Michael Walzer Responds

A lot of good people came to Washington last October 16. Surveys published afterward suggest that the “million men,” whatever their actual number, were a substantial representation of the African American working class and middle class (except that both these groups are known to include women). Though they solemnly swore to give up violence and drugs, it is unlikely that many of these men were violent or addicted or ever had been. They took the oath, they atoned, on behalf of the others, who weren’t there. These were the already uplifted—earnest, dignified, worried (with good reason) but glad to be in Washington in such large numbers, and a little uncertain about what was meant to follow from their unity.

But the political character of a march is not determined by the moral character of the marchers. It is determined instead by the organizations that sponsor, and even more obviously by the organizations that control, the march: that provide the marshals, w...