In case you missed it in the news, the Million Man March took place a few weeks ago.

Quite frankly, I don’t know how anyone could have missed it. It was the focus of a great deal of media attention and arguing, both before and after the event. The issue of whether or not there were actually a million people at the march has been the source of bickering by opponents and supporters of the march. Opponents are gleefully pointing out the park service’s count of about 400,000 people, while supporters swear the park service miscounted.

I have a whole new approach to this issue, one many of you may have taken already. Who cares. It doesn’t matter if there were a million people or not. The nit-picking and arguing has done nothing but trivialize and taint an event that was so important to those who attended, and many who didn’t.

I won’t get into my personal opinion of what the march stood for or of its organizer, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. I have read accounts in which black men who attended the march called it historic, inspiring, even spiritual. The march apparently had a positive influence on the lives of many people, and I see no need to criticize that.

But Farrakhan and others just can’t leave well enough alone. You would think the knowledge that you had helped create something that has had such an impact on people would be satisfying enough, but Farrakhan is obsessed with having recounts until a million people can be found.

One of my colleagues, Tyler Roach, wrote a column a few weeks back in which he was critical of Farrakhan. The column inspired many readers to write letters to the Daily to defend Farrakhan and the march, but one letter in particular caught my eye.

In the Oct. 27 letter, ISU senior Aaron Wilmot wrote that he attended the march with seven other ISU students. Wilmot wrote that he and the others “can attest that there were, at the least, 1.5 million people there.”

I would like to know what kind of high-tech counting method Wilmot is privy to that enabled him and seven other people to count 1.5 million people in one day. The method of the park service, as I understand it, was to take aerial photos and then count the people in them. Farrakhan seems to think the park service missed some people.

Think about this. The park service counted 400,000. Farrakhan says it was a million. Where did those other 600,000 people hide? Were they in the bathroom when the photos were taken?

Wilmot also wrote that saying there were less than 1.5 million people at the march is “ill intentioned, malicious and a slap in African-American’s faces.” What possible motivation could the park service have for slighting African-Americans? Could there possibly be a less political arm of the federal government than the park service? Since there is no way for the park service to gain by lying about the numbers, and had about as good a method as you could have for counting that many people, I’m inclined to believe its estimate.

Wilmot also accused Roach of assuming that there could not have been 1.5 million black men in one place at one time without there being trouble. If you can assemble 400,000 of any kind of people in one place without a fight breaking out, those people should be commended. Even in a crowd of 400,000 Amish people, someone is bound to get on someone else’s nerves eventually.

“Pardon thee! Thou hast stepped on my foot!” (Eye poking and beard pulling ensues.)

There is no need or justification for bringing racism into the debate over how many people were there. A huge gathering of white people is just as likely to result in trouble. The people who participated in the march conducted themselves admirably, but the accusing people who believe the park service estimate of racism makes those participants seem spiteful.

I can tell by Wilmot’s letter that the march was an important experience for him, which is why he defended it so vehemently. To Wilmot I offer some advice. Let it go. Bickering about how many people attended the march and accusing people who don’t agree with you of being malicious isn’t going to help. It’s only making a mockery of the event, and fueling the fire of those who were opposed to the march.

There were probably about 400,000 people at the Million Man March. They were people from every part of the country and from all walks of life. That is a significant accomplishment. Those who were inspired by the march should focus on that accomplishment, not the head count.

Steven Martens is a junior in journalism mass communication from Cedar Rapids.