28:40):
So when you and Carl say we got to do better.
You're right, you know you're right, because.

Speaker 17 (02:28:46):
We believe in progressive perfection. So we do have plaateaud
we reach them, give us credit for doing something, and
then say let's do more.

Speaker 6 (02:28:55):
Let's do more. But that's what we are and that's
what I like. I always tell people in case we're rushing,
don't have a chance to say our wonders always the
praise of people. And remember the teaching of our ancestors
and our eldest who taught us for example, Nana Howard Therman.
Nina again means honored one. And these are people we

(02:29:16):
use for who have passed. But you know, I know
it's also used in Ghana and other and certainly and
the Diasthea for hundred people living. But we in our
Organs who mainly use it for the people who passed.
And I want to just in terms of reaffirming the
beauty and goodness and strength uh doability, residings and resource
for the soulfulness and sacredness of our people. These three

(02:29:39):
quotes by these UH ancestors uh So Nana Howard Thermann
tells us we are people who rides the storm and
remain intact. Nana gren Brook tells us, we are people
who conduct our very blooming and the noise and whip
for the world win. And Nana Nanny Baras tells us
we are people who specialize and the holy impossible. So

(02:30:02):
we do things that we.

Speaker 17 (02:30:04):
Must recognize and take credit for. And that's again, why
tell us talk about the people. We can talk about
the persons.

Speaker 6 (02:30:12):
Right, give them credit.

Speaker 17 (02:30:13):
Don't ever do that. Don't substitute compraising the people and
leaving out the persons that make the people proud that
that actually facilitates the people struggle. Right, these people give
so much, our teachers, our leaders, our creators, you know,
our parents, all these people, our coaches, our our mentors,

(02:30:36):
all these people that make us possible.

Speaker 6 (02:30:39):
Always give them credit, but always see them in the
context of our community, both national.

Speaker 17 (02:30:45):
And world and African as well as national. Right, So
that's what that's what I would say.

Speaker 6 (02:30:52):
So, yes, I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (02:30:56):
Thanks Mark thirteen half the top l Let's go to Buffalo.
Bob's there, he's online. Three grand Rising Bobby are on
with doctor Krenga.

Speaker 5 (02:31:04):
Yeah, blessed love family, Doctor Kringer. Thank you for all
that you have done and all that you will do.
My question is, as we move forward towards this year's
Kwanza celebration and move forward towards the new year, what
can we do to prepare ourselves for the Quansa season,
for the new year and move us forward to being

(02:31:24):
any closer to being a free, proud and productive people.
How do we prepare for this year's Quansa and this
season that we're in.

Speaker 17 (02:31:33):
A scientist science, thank you again so much for your
question and signing for the positiveness yet, and thank.

Speaker 6 (02:31:40):
You for the work you do. I'm sure your work.

Speaker 17 (02:31:43):
Your consciousness reflects that. So yes, the first thing we
can do is to stand done foundation and again, since
Kwanza is a holiday that calls us together and ways
no other holiday us with principles like none other, that

(02:32:03):
unites us regardless of our difference, unites us in our difference,
in our diversity, and tells us to stand together on
hallowed ground, sacred ground, the sacred ground of our culture
and Kwanza is.

Speaker 6 (02:32:24):
What we do is prepare for it by remembering why
it's created. You know, we.

Speaker 17 (02:32:29):
Created it as first an instrument of freedom. It's a
freedom holiday, and we have to think about that. It
created as an instrument of freedom of self determination.

Speaker 6 (02:32:43):
Right.

Speaker 17 (02:32:43):
We didn't ask people, We didn't ask the state or
the city, or the county or the country to make
our holiday a national holiday. We made it a national
and international holiday.

Speaker 6 (02:32:57):
So think about that. We got the free ourselves to
be ourselfs. Quansa is organized around that fundamental principle being ourselves,
so we can free ourselves and being ourselves and freeing
ourselves in the way we live our lives, do our
work and weighs our struggle. In other words, we've got
to put the principles in practice to prepare for Quansa

(02:33:19):
and to prepare for the life we must live, the
work we must do, and the struggle we must weigh.
Quansa was not only created as an instrument of freedom
because I created in the context of the Black Freedom movement.
And I left the UCLA working on my doctor and
ask myself, what can I do to advance the struggle
of our people?

Speaker 17 (02:33:40):
And we say, let's build.

Speaker 6 (02:33:41):
An institution that harnesses the injured, the energy of the people,
that directs them forward. This dual struggle. We had to
be ourselves and to free ourselves and to build a
good world. We all want and deserve to live in
and leave as a legacy worthy of the name and
history African seconds. It's created, EGI not only an instrument

(02:34:06):
of freedom, but an active freedom. I'm sorry, I'd say
the instrument. It's an active freedom, the.

Speaker 1 (02:34:15):
Active You a hold up thought right there, doctor karank
because we got to step aside for a moment. I'll
let you finish your thought. And this is great because, uh,
you know, people the question get all the time, how
did you come up with quants of why you created quants?
I said, this is give you a chance to They
can hear it from you, especially because you know asking
me the questions and I can only relay, but they'll
get the first hand from you. Family. You two, you
want to join our conversation with doctor Milana Karenka, the

(02:34:36):
man who created quantsa also is much more than that.
He was one of the key components who helped put
together the Million Man March. He wrote the mission statement
for the march as well. Reach out to us if
you got a question for him at eight hundred and
four or five zero seventy eight seventy sixth and will
take all their phone calls next staying with us on
this Thursday morning, the anniversary of the Million Man March.
One of the architects at the March is here with

(02:34:57):
us right now. Doctor Milana Karenka also created the Pan
African holiday Kwanza. And the question I think was Bob
and Buffalo posed about Quanta. How should we go preparing
for Quanza coming up later this year? And I'll let
doctor Kurranger finish respond, and also if you'll tell us
if he managed to weave some of the seven principles
of Kwanza into the mission statement for the Million Man BArch.

(02:35:19):
So doctor Kranger, your.

Speaker 17 (02:35:20):
Thoughts, yes, So thanks very much again for the question.
And let me just say real quick, because.

Speaker 6 (02:35:27):
I know we got a lot to cover and I
haven't done. You know, I did as told me.

Speaker 17 (02:35:31):
I didn't do reconciliation and responsibility and I.

Speaker 6 (02:35:34):
Like to do those quickly. I know I have to
be shot on by answer, so.

Speaker 4 (02:35:38):
Let me just do that.

Speaker 6 (02:35:39):
I was likeing real quick.

Speaker 17 (02:35:41):
So I was talking about the first thing I'd said,
Kwanza was an act of freedom, so we have to
practice the principles and end by saying the principles are
liberating principles. But first, Quanza was created as an act
of freedom. And so I created Quanja for four basic reasons.
One and I'm just say them and then we can
discuss later. One was to contribute, as I said earlier,

(02:36:04):
to the Black freedom movement. And so Quansu was an
act of freedom, and it was self determined. We didn't
ask anybody. We established it. Second, it was an instrument
of freedom. That is, it helped to raise consciousness.

Speaker 6 (02:36:16):
Take us back to black right and to root us
in the oldest culture in the world and to learn
the best of it and to tell the best of
its sacred narrative. Right, it's focus on it.

Speaker 17 (02:36:27):
It's a celebration of freedom. Time to celebrate ourselves, sing ourselves.

Speaker 6 (02:36:31):
Speak our special culture truth right.

Speaker 17 (02:36:34):
And to talk about the beauty and the meaning of
being black, the moral obligation to bring good in the world,
to do good, to continue the tradition of our ancestors.

Speaker 6 (02:36:46):
To be ourselves into free ourselves. And there was a
practice of freedom.

Speaker 17 (02:36:50):
Right Kansas created as a practice of freedom because when
we practice the values, we free ourselves. When we practice
Emoja unity, we free ourselves from disunity. When we practice
self and we lieve ourselves open, not just as a negative.

Speaker 6 (02:37:06):
We don't do these things at the all.

Speaker 17 (02:37:08):
It leaves us open to do a myriad of things,
unlimited things we can do. So when we practice umoja unity,
it's a good in itself, but it frees us to
do good things and frees.

Speaker 6 (02:37:21):
Us from disunity.

Speaker 17 (02:37:22):
When we practice self determination, it frees us from slavishness
right and freeze us so we can act as free
men and women, boys and girls.

Speaker 6 (02:37:32):
Right.

Speaker 17 (02:37:33):
When we practice you, when we practice ujima collective work
and responsibility, it frees us from being vulgarly individualistic and
praying on each other. It trees us.

Speaker 6 (02:37:46):
To do good for each other. And when we do ujaman,
it frees us to share working world, to build a
good world we all want and.

Speaker 17 (02:37:54):
Deserve to live in. And when we practice neal purpose
right the collective oftion, do you know of building our
people so that they can return through and recapture.

Speaker 6 (02:38:08):
Their historical greatness? And we know greatness is not making
big things a pretty thing. For the who said that
teaches us the wiser known for the wisdom, but the
great or known for the good deeds, flees us to
do good in the world on a large scale. And
I find that, of course, uh uh. The practice of Koomba,

(02:38:29):
just think of that frees us from destructive to nhs
and opens the vision for us to create goodness and
beauty in the world and possibilities in the.

Speaker 17 (02:38:39):
World and find the mining.

Speaker 6 (02:38:41):
Faith frees us from this relief, disbelief in ourselves right,
dis relief in our people, in our parents and our teachers,
our leaders, dis belief in the righteousness and victory of
our cult. And it frees us to.

Speaker 17 (02:38:56):
Believe with all our hearts and our people, our peers, us,
our teachers, our leaders. And then the righteousness and victory
of our struggle, that's the beauty of it.

Speaker 6 (02:39:06):
And then the second reason I created cons were not only.

Speaker 17 (02:39:09):
To contribute to the freedom of our people, but to
return us to our culture, which is the stentile conversation
we have. Second, to bring us together in the way
that no other holiday or princes had, you know, give
us the time, as African people all over the world
to come together. We affirm the bonds between us and

(02:39:30):
meditate on the awsome meaning of being African in the world.
What does it mean to be African in the world,
to be the fathers and mothers of humanity and human civilization,
right to be the sound and daughters of the holocaust
of enslavement, to be the authors and heirs or the
reaffirmation of the sixes, and to be the people who

(02:39:51):
ride the storm and remain intact, who conduct their blew
meat in the noise and whip, where the world win,
and who special lied and the holy impossible.

Speaker 6 (02:39:59):
This is what quansam means.

Speaker 17 (02:40:01):
Prepare for it in that sense and final of course,
I created quansam do introduce community and values. And at
the core of this are the community and values we
call in Ghuzo Saba the seventh Principles, which are dedicated
with Kwanzi, is a celebration of family, community and culture.

(02:40:22):
And these principles are created to build, to stay and
constantly push forward family, community and culture.

Speaker 1 (02:40:33):
All right, and my question, did you get a chance
to weave in this? Are the some of the elements,
some of the principles of concert into the mission statement
for the million man March all through it.

Speaker 17 (02:40:45):
In Gizo, that's in the question of entement. It's in
the final statement of what we should do. And one
of the fundamental things we have in terms of going
away that we have to it's under section called continue
practice and principle.

Speaker 6 (02:40:59):
We said that we must.

Speaker 17 (02:41:01):
In fact, finally we say we must embrace and practice
a common set of principle that reaffirm and strengthen family, community,
and culture and those other thin in Ghuzosabad the seven
principles e Moja unity, could jugula self determination, Ujima, collective
work and responsibility, ujaman cooperative economic nia, purpose, kumber creativity

(02:41:24):
and in minding faith. That's just before the closing or
the conclusion. We reaffirm it and it's worked through there
in terms of the kind of politics we want to practice,
of politics of unity, not disunity, an economic of shared
work and well right, it just goes right on right
in terms of projects we should have because it calls

(02:41:45):
for a togetherness. And at the end, Moja is the
first and most funded. I shouldn't say most. This is
a first principle and a foundational principle because with our unity,
we can't build families, we can't have friendship, we can't
build community, we can't struggle and win. Second, we put
faith at the end because we do get weary and

(02:42:08):
if we don't believe in ourselves, believe in that creator,
believe in our mothers, our fathers, our sister brother, grandmothers
and grandfathers, our elders, our youth. Believe in all that
makes us beautiful and strong, right, and believe that to
hard work, long struggle, and a whole lot of love
and understanding, we can again step back on the stage

(02:42:31):
of even history as a free, proud and productive people.

Speaker 6 (02:42:34):
We must believe that, and we must believe it in practice,
all right.

Speaker 1 (02:42:40):
Twenty eight afters out there before you mentioned a tone
before we go to the other two elements that put
forth in a miliam Man March. Second, Ray, I hope
I'm gonnask the name correctly in Vegas. Has a question
for you on lying too, grand Rising. Second, Ray, I
hope I'm pronounce your name correctly. I'm with doctor Karrenga.

Speaker 19 (02:42:56):
Yes, yes, the second and right, thank you, Carl Grant Rising,
Doctor Curenzo.

Speaker 6 (02:43:05):
Right.

Speaker 19 (02:43:05):
Yes, I went to I went to the Millionaire in March,
and it was the most moving event in my life.
So I never experienced anything like that.

Speaker 4 (02:43:21):
And I feel as if.

Speaker 19 (02:43:26):
Uh Fara con and all the other leaders at that
time bringing us together, it was something for us to
take the next step, uh and not their responsibility to
keep us on that path, you know, the awakening and
and knowledge that we were supposed to seek, you know,

(02:43:49):
So from that point, I mean, I have that picture
on my wall in my house today of the million
man march and where uh the sisters that were there,
they had signs and saying you know, we love you, brother,
we support you.

Speaker 4 (02:44:06):
And it was the most moving.

Speaker 19 (02:44:11):
Moment and time in my life to help me continue
on my journey to some of the things I have
done from that event, even though excuse me, even though
we had some people say it was a failure, but
we had to realize that we are war and that

(02:44:34):
they're gonna say negative things to keep us from uniting,
and so regardless of what anyone got out of it,
it was for us to continue to go towards the light,
to understand the knowledge and our history and where we
came from. And so from there my journey has been

(02:44:57):
you know, I've been to Africa several times down and
still seeking the knowledge and still learning you know from
a lot of other scholars who you know, is a
continual education. And so I just want to express that
it was the most important event and I would never

(02:45:18):
forget it, and I don't think anyone who went to
it or did it should ever forget it.

Speaker 1 (02:45:26):
So I just wanted to say that, you know, all right,
give him a chance to respond. I think it's a
second rate for Colns from Vegas, doctor Krenger. He got
something out of the march.

Speaker 17 (02:45:37):
Yes, he got something, and so important, and so many
media's got something out of the march. And I wanted
to just say, let's again, you know, I'm positive, let's
not even mention the negative things people say.

Speaker 6 (02:45:52):
Let's say what we.

Speaker 17 (02:45:53):
Got out of it is just what you just said,
my brother, and let's say what it means, right, And
so yes, it was a spiritual experience, and that it
was reaffirming of our worthiness, our beautifulness, our capacity to
stand as one and to demand our rights right and
to recommit ourselves to the best of what it means

(02:46:16):
to be African and human in the fullish.

Speaker 6 (02:46:18):
Sense of the world.

Speaker 17 (02:46:20):
It was also a political experience, a political experience of
modeling organized power and to teach us what we can
do when we dare to exert ourselves right, when we
dare to come together and think deep about our lives,
about our struggle, about.

Speaker 6 (02:46:39):
The work we must do to bring good into the world.
But here's the key. The last thing is it must
be morally instructive and morally compelling. It must become a
moral imperative, just like it's a moral imperative that we
speak truth and we do justice. It's a moral imperitive

(02:47:00):
we continue to struggle that we keep the faith, that
we hold the line right when you say that they
did what they could is on us. No, it's theirs too.
They can't sit down. I don't sit down right, I
said when I passed, I wanted to be at a meeting,
on the way for the meeting, or just came from meeting.

(02:47:22):
I want us to know we must always struggle for
good in the world, not just for ourselves, but because
we on our incessus, we improve our presence and we
lay the basis for imagining and forging a whole new
future in the most ethical, effective and expansive ways. And

(02:47:42):
so we must make the Million Man March and this
mission statement and the things that it has, the policy
program that it has morally imperative on our on our
on our own self in terms of our responsibility, which
we're gonna deal with in a minute, and also in
terms of holding the oppressive responsible struggling to create and

(02:48:07):
expand free space and inclusive and good space for everyone.

Speaker 17 (02:48:12):
But it's specially ourselves, and we.

Speaker 6 (02:48:14):
Have to have at the core of our struggle always
to achieve African and human good and the well being
of the world and all in it.

Speaker 17 (02:48:23):
You notice that, and people sometimes move past it. But
I want us to remember that we not only had
our African concept of what it means to be human
and not stress on the human We stressed on the
well being of the earth itself, the basis for our life.

Speaker 6 (02:48:39):
Right. And this is in ninety five, right, And so
I just want y'all to know you got to go
back to the basic.

Speaker 17 (02:48:46):
Just like we read our sacred text and find things
that we're supposed to do and we're morally instructed to
do and morally compelled to do. I think we need
to look at the Mission Statement if we want it
keep it going. We have to remember what we're supposed
to do and what we committed ourselves do. And we
committed ourselves to atonement, right, And we committed ourselves and

(02:49:09):
that is admitting wrongs and correcting them and seeing ourselves
in larger ways. Right, And then we practice reconciliation and
reconciliation was we called for reconciliation, which is a companion
practice of atonement, for it means for us to bring
oneself in harmony with the Creator, with others and with

(02:49:30):
the creation. And so this reconciliation means we call for
all of us to settle disputes, overcome conflict, put aside
grudges and hatreds in our personal and social relationships and
in between our organizations and institutions, in the spirit of
brotherhood and sisterhood a community, we call on us to

(02:49:53):
reject and oppose communal, family and personal violence, and to
strive to build and sustain loving, mutually, respectful, and reciprocal relationship.

Speaker 6 (02:50:03):
In a word, to seek the good, to find it,
to embrace it, and hold that thought.

Speaker 1 (02:50:08):
Right there, doctor Krengker, we've got to take our last break.
I'll let you finish tell us about reconciliation. Wow, this
is really deep. If you just checking in family. Our
guess is doctor Kreenka. He's one of the architects of
the Million Man March. He wrote the mission statement, and
he's telling us why he put the statement together and
some of the ideals that are in the statement that
he collected from the year seven principles of Quansa. What

(02:50:29):
are your thoughts? You want to join this discussion, reach
out to us at eight hundred four or five zero
seventy eight seventy six and we'll take your phone calls
next and Grand Rising family in facts for staying with us.
On this Thursday morning, the anniversary of the Million Man March,
we have one of the founders, the architect behind the
scenes who worked on the Million Man March in Minister
Farca and doctor Milana Krenka, the person who created Quanja,

(02:50:49):
and he's given us some of the elements that he
put together in the Million March Mission Statement eight hundred
four to five zero seventy eight to seventy six. To
speak to him. Before we do that, let me just
remind you tomorrow is another Friday, and then we give
you another edition of Upper for on Friday, we give
you a chance to free your mind. All that means
it's a thing for yourself. You can join us start
at six am Eastern time right here in Baltimore on

(02:51:09):
ten ten WLB and the DMV on AM fourteen fifty WL. So,
doctor Kranger, you mentioned first that that atonement, and now
you're on reconciliation, so I'll let you pick it up
from there.

Speaker 6 (02:51:21):
Yes, thank you so much, Carl. And I was closing with.

Speaker 17 (02:51:25):
And the one section I was on the closing with
the high idea. And this is good because you know,
relations of the hubb and hings on which the whole
of human life turns. And we kept stressing our relationship,
especially a brotherhood and sister relationship, male female relationship, antal relationship.

(02:51:46):
And so we have to strive, we said, to build
and sustain loving, usually respectful, and reciprocal relationship.

Speaker 6 (02:51:54):
In a word, to seek the good, find it and
brace it and build on there.

Speaker 17 (02:51:59):
And then also reconciliation means that we must strive for
and achieve a principle and active unity for the common good.
And this we call operational unity, a concept for cover
the philosophy, an operational unity, a unity in diversity, a
unity without uniformity, a unity in principle.

Speaker 6 (02:52:19):
And in practice.

Speaker 17 (02:52:20):
And finally, in terms of reconciliation, we therefore commit and
recommit ourselves to the principle and practice of reconciliation, for
it is in and through reconciliation that we can embrace
stand together, organize our community and solve the problems in it,
Harness our energies for maximum development and struggle to end

(02:52:45):
the injustice and create the just and good society we
all want and deserve to live in, and then find
a responsibility. We challenge in terms of responsibility, each black
man in particular and the black community in general, to
renew and expand our commitment to responsibility in personal conduct,

(02:53:07):
in family relations, and in obligations to our community and
to the struggle.

Speaker 6 (02:53:12):
For adjusting good society and better world. And for us
to be responsible, it's to.

Speaker 17 (02:53:18):
Be willing and readily assume obligations and duties, to be
accountable and dependable.

Speaker 6 (02:53:25):
That's so important. We've got to be accountable. We've got
to be dependable. It means to stand up, to stand together,
and to stand in practice. It's got to do it.

Speaker 17 (02:53:36):
Practice proves it makes possible everything right. It means to
stand up in consciousness and commitment. It means to stand
together in harmony and unity as men and brothers, as
women and sisters, as partners, as family, and as community.
And it means to stand up in practice of struggle.

(02:53:57):
It means dedication, discipline, psychofice, right and achievement, always, always building,
doing good, resisting evil, and constantly creating and embracing possibilities
for fuller and more meaningful life. We must commit and
recommit ourselves. We said to take personal and collective responsibility

(02:54:18):
for our lives and for the welfare and future of
our families in our community.

Speaker 6 (02:54:23):
And we commit ourselves to.

Speaker 17 (02:54:24):
Stand up in knowledge, stand up in knowledge and resolve,
to stand together in principle and active unity, and to
stand in moral and liberating practice and raising the challenge
of a new, renewed and expanded assumption of responsibility. We
call on those black men and women with greater means

(02:54:45):
to show the greater responsibility to those who are given more,
more as.

Speaker 6 (02:54:52):
Required of them. This is interjecting here, but I was
just explaining what we mean by those a greater means
to show the greater responsibility. Responsibility means also to invest
in the community and transform it. But this is inject
whatever you got, invest You don't have to have a million,
But if you got a million, invest more. If you got,

(02:55:14):
let's give what you got, Give what you got to
our people for expanding your community and better in your community,
To better yourself, to think of the community is to
enlarge your conception of yourself right and the possibilities for
your growth.

Speaker 17 (02:55:30):
And it means responsibility means to avoid imitating establish order,
and it's disdain for and blame of the poor, and
amenable calling the poor names, calling a homeless name. Right,
we're supposed to help them, not to harm them.

Speaker 6 (02:55:46):
Not to harass them. Right, we owe it to our
And that is where the best of our tradition, regardless
of what spiritual tradition you leave in, it usually saves
a good place, a central place for the least among us,
for the poor and the vulnerable, for the degraded and dispossessed,

(02:56:07):
for the occupied, for those against whom genocide is committed.
We've got to have a special sense of diffty for us.

Speaker 17 (02:56:15):
And other humans in the world. And our obligation is
to remember the ancient moral teaching that we should give
food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, then close
to the naked, and the boat to the boat lift.

Speaker 6 (02:56:27):
That we should be a father for the offering, a
mother to the timid, a shelter for the batter, a
staff of support for those of old age, a companion
and comforter of the ill, and aid to the poor,
strength for the weak, a wrap for the drowning, and
a letter for those trapped in the pit of despair.
In a word, to be responsible, we must love justice,

(02:56:50):
hate wrongdoing, resist evil and evil and always always our
people always do the good.

Speaker 1 (02:57:00):
All right, thirteen away from the top day. I want
to clear up some I guess it's an end of
that rumor that Michael Jackson funded the Millie Man March.
People say he gave three hundred thousand. No he did not.
Michael Jackson and Minister Farka and they had a relationship
and Minister farcaon has a relationship with a lot of
famous folks and doctor Crank you understand this. Or when

(02:57:21):
he was speaking of the Sportsery in in La and
he had a pre meeting before the meeting of the
Sportsery in with some of the top celebrities entertainers in
the city. Because they know they couldn't come to the
to the meeting of the Sportsery, except Jim Brown. He
was the only one who you know, Jim didn't care,
but he understands that that would tarnish their reputation and
hurt them, so they support the minister farcun but they

(02:57:43):
don't let the world know. He doesn't let them know.
He says he jokes about it and says they kissed
him in the dark. We had that conversation. But he
did have relationship with Michael Jackson. Michael donated one hundred
thousand dollars. He did not fund the march. I don't
know if you want to talk about that, doctor Krger.

Speaker 6 (02:57:57):
Oh, no, You've said enough about it.

Speaker 17 (02:58:00):
And I think we have to keep on the meaning
of the march and the meaning of the mission statement.
We just have to do that, and you're right. I
would say this though, that Minister of fair Time was
very perceptive and understanding that sometimes people can't be out front,
but they can always be in support, always in support,

(02:58:22):
however they do it, wherever they do it, they can
always be support.

Speaker 6 (02:58:26):
And you're right.

Speaker 17 (02:58:27):
Sometimes he would meet the people uh in in in
the hotel something.

Speaker 6 (02:58:32):
I've been at those meetings, and.

Speaker 17 (02:58:34):
He just reaffords, reaffirmed them in their blackness, and they
were reaffirmed by meeting him and being able to talk
about things they can't talk sometimes in the open. And
I understand that, you know, we got to fight on
whatever battlefield we are Paul Roson note in Paul ros
I'm sorry, Paul Robson said, guess what he said? That

(02:58:57):
the batter front is everywhere there is no sheltered rear.
And Hijim Malcolm now that Hidi Malcolm said, wherever black people.

Speaker 6 (02:59:06):
Are is a batter field. That whether we're in the
east or the west, or I'm sorry, whether we're in
the north of the south, the east of the west,
you and I are in a country that is a
batter line for all of us. And so we say
everywhere a batter line, every day are called to struggle.
That's so important for us to see that so important

(02:59:28):
for us. Everywhere a batter line, and every day are
called to struggle.

Speaker 1 (02:59:34):
All right, that's ten away from the top. Now, Queen's
calling for Virginia has a question for you. She's online too,
Grand Rising Queen, you're on with doctor Karenga. S Queen
there online two not here in Queen, all right, Mike
and Maryland, do you have a question for doctor Karenga online.

Speaker 20 (02:59:53):
For yes, Baron rising to all just want to know
doctor Kerring. Is there a contact number where we can
reach you?

Speaker 6 (03:00:06):
Yes? Two and three. I mean I'm sorry three two three,
I'm sorry three two three two nine six one two
four two three two three two nine nine six one two.

Speaker 4 (03:00:21):
Four Okay, and I thank you.

Speaker 20 (03:00:23):
And I just want to say, you know that those
principles they are.

Speaker 4 (03:00:28):
They are in my opinion.

Speaker 20 (03:00:31):
You know, even though how to say.

Speaker 21 (03:00:33):
This, Okay, Well, we celebrate Christmas, and you know, we
look at the goodness that Christmas is really about and
was it has that same basic elements because it's not
about one side versus the other side. It's about people
in general who will celebrate these principles that will bring

(03:00:57):
about unity, and of course our people we.

Speaker 6 (03:01:00):
Do need to have that unity. But it's not just
for us.

Speaker 21 (03:01:03):
It's for everybody who practice those principles when you will
find a better enlightenment in your mind.

Speaker 4 (03:01:09):
That's all.

Speaker 6 (03:01:12):
If you mean by I'm sorry, Carl, you're gonna say,
go ahead, thank you for that. I appreciate that. And
the principles are a sense I don't know the usher mean,
but the principle is central for black people. Other people
want to practice, they can, but I want us to
keep in mind that they're black.

Speaker 17 (03:01:30):
And it's not wrong to have a holiday for yourself
everybody else does. I mean, you know, nobody asks white
ethnics or people of color ethnic not to have their
holiday or to every time they talk talk about somebody
else can practice.

Speaker 6 (03:01:45):
That's we don't need that. What we do is put
it forths for ourselves and let other people do what they.

Speaker 17 (03:01:51):
Think they want to do.

Speaker 6 (03:01:52):
And I think it's another thing.

Speaker 17 (03:01:55):
I want us always to keep Quanta Christmas separate because
sometimes people think Quansa in Croaches own Christmas because they
confuse a culture holiday with the religious holiday. Christianity is
a faith holiday, Kwansa is a culture holiday, and that

(03:02:15):
means Blacks of all faith can and do celebrate Quanca.
I mean I get notes from email from people from
all faith and they like the principles. They like the
idea be grounded in our own culture. That's so important

(03:02:36):
for us to be grounded in our own culture. And
by culture, I mean views and values and practices that
come from that culture. And the larger understanding of culture
is the.

Speaker 6 (03:02:48):
Totality of sensibilities, thought, and practice by which a people
creates itself, celebrates, sustains and develops itself, and introduces itself
to history and humanager. And we have this oldest culture.

Speaker 17 (03:03:03):
The culture is religion, ethics and spirituality is history, social organization,
economic organization, political organization, creative production, your art, your music
and literature and dance and others. And find it at
those the collective psychology that you achieved in the midst
of the life you live, the work you do, and

(03:03:24):
the struggle you wage.

Speaker 4 (03:03:25):
In the world.

Speaker 1 (03:03:27):
All right, stix away from the top of Queen and Virginia.
Can you make it quick for us? Your question for
doctor Karrenga.

Speaker 12 (03:03:33):
Can you hear me now?

Speaker 1 (03:03:35):
We can he hear you.

Speaker 10 (03:03:37):
Thank you, Heece, blessings to all of you. I'll be
thirty seconds or less. My question I think has been answered.
But first I want to thank you all. I saw
two millions that day. I was there as a mother
for my two sons with my cousin, and we were embraced,
we were fed, we were protected. I thank you all.

Speaker 15 (03:03:55):
Where do we women.

Speaker 10 (03:03:58):
Continue the support to day? Words that needed?

Speaker 1 (03:04:03):
All right?

Speaker 17 (03:04:03):
Thanks Queen, doctor Karana, thanks so much, Thanks for your questions,
thanks for your affirmation.

Speaker 6 (03:04:10):
And yes you're right, it was over a million, some
say close to two million.

Speaker 4 (03:04:15):
You know.

Speaker 6 (03:04:15):
The park service stopped during the count and they didn't
want to give us credit for what we do. It
you know how people be doing, But hey, are we
the people to ride the store and remaining attack? You
certainly do.

Speaker 17 (03:04:27):
So what you can do is wherever you are, contribute,
wherever you are, find an organization.

Speaker 6 (03:04:34):
To work in.

Speaker 17 (03:04:35):
I always say, but if you don't find an organization,
just too good. Where you are, in your neighborhood, in
your family, teach the beautiful truth too good practice in
Guzo Saba. And this we always say that we must,
in fact remember, continue to struggle, keep the faith, hold
the line, love and respect our people and each other.

(03:04:56):
Practice the seventh principles. In Guzo Saba. She can speak true,
do and demand justice, be constantly concerned with the well
being of the world and all in it, and there
help us rebuild the overarching movement that prefigures and makes
possible the good world we all want and deserve to
live in and leave as a legacy worthy of the

(03:05:18):
name and history African. Thank you so much called for
this and all the work you do, and.

Speaker 1 (03:05:24):
Thank you doctor King. And if folks want to hear
you more, does you still have your meetings on Sundays
in La is it.

Speaker 6 (03:05:30):
Every Sunday, and we also have on Friday. Tim give
me the email Afro American Culture.

Speaker 17 (03:05:38):
Center Email info at.

Speaker 6 (03:05:44):
African American Culture Center dash la dot org. Info at
Afro American African American Culture Center dash la dot org org,

(03:06:05):
send us a note and you can also run on
our website.

Speaker 1 (03:06:13):
I thank you doctor Kreger for thank you for all
that you do. Thank your sister tam Oil for your
work as well with doctor Karenga, and we continue to help,
hopefully to hear more from you before we get to
the cultural holiday of Quanta looking forward.

Speaker 6 (03:06:26):
Thanks again for everything. Carl Happy right, family memoirs, celebration.

Speaker 1 (03:06:34):
All right, family, that's it. Sante classes dismissed. Stay strong,
stay positive, please stay healthy. We'll see you tomorrow morning,
six o'clock right here in Baltimore on ten ten w
LB and then the d MV on fourteen fifty WOL

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