25 Years Later
By Albert B. Kelly
Anniversaries are about the passage of time but more than that, they are about marking the changes that have occurred over time. Some are about celebration with others remain a call to action. This October marks the 25th anniversary of the Million Man March.
For those who may have been too young to recall the event or for those who are just plain fuzzy on the history, the Million Man March was a coming together of African-American men on October 16, 1995 at the National Mall reminiscent of the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his epoch “I Have a Dream” speech. There were various themes motivating those who participated, but one main message, while highlighting many social ills, was about achieving self-sufficiency.
As anniversaries go, I have a wide range of feelings as I mark this one. The world has turned over many times since 1995. When I think back to that period, I can remember how unbelievably divided the country became over the O. J. Simpson trial. That marked some kind of permanent change, but few realized it at the time. It was a time of welfare reform, crime bills, and a “contract” with America.
I suppose I have mixed emotions because so many of the issues that prompted hundreds of thousands of people to gather in the nation’s capital in 1995 under the banner of the Million Man March are still with us today. A few issues have worsened while others have recently emerged or have been exposed in ways no one could have anticipated.
One issue that has not improved is that of income inequality. While no one has exclusive claim on that front, it is true that black families have been on the very worst side of those numbers with little improvement. In 1995, the median income for black households was $33,987 while for white families it was $56,427 some 40% higher. In 2020, those figures are $41,361 and $68,400 respectively- again some 40% higher.
In other areas, the discrepancies over 25 years have only gotten worse. Today, median household wealth- not income but accumulated wealth as measured by assets liquid and otherwise- is $171,000 for white families as measured against $17,000 for black families. In 1995 the median household wealth for black households was $9,885 and for white households it was $68,520.
While these numbers testify to the lack of progress and forward motion, what they don’t do is suggest any of the causes behind those figures. For that, it requires reflecting on what we see in hindsight. As I look back, I see everything from fear of crime to a lack of access to credit and unfair lending practices contributing to the fact that there has been far less progress then I might have thought leaving the mall that Monday.
In 1995, few realized the extent to which the 1994 crime bill would be the golden ticket to mass incarceration for black men. We were just coming out of the era of the “super-predator” that politicians and experts told us would soon be coming; we were three years removed from Rodney King and seven years removed from Willie Horton. We didn’t connect the dots to see that we were about to devastate an entire generation of black men and many families. How do you measure such loss?
Today, 25-years removed, there is a temptation on the part of some to see the issue of race and excessive use-of-force as relatively recent but the difference between 1995 and today isn’t one of conduct so much as the presence of iPhones. Absent those devices and social media, the problem would still seem episodic and localized.
But time passes and people are focused on surviving from day
to day and other core issues don’t seem obvious until they are- like health
outcomes. Those disparities were there in 1995 and they’ve been throughout, but
they usually play out quietly in families- a lack of preventative care, a
lifetime of poor nutrition, unaffordable medications, or inaccessible
technology to name a few. But those disparities are suddenly in your face and
not easily ignored when a pandemic hits and you realize that the people who
look like you have a much greater chance of dying should they get sick.
So 25-years later, the aspirations behind the Million Man March remain unfulfilled and while the anniversary comes with some cherished memories, it remains for me a call to action.