WS Chronicle

By Felecia Piggott-Long, Ph.D.

The Holy Day of Atonement 2023 was held on Sunday, Oct. 15, at Muhammad Mosque #56 located at 1530 Martin Street in Winston-Salem. This celebration commemorated the day almost two million African American men came to Washington, D.C. at the call of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. The keynote speaker for this gathering was student minister Ishmael Muhammad, national assistant minister to Minister Farrakhan. The speech was streamed live from Mosque Maryam located in Chicago, Illinois. Student minister Ishmael Muhammad spoke on the theme “Atonement and the Great War.” 

Min. Ishmael Muhammad described atonement as “the people are under the burden of sin as a result of rebellion to God.” He cited eight steps to making atonement: 1) Someone must point out the wrong; 2) Acknowledge the wrong; 3) Confess the fault to Allah; 4) Repentance, feeling remorse or contrition over the wrong done; 5) Atonement – make amends; 6) Forgiveness by the offended party – to cease to feel resentment against another; 7) Reconciliation; and 8) Perfect Union with Allah and with each other.

Student minister Effrainguan Muhammad welcomed more than 80 people to the local gathering, including the Laborers Board, Secretary Dion Muhammad, Captain Dana Muhammad (Fruit of Islam), Captain Shelia of the Muslim Girls Training and Civilization Class, and the Vanguard, temple members and community supporters. 

Min. Muhammad also gave honor to the local organizing committee from 1995. “I give honor to the local organizing committee for the Million Man March of 1995. They were instrumental in chartering 13 buses holding 750 men from Winston-Salem to Washington, D.C. Min. Mikal Muhammad, Bro. Ben Piggott and the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, State Representative Larry Womble, and activist Earline Parmon. Larry Leon Hamlin donated three buses out of his own money,” said Min. Muhammad.

“Walter Marshall, Rev. Dr. John Mendez, Rev. Dr. Carlton Eversley, Dr. Larry Little from Winston-Salem State University, Dr. Lorenzo Battle, who allowed Minister Farrakhan to stay at his home, Dr. Donald McThompson, who was instrumental in organizing campus activities, Sister Lee Faye Mack, and others who were so supportive of our efforts,” said Min. Muhammad.

Mayor Allen Joines prepared a proclamation in honor of the 28th anniversary of the Million Man March which said in part:

“Whereas the local organizing committee of the Winston-Salem Million Man March joined together in the spirit of brotherhood and unity in 1995 for a Holy Day of Atonement; whereas more than 750 people traveled to Washington, D.C. in 13 buses led by the local organizers to promote unity in the community,” according to the proclamation.

Secretary Dion Muhammad, 53, remembers riding one of the buses to Washington, D.C. He recalled that Rev. Dr. Carlton Eversley rode on his bus.

“I fell asleep while riding on the trip to D.C., and when I woke up, we were already in Washington. We saw so many buses from different fraternities, colleges; and churches had buses. It was 5 a.m. when I woke up, and I was so overwhelmed! What joy!” Dion Muhammad said. “We could not believe what we were looking at. There were so many people, you could not see them all. I had to ask myself if this was real. We were very close to each other.”

“The best way for me to describe the scene in D.C. was that I saw an ocean of men. One guy was overheated and he fainted in the back of this large crowd,” recalled Ben Piggott. “Everybody worked together to pass him to the front of the crowd. We kept repeating, ‘He ain’t heavy! He’s my brother! He ain’t heavy! He’s my brother!’ Within minutes, he was at the front of the crowd where he could get help at the ambulance nearby. We talked about how love is universal, how kids in the community need us. The Black man has to do more in his community.”

Amatullah Saleem Muhammad, 92,  has been a member of the Nation of Islam since 1962. She joined in New York City at Mosque #7 under the tutelage of Malcolm Shabazz. In preparation for the Million Man March in 1995, she was a member of the local organizing committee in New York. She is now a member of Mosque #56 in Winston-Salem.

“We worked to promote the Million Man March by making flyers, phone calls, attending community meetings, disseminating information, organizing bus trips to travel from New York to D.C. We have several boroughs in New York, so we had to organize transportation to Brooklyn, the Bronx, Jamaica, and Manhattan,” Saleem Muhammad said.

“The Million Man March was important because we were meeting so many challenges in the Black families. Lack of employment for Black men, mass incarceration, drugs in the community, failing schools, and the Black man was at the head of our households. They needed to be the head of their households. But because of the limitations of the Black man, the whole family was suffering. The March called all of them together to look at being good fathers and husbands and examining their responsibility to God first.

“The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan was trying to let them know that they needed to get things right with God first. Marriage problems and separation from their children were serious issues. Many of our men had just given up.  We had to look at how we had strayed from God. We needed to get back on track,” said Saleem Muhammad.