WASHINGTON, OCT 16: Tens of thousands of families are expected to converge at Washington on Monday for a rally by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan which organisers say will be a more inclusive version of his "Million Man March" five years ago.Organisers of the "Million Family March" say they hope to mobilise families from across America and from all races and religions for Farrakhan's latest mass rally, which he bills as a day of "atonement, reconciliation and responsibility".Farrakhan, whose `Million Man March' in 1995 was shunned by many mainstream groups because it targeted black males only, says his emphasis this time will be on building the family and strengthening the institution of marriage rather than just empowering black men."We would like to achieve a good turnout," said Farrakhan in an interview to NBC on Sunday when asked about the Million Family March, which kicks off at 6 am. (1000 GMT) with prayer services."We would like to give the people a seminal view of what the kingdom of God would look like when human beings, regardless of their race or their creed or their colour can come together on a higher principal of spirituality," he said.Unlike the 1995 rally, this time around the controversial Muslim leader seems to have drawn a broader base for his family event, attracting support from such groups as the Congressional Black Caucus to black farmers' associations.Farrakhan also appears to have toned down some of his bitter anti-Semitic and anti-White rhetoric of the past, hinting that his battle against prostate cancer made him a changed man.March organisers say the day's highlight will be a huge wedding ceremony for about 10,000 couples conducted by Farrakhan, similar to the mass nuptials made famous by the Unification Church's Reverend Sun Myung Moon, a close friend of Farrakhan's whose group is helping to organise the rally.Farrakhan appeared at a Unification Church marriage ceremony in 1997 in Washington and has since travelled to South Korea as a guest of the church.After performing the mass wedding ceremony, Farrakhan will deliver the keynote address to the crowd gathered on the Mall, the long park stretching West from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.Farrakhan says he will focus on the "troubled family unit" in America particularly in the black community where according to him, 70 percent of black children are born to unwed mothers.The US divorce rate - 50 percent in the first three years of marriage - is a sign of "the decline of a civilisation", Farrakhan said. Washington police are expecting traffic chaos on Monday, with streets closed off to make way for the crowds expected to converge on the mall.But no official crowd estimates will be given by the authorities after controversy over numbers following the 1995 March when organisers said two million men attended and police put the turnout at 400,000. After that, the officials stopped estimating the crowd sizes.
