
DATE: Monday, October 20, 1997              TAG: 9710200064
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS, staff writer 

                                            LENGTH:  129 lines

MILLION WOMAN MARCH LOCALS APPEAR TO BE UNFAZED BY DISORGANIZATION IN PHILADELPHIA

Five days before the Million Woman March and things seem in disarray at the national headquarters.

The lineup? Nothing is set in stone, spokeswoman Barbara Smith said. Day care? Smith didn't have any answers on that Friday afternoon. Questions? Getting through to their office in Philadelphia takes patience, persistence and luck.

The lack of order hasn't discouraged people, though. Women planning to attend the march - an estimated 19 buses strong from Hampton Roads - hope that it will energize them, their families and their neighborhoods, despite some logistical drawbacks.

Oct. 25 will be marked in history as a day of love and sisterhood, a turning point in the lives of women of color throughout the nation, Hampton's Reba Harrington said. She is the march's state coordinator.

``It's not about those people in the Philadelphia office,'' she said at a recent meeting. ``In reality, we're the Million Woman March. It's us.''

Hundreds of thousands of women of African descent - perhaps 1 million - are expected to rally as did black men two years ago and the Promise Keepers two weeks ago.

The central focus of the Million Woman March is strengthening community through the family. Independent schools, rites of passage programs for girls, more black women entrepreneurs and seniors' rights are among the platform's issues.

Veronica Harrell of Virginia Beach is so excited, she's driving to Philly a day early to attend pre-march sessions.

``I can't wait to go,'' Harrell said. ``It's a thing of unity. I just felt I should be a part of it.''

Black women are searching for that unity to step closer toward empowerment, Monifa Akinwole said. She is national coordinator for the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, which advocates human rights and social issues.

``Community-based and grassroots organizations are full of women. But when it is time to make policy and direction for the community, there is a dearth,'' Akinwole said.

``The consciousness level is rising and the oppression is rising, and you're reaching the critical mass where something must give. It is either organize or cease to exist, be a permanent underclass in this nation,'' she said.

Akinwole plans to attend the march, but, like many, she only heard details about it within the past month or so.

``It's been a real grass-roots movement, and that's been a real struggle for communications,'' Smith said. ``It's been word of mouth, small meetings dispersing information. Of course, now it's grown in momentum.''

The primary architects of the event are Philadelphia women with little to no experience planning mass events. Phile Chionesu owns an African-centered boutique; Asia Coney heads a housing council; Tabiyah Ngozi is a businesswoman.

Ngozi told the Philadelphia Daily News that organizers preferred to keep the event strictly ``grass- roots,'' shunning the expertise of more established organizers such as the NAACP.

Hampton's Willie Bolden heard about the march while browsing the Internet four months ago. Bolden wants to instill a sense of respect and pride in her three daughters. She decided to take them.

``I want them to be able to get something out of blackness, their heritage,'' Bolden said. ``With this event, we can start networking, build things together, that I can pass on to my children and they can pass on to their children,'' she said.

National spokeswoman Smith insisted that this event will not be a one-day, feel-good-touchy-feely kind of thing. Every day this week from 6 to 8 p.m., organizers will hold workshops throughout Philadelphia touching on the platform issues. Because of the timing, Smith only expected those from the Northeast to attend.

A three-year plan is to emerge from this march. The issues discussed are supposed to go into action plans. One of those plans is increasing the coffers of the Black United Fund. Based in Newark, the national nonprofit organization awards grants to social programs. Affiliates are forming on the Eastern Shore and in Norfolk, Black United Fund officials said.

March organizers have called for supporters and attendees to contribute $1 million to the Black United Fund of Pennsylvania Inc. to defray costs of the event.

Marlene Y. Montague of Newport News is too skeptical right now to pledge any money. The 12-point program seems to her to be a lot to digest in a one-day affair. And the event's shaky organization makes her wonder if real plans for action actually await hundreds of miles up the road.

She plans to find out this weekend.

``I'm very tired of pity parties, what's been done and the effects going on,'' Montague said. ``I would hope that something like this actually is an instrument for change. But I guess the only way I can find out about these changes is to go.'' MEMO: The Philadelphia Daily News contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Roxanne Lathan, right, will lead a Million Woman March delegation

that includes, from left, Judie Franklin, Opal Bilal, Tracy Roberts,

Pertina Ketchmore, Charlotte-Marie Callens, Desiree Stone and Tracy

Truitt.

Graphic

IF YOU GO:

What: ``The Million Woman March, The Day for Repentance,

Resurrection and Restoration'' hopes to duplicate the success of the

1995 Million Man March in D.C. The march will be a gathering of

women rallying behind a 12-point platform of social issues. Winnie

Mandela will be the keynote speaker.

Where: Philadelphia, beginning with a sunrise service at Penn's