Million Family March in D.C.

ByABC News
October 16, 2000, 6:03 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 16 -- From the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument and beyond, thousands of families of all colors assembled in Washington today at the summons of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to celebrate the strength and diversity of the American family.

On the fifth anniversary of the Million Man March said to be the largest gathering of black people in a Washington demonstration the crowds came peacefully, not to petition the government but to exult in their numbers.

The assemblage was expected to be the largest gathering of black people since that march, which the National Park Service said drew an estimated 400,000 people but which Farrakhan said drew more than 1 million.

Organizers refused to say how many people they expected Monday, but they told city officials to prepare for more than 1 million.

The park service has stopped making crowd estimates since the 1995 event and its controversy over the size.

The overarching purpose of todays event was to demonstrate that people of God can come together, despite our diversity, for the noblest of causes, the family, said Minister Rashul Muhammad, son of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad.

Live Cleaner Lives Speakers pushed for people to improve different areas of their lives. Comedian-activist Dick Gregory urged parents to live cleaner, healthier lives so their children would have a positive example to follow. Im so sick of people saying, Whats wrong with the youth of today? he said. Whats wrong with the children? Its you old folks.

Ayanna Muhammad, 11, spoke for the preservation of families. Broken homes make children sad, she said.

Organizers also collected money to pay off the mortgage for the National Council of Negro Women building on Pennsylvania Avenue, which the Rev. Willie Wilson of the Union Temple Baptist Church called the only black-owned building in the nations corridor of power.