The group's leaders also called for shutting down both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges "by any means necessary" if their permit request was turned down.Hmmm... seems to me that comes damn close to terroristic threatening.
Posted on 09/06/2003 8:17:25 AM PDT by schaketo
(CNSNews.com) - This weekend's Million Youth March in New York City, billed as a means to empower African-American youth and encourage unity, is also drawing unwanted attention to organizers of the march for their alleged anti-Semitism.
Saturday's rally will take place over a six-block area in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, which organizers call, "the heart of the black community." They expect between 20,000 and 100,000 people to attend.
The city granted a permit for the Million Youth March in August after organizers threatened to go to court if the permit was not issued. The group's leaders also called for shutting down both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges "by any means necessary" if their permit request was turned down.
Organizers of the march have a 10-point platform that includes the empowerment of businesses involved in the rap music industry, the awarding of reparations for the descendants of slaves, the creation of a new breed of politicians who "will not sell us out," and the protesting of police brutality, which the organizers claim "both President Bush and New York City Mayor Bloomberg are responsible for."
The Million Youth March leaders are also conducting a voter registration drive with a goal of signing up to 10,000 new voters.
"This march is a call for peace and unity in the (black) community," said Najee Muhammad, a spokesman for the event. "This is about empowering youth and changing what needs to be changed, including police brutality," he added.
The eight-hour march will feature speeches by current Democratic presidential candidate, Rev. Al Sharpton, New York City Councilman Charles Barron and legal activists Alton Maddox and Malik Shabazz.
Sharpton and Shabazz, among others, will share the stage with several well-known rap artists and members of the notorious Bloods and Crips street gangs who will also give speeches.
The event is hosted by the New Black Panther Party and led by Shabazz, the party's national chairman.
Among those also endorsing the event are outspoken Bush critic and former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, and former New Jersey Poet Laureate Amiri Baraka.
Baraka came under fire when his Sept. 11 memorial poem, entitled "Somebody Blew Up America," included verses alluding to the possibility that both the U.S. and Israeli governments had had prior knowledge of the terrorist attacks.
He would later be stripped of his distinction as nobel laureate by the New Jersey Legislature and Gov. Jim McGreevey.
Despite its name, the Million Youth marches have never garnered that many participants. In 1998, the largest Million Youth March brought together 6,000 people, according to New York City Police estimates, while organizers stated the number to be over 20,000.
During that event, led by the late Khalid Muhammad, eleven people were injured when police tried to impose the assigned 4:00 p.m. curfew. Community leaders accused organizers of the march of trying to incite anti-Semitism and violence.
In the weeks leading up to that first rally, Muhammad, known for his anti-white and anti-Jewish rhetoric, had public clashes with then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Muhammad had made headlines for a speech delivered at Kean University in New Jersey in 1993 in which he allegedly labeled Jews "bloodsuckers," called for genocide against white people, used vulgarity to ridicule Pope John Paul II and demeaned homosexuals. This led to a falling out with the nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan, to which Muhammad was at the time the group's national spokesman.
Among the most vocal critics of the march is the Anti Defamation League, which accuses Shabazz of being anti-Semitic.
"Any rally that seeks to gather black youth from around the country to stand united in their desire to better their communities is one that all groups should support. But, in this case it is tainted because it is led by a racist and anti-Semite," said Joel Levy, New York regional director for the Anti Defamation League.
According to the ADL, Shabazz stated publicly that Israel and the U.S. government had prior knowledge of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
During a July press conference in Morristown, N.J., Shabazz reportedly stated that, "If 3,000 people perished in the World Trade Center attacks and the Jewish population is 10 percent, you show me records of 300 Jewish people dying in the World Trade Center. We're daring anyone to dispute its truth. They got their people out."
As a result, "there is ample reason to suspect Shabazz will use the Million Youth March to promote racism and anti-Semitism," said Levy.
However, this charge is fully disputed by event organizers.
"We can't be anti-Semitic, because we as Africans are the Semitic people," stated march spokesman Najee Muhammad. "To say we are anti-Semitic would mean that we are against our own people."
The group's leaders also called for shutting down both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges "by any means necessary" if their permit request was turned down.Hmmm... seems to me that comes damn close to terroristic threatening.
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