Moon Backs Farrakhan `Million Family' March In Nation's Capital.Two controversial religious leaders formed an unlikely partnership in October to promote a "Million Family March" in Washington, D.C. Minister Louis Farrakhan Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933), is the acting head of the Nation of Islam (NOI) as the National Reprensentative of Elijah Muhammad. He is well-known as an advocate for African American interests and a critic of American society. of the Nation of Islam Nation of Islam: see Black Muslims. Nation of Islam or Black Muslims African American religious movement that mingles elements of Islam and black nationalism. It was founded in 1931 by Wallace D. and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Noun 1. Sun Myung Moon - United States religious leader (born in Korea) who founded the Unification Church in 1954; was found guilty of conspiracy to evade taxes (born in 1920) Moon , a Korean evangelist who founded the Unification Church, co-sponsored the Oct. 16 march, a follow-up to Farrakhan's wildly successful Million Man March in 1995. Religious Right researcher Frederick Clarkson explored the evolving relationship between Farrakhan and Moon in a recent edition of Salon, an online magazine. Clarkson noted that the two "aging demagogues" met in 1997 when Farrakhan helped Moon officiate of·fi·ci·ate v. of·fi·ci·at·ed, of·fi·ci·at·ing, of·fi·ci·ates v.intr. 1. To perform the duties and functions of an office or a position of authority. 2. To serve as an officiant. at a mass wedding of couples at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. Although billed as a million-family march, The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times reported that the march attracted far fewer than a million attendees, estimating the number at below 200,000. Farrakhan and Moon would seem an odd couple, if only for reasons of politics. Moon is far to the right, and Farrakhan, while he holds conservative views on human sexuality, takes a more liberal view on other issues. The march, for example, featured a number of speakers promoting liberal causes such as universal health care, an end to the death penalty and denunciations of corporate greed. Clarkson reported that a Moon operative, Dan Fefferman, made it clear before the march that Moon was only supporting its "central themes such as the God-centered family, interracial in·ter·ra·cial adj. Relating to, involving, or representing different races: interracial fellowship; an interracial neighborhood. harmony, interreligious unity and moral revival." Farrakhan's outreach to Moon has been controversial with his own organization. According to Clarkson's article, Farrakhan met Sept. 21 with the National Organizing Committee, a group of black nationalists, and told them, "I don't want us to get bent out of shape Bent Out of Shape is an LP issued by Rainbow in 1983. The first CD version to be released released featured several longer edits compared to the vinyl version. A remastered CD reissue was released in May 1999. because folk of another race desire to help. I say to the Muslims that are present that I am grateful for the help of the Family Federation for World Peace under Rev. and Mrs. Moon." Farrakhan reminded Committee members that Elijah Muhammad, the former head of the Nation of Islam, "told us that people would come from the East, that they would teach us everything we need to know in order to be the people that God meant for us to be." |
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