Sistahs are trying to do things for themselves by organizing and traveling to Saturday’s Million Woman March in Philadelphia. The question is, just what can African-American women accomplish with another mass march besides garnering a few days of media attention and a place in the history books? More could be accomplished by addressing the economic dilemmas that are hampering the African-American community.

According to the Million Woman March mission statement, the women are attempting to attack the unlimited issues and problems . . . [that] have resulted in the deterioration of African-Americans and African people overall. That’s a pretty tall order to fill considering what these women are up against.

For example, let’s take a national concern. One-third of African-Americans live below the poverty line, and according to 1995 U.S. Census Bureau statistics, African-Americans comprise 12.6 percent of the 262.8 million people in the United States. A look at these numbers shows the African-American community already is disproportionately receiving the short end of the stick in economic terms.

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As long as nearly half of the members of this shortchanged community are struggling to keep their heads above water in what is considered to be the richest country in the world the idea of curing African-Americans’ social ills with a simple march leaves a lot to be desired.

The problems facing such a large segment of the African-American community ultimately affect the group in its entirety. Finding a cure for African-Americans’ overwhelming economic handicap is tantamount to curbing the other unlimited issues affecting the African-American community.

Issues including poor educational systems, job discrimination, AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse, a dearth of affordable housing, gang violence and drug activity in urban areas, inadequate health care, broken homes and domestic abuse all are rooted in economic inequality. How can a march help to truly heal all of these wounds when organizers are asking 1 million African-American women to spend their economic resources to attend a one-day event?

Organizers of the march contend that gathering 1 million African-American women in support of platforms designed to help their community as African-American men did two years ago is sufficient. Just as the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, those organizers hope to foster a declaration to renew the African-American community.

Million Man March organizers had that same objective in mind. Have their efforts truly invigorated the African-American community? A look at Carbondale’s African-American community in light of recent events does not come close to answering that question affirmatively.

Apollonia Thomas, Luzetta Neal, Cynthia Love, Pamela Travis and Travis’ twin daughters are some of the many African-American women whom Million Woman March organizers want to assist by marching in Philadelphia Saturday.

Thomas will not be able to attend Saturday’s march because she is being held at Jackson County Jail on suicide watch. She has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in Saturday’s shooting death of her daughter, 5-year-old Victoria.

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Travis recently was found dead in her apartment on Carbondale’s east side after authorities responded to a fire that had been set to cover up her death. The murder left Travis’ 22-month-old twin daughters without a mother.

Tuesday at the Jackson County Courthouse, Neal watched as her son Labron was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of two area teen-agers.

Love also attended Tuesday’s sentencing. Her son, Terrance Mitchell, was one of the murdered teen-agers.

The Million Man March and Saturday’s Million Woman March did little to combat those tragedies.

The SIUC chapter of the NAACP has organized groups of women to attend the Million Woman March. These groups could have donated the money spent preparing for the march to Pamela Travis’ twin daughters, who are in need of winter clothing.

Local participants in the Million Woman March could even forgo a trip to Philadelphia and stay behind in Carbondale to comfort kindergartners at Lakeland Elementary School. Perhaps their own daughters were classmates of the murdered Victoria.

But if Million Women March participants can help African-American women without solving the African-American community’s real problem and ignoring the chaos in their own communities for a day they deserve more than media coverage and a place in history. They will become nothing short of miracle workers.