Louis Farrakhan to speak in Philadelphia Sunday

Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan will speak in Philadelphia Sunday as part of a commemoration of the Million Man March, held in Washington, D.C., 16 years ago.

Record mogul Kenny Gamble is among those planning a weekend of events that will focus on fighting hunger and street violence, culminating with Farrakhan’s speech.

“It’s a reminder, it’s a rekindling of the spirit of the Million Man March,” said Gamble, adding that Philadelphia sent a huge contingent of the march in 1995. “You have a lot of young people who were just little babies then that don’t even remember the march.”

Doors open at the Pennsylvania Convention Center at noon Sunday for Farrakhan’s 2 p.m. speech. Tickets are $20, $50 and $100.

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Gamble said there are costs to cover.

“It’s very expensive to use the convention center and I think it basically covers the cost of putting on an event such as this–the advertising, the marketing,” he said.

Gamble said the speech isn’t just for men.

“We’re asking women, we’re asking families, grandfathers, grandmothers, granddaughters, everybody to come out and hear Minister Louis Farrakhan,” Gamble said. “He hasn’t been here in Philadelphia in quite some time.”

Farrakhan last appeared in Philadelphia in 1997 to attend a rally with then-Mayor Ed Rendell to help quell racial tension after an incident in the Grays Ferry neighborhood.

Rendell agreed to host an event with Farrakhan as an alternative to a planned march by Nation of Islam activists in a white neighborhood.

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