DE Campus Life 19

Names like Jada Pinkett, Winnie Mandela, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and SIUC student Lekeiwa Rasberry were linked for the first time last weekend. They were all participants in the historic Million Woman March.

In an effort to address issues facing African-Americans and to unite black women in sisterhood, women of African Diaspora traversed to Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway Saturday for the Million Woman March. The organizers estimated that 2.1 million attended. Police estimated there were 400,000 marchers.

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Rasberry, a senior in med-prep from Chicago and president of the SIUC chapter of the NAACP, said the march was a wonderful experience. Rasberry was on a busload of more than 80 SIUC students.

Everywhere I went there were tons of beautiful, black women, she said. They were intelligent and from everywhere. New York, Michigan, Wisconsin any state you could name I met women from all over the United States.

Rasberry said although she went to the march with the spirit of unity in mind, the issues were the most important reason she attended the Million Woman March.

They not only talked about the issues, but gave strategies to combat them, she said. People were saying the reason for having the march was to unite sisters and reconcile differences. Reconciling differences was minute to me because there are so many issues facing us.

Some of the platform issues included drumming up national support to bring a lawsuit against the CIA for the influx of drugs into the African-American communities, and the development and completion of black independent schools with a 21st century focus.

The CIA has made no comment on the allegations made at the Million Woman March.

Rasberry said the male presence at the march was not too overwhelming. She said one of the most moving things she heard at the march was from a man.

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Dick Gregory is planning to fast until the CIA releases information to us (about a drug influx into African-American communities), she said. He will not eat or drink anything, starting Nov. 6, until they reveal some kind of research. It is drastic because he could die if the government doesn’t give him what he wants.

Gregory is an alumnus of SIUC known for his political activism since the 1960s.

Rasberry said that kind of selflessness made her think about the devastation that drugs in the community can bring.

It kind of blew my mind, she said. I was very proud, even though it hurts me that people have to do all of that.

Ebonie Tolbert, a junior in English from Chicago, said although she believed that the march was a success, the men should have played a smaller part.

I think that the guys should have backed off a little like we did for the men with the Million Man March, she said.

Tolbert said the march made her aware of a lot of the problems facing African-Americans.

It made a lot of us aware of the current drug problem in the country, she said. The community is going to be more aware of laws that are passed and how they affect us. I went to the march because the platform issues caught my eye.

Rasberry said the march will be a complete success when the issues discussed at the march are addressed.

Once we get organized and get the ball rolling on the issues, success will come, she said. When we start changing things in our community, that’s the real success.

We marched for our communities and we marched for people all over the world. We need to define our position in the 21st century, not only for our community, but all over the world.

Melody Robinson, a senior in English education from Chicago, went to the march and said it was beneficial in that it initiated protest. She saw the march as a road map for the future.

It is going to help us get direction on how to regain control in the family and acknowledge the strengths within us, she said. The people I found [to be] as different symbols on the road map to give us the direction of where we need to go.