THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 17, 1995 TAG: 9510170383
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Brian Privett figured being responsible meant paying the rent, not attending a march or shunning work.
Harold Roach respected the march's ideals, but not the men behind it.
Tyrone Franklin wanted to know what would come next - whether the speeches in Washington would translate into action in Hampton Roads.
The march in Washington - and the pleas by organizers to boycott work and school Monday - forced black men across the region to make a choice.
Many agreed solutions needed to be found for a black population disproportionately affected by violence, incarceration and a lack of education. Many disagreed, however, with the path offered by Louis Farrakhan and Ben Chavis, organizers of the march.
``Farrakhan and those people aren't going to put any money in my pocket when it's time to pay the rent or put clothes on my back or food on my table,'' said Privett, 30, a service assistant and trainer at Denny's Restaurant.
``The only thing I can see that is positive from him and the Nation of Islam is that they're trying to uplift the young black men who can't seem to get themselves together,'' Privett said. ``But when he starts degrading people of other colors and other races, then I can't get along with that.''
Roach, a project coordinator with the Newport News Planning and Development Office, said that while he supported the goals of the Million Man March, he could not support its organizers.
``Chavis . . . had the opportunity to lead a strong national organization with a long history of functionality in our community and he squandered the opportunity,'' said Roach, 29, speaking of Chavis' troubled term as head of the NAACP.
Similarly, Franklin, who resisted going to the march, although many of his friends attended, said he was skeptical of what the march would accomplish.
``I think it's a positive gesture but what's the follow-up?'' asked Franklin, a 28-year-old project manager with the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority. ``You're still going to have a lot of the same things going on in society.''
And among many of the nation's leaders, intense feelings about the march's validity in association with Farrakhan could not be ignored.
Although the 39-member Black Congressional Caucus voted in September to endorse the march, several members including Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.; Rep. Major Owens, D-N.Y.; and Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., have criticized it. The only Republican caucus member, Rep. Gary Franks of Connecticut, also attacked the march last week.
Flo Okonkwo, a secretary in the Hampton University sports information office, supported the march but raised concerns about the practices of the Nation of Islam.
``Growing up in the Nation of Islam, as women we're told that we don't have a mind, that we're here to produce children and raise families,'' she said. ``I did not agree with that, but I did learn discipline and I learned to love other races.''
``Everybody has their own social agenda, I know that,'' said Herb DeGroft, director of personnel at Smithfield Packing. ``But by calling for people to stay away from work and keep children out of school, I think that only hurts the people and cheats the children out of their education.'' MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: MILLION MAN MARCH by CNB