On Monday, Richard Dyer stood among a mass gathering of people in Washington, D.C., as the black community congregated near Capital Hill to redefine family and community.

You couldn’t think of a negative thought, Dyer, a junior in education from Evanston said. It was such a positive feeling standing in the middle of so many people who were on the same page as far as the black agenda was concerned.

Dyer was one of more than 70 SIUC students who traveled to Washington, D. C. on Monday, described by black leaders as the holy day of atonement, to participate in the Million Man March.

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The march, an idea of the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan,

was organized to better define and improve the role of black men in their community.

Dyer said many of the things proposed by speakers at the march were intelligent and important to the black community

He said the SIUC group that went to the march has taken what they have learned and are already making plans to better Carbondale’s black community.

We are going to start a think-tank in the community to make people aware of the black-owned businesses in town and to let people know what services they offer, he said. This is a social and economic way of going about change. We have to clean up our own house, before we can clean up anyone else’s.

Larry Hall, a junior in administration of justice from Chicago, said he believes there were more than the media-estimated 400,000 people at the march.

Hall said the consensus from the park district and Louis Farakhan was 1.5 million.

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I guess the media who estimated 400,000 didn’t want the public to know just how powerful Farrakhan is, he said. There were brothers from all around the world at the march.

Hall said the fact that the march actually attracted a million people proves just how powerful the black community can be when united.

The march was the best thing that could have happened to the black community, he said. On that day, there was no fighting, no arguing, just the black community united as one.

Yesterday, when the majority of group returned, there were two welcome home celebrations, one at the Student Center and one at Attucks Park.

Andre Lewis, a member of the local organizing committee of the Million Man March, said at the rallies, those who went to the march shared what they had experienced with those who did not attend.

A press conference will be held today. Those who went will answer questions regarding the march. The time and place has not been announced.