Editing Million Man March (section)

==Economic and social factors==
[[File:18.16.MMM.WDC.16oct95 (41765369).jpg|thumb|March attendees]]
One of the primary motivating factors for the march was to place black issues back on the nation's [[political agenda]].  In the aftermath of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]'s victory in the [[1994 United States House of Representatives elections|1994 Congressional election]] and the continued success of the party's [[Party platform|campaign platform]], the [[Contract with America]], some African-American leaders believed that the social and economic issues facing the black community fell by the wayside of policy debates.<ref name="Nelson1998" />{{rp|243}} March organizers believed that politicians were failing the black community by "papering over the most vital dimensions of the crisis in international [[capitalism]]"<ref name="Nelson1998" />{{rp|243}} and blaming urban blacks for "domestic economic woes that threatened to produce record deficits, massive unemployment, and uncontrolled inflation".<ref name="Nelson1998"></ref>{{rp|244}}

At the time of the march, African Americans faced unemployment rates nearly twice that of [[white Americans]], a [[poverty rate]] of more than 40%, and a [[Median household income|median family income]] that was about 58% of the median for white households. More than 11% of all black men were unemployed and for those aged 16 to 19, the number of unemployed had climbed to over 50%.<ref name="Nelson1998" />{{rp|244}} Further, according to [[Jesse Jackson|Reverend Jesse Jackson]]'s speech at the March, the [[United States House of Representatives]] had reduced funding to some of the programs that played an integral role in urban Americans' lives. He said, "The House of Representatives cut $1.1 billion from the nation's poorest public schools", and "cut $137 million from [[Head Start Program|Head Start]]", effectively subtracting $5,000 from each classroom's budget and cutting 45,000 [[preschoolers]] from a crucial early education program.<ref name="Jackson1996">{{cite book |last= Jackson Sr. | first= Reverend Jesse L. |editor1-first=Haki R.| editor1-last=Madhubuti |editor2-first=Maulana| editor2-last=Karenga |title=Million Man March / Day of Absence; A Commemorative Anthology; Speeches, Commentary, Photography, Poetry, Illustrations, Documents |publisher=Third World Press |location =Chicago |date=January 1996 |chapter= Remarks Before One Million Men, Monday, October 16, 1995 }}</ref>{{rp|33}}

[[Environmental hazard]]s were also seen as making the lives of urban Blacks unstable. Black men were murdered at a rate of 72 per 100,000, a rate significantly higher than the 9.3 per 100,000 attributed to white men.<ref name="Nelson1998" />{{rp|244}} Some black [[activists]] blamed aggressive [[Law enforcement agency|law enforcement]] and prison construction for leaving "two hundred thousand more blacks in the jail complex than in college"<ref name="Jackson1996" />{{rp|33}} and creating devastating leadership gaps within black communities and families.<ref name="Nelson1998" />{{rp|244}} Event organizers were infuriated by a perceived gap in [[prenatal care]] for black women and children that was caused, in part, by the closing of inner-city hospitals.<ref name="Jackson1996" />{{rp|33}}

Event organizers believed that urban Blacks were born with "three strikes against them":<ref name="Jackson1996"/>{{rp|33}} insufficient prenatal care, inferior educational opportunities, and jobless parents.<ref name="Jackson1996"/>{{rp|33}} Instead of providing young children with the means to succeed, they believed the government instead intervened in the lives of its black citizens through law enforcement and welfare programs that did little to improve the community's circumstances.<ref name="Jackson1996" />{{rp|34}}