Maafa San Francisco Bay Area

Maafa Reflections at 16 Year Anniversary

2011-10-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

This 16th Year for the Commemoration was like starting all over again. It has been like getting ready for a game only to find out that your teammates stayed in the dugout and left you all alone in the outfield. I have been really encouraged by the Pelican Bay Strike, those men who have been living in solitary confinement, men who are allowed a photograph of a loved one, a hug or a kind touch at a visit. Men who haven’t seen sky in decades, these men, supposedly the incorrigible have been able to form alliances cross racial, ethnic and philosophical lines, something nearly impossible to achieve outside.

They are a model being replicated around the country, first with longest state government shutdown in recent history ended with Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton signing the budget July 20, 2011, now Occupy Wall Street and Monday, Occupy Oakland at 4 PM at City Hall. These are people who agree that something has to change in a country where corporations are given the same rights as people, all natural resources are legislated or privatized –this includes food, a place where waste is the biggest crime, that and mediocrity. Rev. Edward Pinkney stated on a recent sweep through California called the Justice Tour, that when he was organizing in prison, he spoke to everyone and those groups he sought out, such as the Skin Heads and White Supremacists groups thought he was weird until Pinkney explained that one doesn’t have to like his ally. More is at stake that friendship today, and while we are letting petty disagreements keep us at odds, the men with the suits and hard hats take everything. There is a war going on both internally and externally – and the enemy is winning. Every time we stop speaking to another person, every broken tie, every bitter thought against another person, we’ve lost and Satan has won that round, if not the battle.

Hanging onto one’s rights is the hardest part of being free, and staying free now that the chains are gone is harder than when they were visible. Today, this 16th Maafa Commemoration Ritual, the word I want you to retain is “remember.” Remember. . . those things you want to forget. Memory is all we have—our perceptions of a reality, not many share. It is only by returning to that place, that trauma that one is able to evaluate and grow taller for the experience.

When we started this journey, a few of us called the parent organization: Lest We Forget. The idea is the Maafa or the Black Holocaust will continue to replicate itself because we do not remember. Remembering is essential to the cure—and a lot ails our community presently within the Pan African Diaspora—its malignant and its spreading, the cure: Maafa, Sankofa, Ayaresa, a Twi word meaning healing. It is an on-going journey.

Earlier this month two nations celebrated the anniversary of their independence: Nigeria with 51 years (1960), Uganda’s is today, October 9, with 49 (1962). Baby nations, just as African Americans are new at this freedom thing with just a little over 151 years post Emancipation Proclamation experience. Today would have been Troy Anthony Davis’s 43rd birthday. I am still finding it hard to believe that Georgia executed him Sept.21 in the face such legal uncertainty. Umoja or unity has always been a problem for black people whether they were in America or Africa or Europe—it’s just something we have to recognize and work through, but to organize, one doesn’t have to like the other person, speak to the other person, empathize or love the other person, all one has to do is get on board or get out of the way of the train. It is much more pleasant when there is comradery, but comradery is not necessary. There is no reason why children are allowed to have firearms and shoot one another. There is no reason why so many children are serving 25 years to life sentences. There is no reason why so many black children are in foster care. There is no reason why a child can go to school in Oakland and graduate and cannot read or write. We can work to eliminate these problems without once inviting the other person to lunch or over for dinner. Liking me is not a prerequisite to working with me.

The world is changing and the only people who are going to survive what I hear is a time worse economically that the time at hand, are those people who know how to organize and get things done. As long as I agree like most decent human beings agree, to walk softly on the planet and to do as little harm as possible with my oversized carbon footprint, then I think was can work together. We all have issues, this is why the Maafa Ritual is important, this is why a month spent looking at these issues without makeup, before cocktails, after one wakes up, is crucial to our people. We need to look more at the image in the mirror in front of us and beside us, next to us and behind us as it shifts form.

Currently at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre is a play called Day of Absence. In this fictional period, all the black people disappear for a day. On that day, the day of absence the world stops in that town, because black people are the key to making everything function and without them nothing goes as it should. We don’t have to disappear physically, but Africa is a wonderful place to live—life might be as easy in one way, but in all the ways that matter, Africa is a better home for one’s soul and one’s spirit, but back to the scenario--imagine if we disappeared from this world philosophically, imagine if we made our lives and well-being a priority and ignored all the noise and chaos this world tempts and distracts us with. Imagine if we reordered our lives and made love, peace, happiness, joy priorities because we deserve these things and joy,peace and happiness are not states one can purchase or inherit—they are states one has to cultivate.

One can have joy and still fight for justice and equality for her people. One can have peace and still maintain one’s convictions to freedom for all people, especially African people. Let’s reflect on those principles and values that are most important today as we honor the memories of our ancestors who suffered long for this day we live in now and for them for their tears and their pain and their devotion and their faith, we do not want to throw this opportunity to make them proud away.

Maafa 2010 Reflections

2010-10-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Today was the 15th Maafa Ritual at Ocean Beach. I awoke at 3:15 AM. I set my clock and my cell phone and my mind and woke on time. I still hadn't written my message for this year, after thinking about it before retiring the night before, the catalog for the exhibit Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas (currently up at the Cantor Museum at Stanford University) on the bed next to me. I was trying to see how to tie it in--water, black mermaid deity--hum? I also pulled Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photographs in America off the shelf for a little mood music--I didn't even get to the photos; the brutality of whites toward Sam Hose, in Leon F.Litwack's essay, "Hellhounds," stopped me. I just couldn't go on afterwards . . . and so I fell asleep after glancing briefly through Gem of the Ocean, August Wilson's first play in his 100 year history of black America, in ten-year cycles.

Black people are the gems of the ocean.

So there we stood this morning on the west coast recalling our ancestors taken from the west coast of Africa, Dr. Penn said in the guided meditation this morning. I thought about this as I breathed in peace and breathed out rage, eyes shut mind listening to the waves . . . their cleansing spirits washing over me, my hair dripping with their whispers . . . later they caught me unaware and like in the game of catch, I could feel the laughter . . . my feet wet.

The morning was light . . . tide so far out we couldn't see it. We knew it was there and after Sunrise and Ebun and another singer led us in the Maafa chant we made our way over the horizon for the treasure, which was there--just as we'd imagined.

Two visitors--friends of friends from Miami shared wonderful songs for the ancestors--both husband and wife drummers, while Haben's prayer in Amharic was an additional treat.

The drummers were in the house, strapped with djembes and djundjun . . . the egungun and other transcendental spirits were dancing. Our friends from Miami said the Atlantic doesn't dance like Pacific. . . .

Maafa 2010

2010-10-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

Maafa Prayer by Mandaza Kandemwa:

In English: God the Creator and all the Holy Spirits of our ancestors: We are here today to offer you your children who are lying and resting in this water. Let your will be done. Thank You.

We meet again. Too many funerals –it would be great to meet on other more joyous occasions—like new births, not the tragic circumstances that bring us here today. However, within the sadness is a joy—because without the great Maafa we wouldn’t be here today, so for that we say Ashay, Amen and Hallelujah!

Maafa is Kiswahili for Great Calamity and reoccurring disaster and is a term used to describe the European Slave Trade or Middle Passage—our Transatlantic Trail of Tears, our Black Holocaust—

The Maafa is connected to Maat or Truth and Reciprocity as well as Sankofa and the Healing aspects of remembrance. We think about the residual psychological effects of slavery when we talk about Maafa and how today we enslave ourselves and allow our children to be enslaved each time one is captured by the judicial system and imprisoned or kidnapped by substance abuse whether that substance is alcohol tobacco, marijuana, crack or the more deadly miseducation.. The world too often plays a major role in our self-identification, thus we make poor choices because we do not employ critical thinking and trace the lies masquerading as truth back to their source—

The nooses are many in the 21st century and freedom is an action word, because the bounty hunters are plenty and when we look in the mirror, they often look like us. Sometimes the duality scholar W.E.B.Dubois spoke of as the “problem of the 21st Century—the color line,” is us. We have to live a conscious life, one where we make good choices—impulsive behaviors are not an option for black people, because there is often no clemency—one mistake and one’s child can face 25 years to life in one of Californians many slave camps or prisons. One mistake and one is dead.

We have to hold onto each other—kids, black children are being kidnapped by sexual predators and sold into sexual slavery, boys and girls, and undocumented immigrants.
On the eve of Indigenous People’s Day, we want to remember the resistance movements waged by our ancestors along with many of the free nations.

The Maafa Commemoration is a time to take stock of our lives and rededicate ourselves to the liberation struggle which is a daily intention fought by the ancestors we come here to honor today.

I was in Haiti twice this year and since the earthquake in January the country still needs to be rebuilt, thousands are still homeless and with the recent storm, it is worse than worse. Haiti is not a third world country like Senegal is a third world country—Haiti looks like here, except there is no infrastructure which means if you have no money then you have no clean water, no place to cook your food and no bed to lie down on—pre and post earthquake. The children are not in school, because school costs money. Sick women can’t afford all their medications and sick children remain ill.

We might have it bad in the Alameda Country, but we do have a Highland Hospital and in San Francisco a General Hospital—in any countries like Haiti, our worse is not close to their best.

We have to count our blessings and make blessings happen by being a blessing to each other whether that is a smile, a helping hand or in-kind support for one of the many institutions we have in our communities set up to make our neighborhoods and streets safe and productive havens for all who live there and if such institutions don’t exist, then we need to start them—call an Mbongi or meeting and see what the community wants, prioritize the list and then set about making the necessary changes.

Remember: FREEDOM is an ACTION WORD.

All photos are: Sara Marie Prada

15th Annual Maafa Ritual 2010, October 10

2010-09-30T02:55:00.000-07:00

The term "Maafa" is Kiswahili for "terrible occurrence" or "reoccurring disaster" and has been used to describe the European slave trade or the Middle Passage. The term "Maafa" also references the Black Holocaust historically and presently. In the San Francisco Bay Area, October is Maafa Awareness Month--it is a time to reflect on the legacy of slavery: victims and beneficiaries in the short and long term and look at ways to mend, repair and heal the damage to Pan African descendants of the enslaved and their New Afrikan societies.

The toll has been tremendous: psychological, economic, social, physical, emotional and spiritual. The Maafa ritual, October 10, 2010, is an honoring of our past and a prayer for our future. All black people are invited to come and share in this time of remembrance. We ask for this one event, those who support the well-being of black people respect our desires about the commemoration ceremony and mourning ritual.

Attendees are encouraged to wear white, to dress warmly, bring their children, flowers for the ceremony, vegan or vegetarian breakfast items to share afterwards, (along with dishes to serve them on), hot beverages and cups, drums, chekeres, rattles, and positive energy. Fire wood is useful for the bonfires Sunday morning.

The organizers will not be responsible for security if attendees decide to spend the night. If anyone needs a ride or can pick someone up please call (641) 715-3900 ext. 36800#. All donations are tax deductible and checks can be made out to: Wo'se House of Amen Ra and mailed to: Maafa San Francisco Bay Area, P.O. Box 30756, Oakland, CA 94604. Check our blog and calendar (www.maafasfbayarea.com)

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
641) 715-3900 ext. 36800# mail@maafasfbayarea.com, or visit www.maafasfbayarea.com

Photo credit: Alan Kimara Dixon Maafa 2009

Libations for the Ancestors: Oakland, CA

2010-06-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

Today, at Lake Merritt the Libations for the Ancestors was really lovely. Everyone got a chance to share reflections and pour. Unlike the larger ceremony in October, this one is small enough for all gathered to participate.

Afterwards, some of us continued the conversation over breakfast at a new restaurant across from Children's Fairyland. Brother Alaman Haile brought a prayer which we read together at the close of the ritual. I'll post it here later.

National and International Libations for the Ancestors in the San Francisco Bay Area

2010-06-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 12, 2010 is our Annual Libations for the Ancestors. It is an international remembrance that takes place nationally and internationally, the time synchronized. Locally, we meet at Lake Merritt at the fountain across from Merritt Bakery on the Lake side about 8:30 AM, so we can pour at 9 AM exactly.

Bring drums, poetry, reflections and your great spirit to this commemoration. If you cannot be present, pour where you are.

I had an interview with some of the founders of the ritual in New York, Charleston, and another ancestor ritual in Philadelphia last year in June.

Broadcast 6/5/2009 listen at www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks

Today we'll be talking about the Remembrance Ritual, which occurs next week, June 13, worldwide. African Diaspora communities pour libations at the same time for departed ones, especially those who were not mourned during the period called the European Slave Trade. We'll be speaking to Osei Terry Chandler and William Jones. Chandler is founder of the "Remembrance" in Charleston, SC. Jones is one of the organizers for the Remembrance in New York on Coney Island @ Bay 18. Joining the discussion will be Oshunbumi Fernandez, host, of the Odunde Festival in Philadelphia. Odunde means in Yoruba: Happy New Year! All the Remembrance rituals occur June 13 at 12:00 noon, EST, which is 9 AM PST. Artisans from "Honor the Basket" follow. The demonstration and exhibit is a program sponsored by the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, 94118, Friday, June 12, 2009 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. The event is FREE after admission into the event Gallery Admission: Adults $10, Seniors 65 and over $7, Youth 13-17 $6, College Students with ID $6, Children 12 and under FREE. PUBLIC INFORMATION:(415) 750-7694 and www.deyoungmuseum.org or nschach@famsf.orgThe show will conclude with a conversation with choreographers: Caprice Armstrong and Naomi Diouf, both staging work in the 31st Annual Ethnic Dance Festival in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts (Week 2). The EDF is June 7-8, through June 27-28, 2009.

National and International Libations for the Ancestors

2010-06-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

People of the Sun Middle Passage Gear Up For 20th Annual Tribute to The Ancestors

This year the ritual is Saturday, June 12, 2010 12 noon to sunset. For information call Tony Akeem (718) 270-4902 or akeem827@yahoo.com or Habte Selassie (212) 209-2992.

June 5, 2009

By Donna Lamb
CaribWorldNews, BROOKLYN, NY, Fri. June 5, 2009: On Sat., June 13, from noon to sunset, the 20th Annual Tribute to Our Ancestors of the Middle Passage will be held on the boardwalk at West 16th Street (Ancestors Circle) in Coney Island, Brooklyn, the site where some of the earliest slave ships once docked.

Sponsored by Akeem Productions and the People of the Sun Middle Passage Collective in conjunction with Medgar Evers College Student Government Association, this annual tribute is in remembrance of the tens of millions of Africans who, after being kidnapped from their homeland, died during the Middle Passage – the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean, and North and South America.

The organizers of this 20th annual Tribute to Our Ancestors see it as an historic moment in the Collective’s history. "We want to make this momentous celebration special," said Tony Akeem. "We hope to welcome an enormous turnout for this extraordinary day. We are looking for the participation of as many drummers and other percussionists as possible so we can really do justice to our ancestors."

The tribute began twenty years ago as a storytelling event conducted by the late Dr. Mary Umolu, a noted African storyteller born in Virginia of Southern and Jamaican heritage who became chair of the Department of Mass Communication, Creative & Performing Arts & Speech at Medgar Evers College. The Tribute’s mission, she always said, was to educate people about what happened during the Middle Passage, to give them a fuller understanding of what their ancestors endured.

Some of the other people who were also part of the initial committee were Zala Smith, Phyliss Jackson, Habte Selassie, Richard Greene, Safia Bandele, Tony Akeem and Andrea McLaughlin. As they, too state, the Tribute to Our Ancestors is not religious or political, and over the years people of all religions, traditions and political persuasions continue to be a part of the annual observance. The program is one of enlightenment, enrichment and love.

The program will start precisely at noon, rain or shine, in coordination with other gatherings around the world carrying out this same rite at exactly the same time. It will begin with a libation ceremony by New Khemet Society, followed by a drum invocation led by Guyanese Master drummer Menes De Griot. As he explained, he will be playing the ancestors’ Ngomas, made for him in South Africa by the Venda people. These drums are played only three times a year, and the trinity drum – so named because it can be played on all three sides – is the only one in the world.

This year special drum tributes will be made to Dr. Mary Umolu, Dr Ivan Van Sertima, Bernie Mac, Cheryl Byron, John Hope Franklin, Isaac Hayes, Monica Chopperfield (Lady Guymine), and all other recent ancestors.

Some of the many singers, drummers, dancers, spoken word artists and other cultural artists schedule to perform are Kowteff, Chris Slaughter, Osagyefo, Shanto, Ngomo, MEC Drama Club, The Lola Lewis Creative & Performing Arts Studio, Sunu Thoissane & Orin Ayo Dance & Drum Ensemble, Something Positive, Abaddon & New Vibrations, 5B Plus, Congo Square Drummers, Utopia Pan Soul, Harmonica Man, Junior Culture, Gold Teeth Lance, Afari & Rock of Ages.

The event will culminate at sundown with the final Ancestral Offering, during which the Ancestral Drummers will lead participants to the water’s edge where each person will place flowers into the Atlantic Ocean, the largest African burial ground in the world.

Attendees are asked to wear white or African attire and bring flowers to place in the ocean. If you do not have a drum, bring a shekere, whistle, cowbell,or shac shac.

For more info contact Akeem at (718) 270-4902 or (718) 659-4999 or email him at Akeem827@yahoo.com. Transportation: D, F, N or Q train to the last stop, Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue, or B36, B64, B68 or B82 bus to Stillwell Avenue/Surf Avenue (Coney Island Train Station).

from http://www.blackstarnews.com/?c=124&a=3371

The Breach

2010-02-27T14:29:00.001-08:00

The traffic was horrific Thursday evening when I got into San Francisco. I'd planned to go by TJs on Masonic for a salad for dinner, but the traffic was so slow heading for Fell Street, I got off and backtracked to Ninth Street, got the salad and then drove the surface streets to the Burial Clay Theatre at the African American Center for Art and Culture, 762 Fulton Street, where I ate half my salad in the car, before getting out.

There was a large group of young people and other patrons filling the hallway when I entered. I saw a few friends. Someone came out while I was in the Sargent Johnson Gallery looking at the exhibit: "Cultural Odyssey at 30," to tell us that the play begins in the hall.

Idris Ackamoor, theatre founder, dressed in white with gold accents, blew into a conch shell, sort of like a Pied Piper of the Fillmore and led patrons up the stairs into an adventure that went on beyond anything Alice's Wanderings took her--the girl should try African Diaspora ancestral memories for themes, but we followed him anyway because it was Idris and we trusted him (smile).

The audience had been divided into groups, but as I'd been in the gallery, I missed this part so I went with the youth up the stairs, past the studios and a frowning man with a rifle, whom I avoided, he looked like he'd shoot, into a loading dock converted into a theatre space--it looked like a slave dungeon--the part where one kisses Africa good-by, the plank just ahead.

Idris continues the soundtrack from a loft space, while a woman, a captured African--a recalcitrant one at that, walks into the space from behind--we can hear her head constraint ringing. For many in the audience, this is the first time we've seen this kind of torturous device outside history books or gallery exhibits.

What ensues could be called a dance, but to see this heavy object locked around her neck, spirally up over her head certainly lets those assembled know this is not a typical theatre experience--we are going to hell. I am on the front row, so I can see. The kid who was there traded places with me and kindly gave me his pillow when I asked (the plank was hard and hurt my hip).

Underneath the deck where Idris sat with instruments and a screen where projected images enhanced the experience, was a ladder leading up and a dark cavernous chilly expanse--we don't know what's down there and frankly, I am not interested in exploring--

Except for Idris's music and Rhodessa Jones's occasional lines, when she joins Joanna Haigood, there is no verbal discourse, just two ladders, the dark recesses at the end of the steep ramp where the enslaved woman rolls down the pier in the head restraint (yes!) are the only sites and sounds we see and hear initially.

Then Rhodessa dressed in an orange prison jumper from South Africa (orange the universal prison attire, like a brand) appears with a whip. All the sensations: cold, hard, errie darkness, unfamiliar sounds, smells, give the audience plenty to contemplate, especially those in the first two rows where the whip spinning in Rhodessa's hand over our heads, which she then flicks, we feel, too close to our faces as its breeze and the sting of its impact hits the ground again too close for comfort. But this theme--the black holocaust, is it supposed to be an idea that brings ease?

Kids jump almost into my lap and I didn't blame them, this weapon is real ...threatening. I just make room.

One could feel the atmosphere shift, as the kids settle down, the bantering chatter ceases and the audience resigns into spaces previously occupied by the captive, the overseer, the slave catcher: on the block at the auction, in the ocean floating, on the limb lynched.

No one knew her story, just her name: "Laura Nelson." "Where was she from? She just sprang up. The other one? Watch. This happened on a bridge...go to sleep little baby." Rhodessa sang. There wasn't even time to mourn as we gathered under the tree where Haigood's body hung. Time shifted between slave transport to Jim Crow America: the black codes post emancipation.

We weren't allowed to dwell in any sensation for long...Negro memorabilia --the huge lips and hips, the bulging eyes...all successful efforts at dehumanizing the captive as piano music surrounded us from the rear (how did Idris get back there?)and it was time to move. People started filing past us...who were they, more captives?

Joanna's character was spinning on a ladder--her form beautiful in motion as her body balanced on a rung, her skirt billowing out...beauty found within a grotesque state we filed by, her body now .slumped over the rung, literally spun.

As I watched Laura spin, I wondered how those filing past got selected to be in the procession...to where? Did I want to go? At first I wanted to go as well and then I saw that the first into the dungeon would be the last to leave; we were all going down into the loading dock...where onto a slave ship, and if not a slave ship where were we going? It was all a mystery to me.

Zaccho Dance Company, which Joanna Haigood founded has created several pieces which look at the slave trade, one in collaboration with the San Francisco Arts Festival a couple of years ago when Rhodessa Jones was Artistic Director. The piece for SFIAF, called Arrivals and Departures took place at the San Francisco Airport in the International Wing--yes, how appropriate, and looked at Africans newly arriving and those already here and the interchange, both the physical and the philosophical.

There was another Zaccho theatre installation I attended which took place at Ft. Baker I'd like to say about ten years ago, and in this work the audience became captives. I don't know why I was surprised when I was pulled from the audience in "Breach"--yes, we do finally get to the theatre. I am taken from my comfortable seat and placed on the auction block with two others where the auctioneer tells me to open my mouth--"wide" and "bend over."

I don't see her whip, but I obey.

Rhodessa is in the audience trying to get the prices up...I think we are sold for $500 dollars. I don't see to whom, my back to them literally, butt in the air. The experience was transformative. I felt like those ancestors must have felt...scared, in a strange place, polished and cleaned up for the show...and then like that separated from family, land, community...however horrible on the ship. I know the place in New Orleans where the enslaved Africans were chained to posts and sold. It is now a grocery store--Circle Market on Claiborne Avenue. It was damaged during Katrina.

Breach, the word both a noun and a verb. A breached birth is one where the child is engaged butt first, and a breached agreement means that it is not honored. No one asked Rhodessa, Idris or Joanna what "Breach" meant in their context. It could have meant both, especially when the theatre piece shifts to the present--not that the present wasn't always implied with slavery as the new plantation, HIV/AIDS on Jones and Haigood's tee shirts another type of Maafa or black holocaust.

I was surprised that many in the audience didn't know the word and that still others didn't know about the Maafa ritual in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 14 years or so. Visit http://www.maafasfbayarea.com

I really liked the way Cultural Odyssey and Zaccho framed the discussion and the interactive nature of the theatre piece. I agree with Idris, this was nothing new for Cultural Odyssey, a theatre company that promotes art that engages and calls for active participation--audiences have to work as they spin new paradigms out of old social/political concepts.

We often leave a Cultural Odyssey event feeling disturbed and not at all at ease when the curtain falls and "The End" flashes across the marquee, but that's what art is supposed to do if it is good art--disturb.

In the theatre, Rhodessa's last character is a black woman who has applied for a top position at a corporation; she is first choice for the position. The powerful black woman is at the top of the ladder, literally--what a different image from the previous one, but is it any different? The woman is chatting with her girlfriends about the party they are going to have when the job is hers.

"The Breach" is non-linear; the corporation job story is mixed with the story of black urban professionals and black love and varying definitions on the question
Rhodessa sings about, accompanied by Idris, who also engages Joanna in a loving duet, she dancing to his active accompaniment.

As we walked under the loading deck, Idris tells me later that the building was once a brewery, we saw objects draped in white cloth: "That's where they keep the bodies," one young man said to a friend. I asked him to repeat it, I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly.

"Can we keep love on our minds...is torture so different now? Was it so different then?

Yes, for fans, Idris does tap and play his saxophone at the same time. He also plays a loving Arabic lute. As all this is happening there are vidoes streaming on the screen and women swaying from cocoons and hoops. It's really too much to capture on paper--Breach is like Cultural Odyssey's name; it's a journey where we heard stories of Alphonzo the Flea and Hurricane Bruce where we learn to "improvise of die."

"Michele is from Chi-town. She didn't sit down, she is running this country. It's time to get paid." "How does a black man know he's in hell? He doesn't. It's all around him." "Angel talk to me." "Dry bones stare in surprise."

"When I die, halleluia bye and bye, I'll fly away." We all sing with Jones. (And then we are brought on stage and sold.)

I can tell you this journey along the breach, but really its one one must take for herself.

Conceived by Joanna Haigood, Rhodessa Jones and Idris Acakmoor, "The Breach" directed by Acakmoor, with choreography by Haigood, text by Jones and Cecil Brown, lighting design by Stephanie Johnson, and set design by Pam Peniston, transforms as it teaches.

I love Rhodessa's questions at the end when we learn of her topic for her dissertation: the similarity between the slave plantation system and the corporate system. "These bones don't lie," she tells her potential employer who is of course taken aback.

"Are you a plant?" He asks.

"Grant me what I have lost." She says.

Jones then breaks form and asks the audience: What does reparations look like to you? Are the corporations that made money (read all of them) responsible for repayment? What about the American government--should it apologize and to whom and what does a tangible apology look like?

The Breach closes this weekend with two more performances: Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 3 PM, all at 762 Fulton Street in San Francisco. Visit http://www.culturalodyssey.org/v2/aboutus/

Maafa Commemoration Month Poetry Reading

2009-10-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

On October 17 at Mo'Joes in Berkeley Asha Brundage hosted a poetry reading. Here are poems her mother, Karla Brundage, shared that afternoon.

We will add more as they are sent.

A Shape Shifter
By Karla Brundage

On the eve of the inauguration of Barack Obama 44th president of the United States

He arrives in light filled dreams
Speaking of hope
Spirits of the past echoing
Voices of ancestors humming we shall overcome.
He stands
Shimmering black
Sometimes white
Projecting light
Casting shadows.
From the depth of my unconscious
The dream calls out to me
Awakens my sorrow in its hope
Calls forth all past injustices
In the quest for justice
Tests my faith
The dream dancer
Calls himself hope
And I respond.
A shackle unclasped
I step forward into daylight.

Not yet Named- Calling for Peace-
by Karla Brundage

Peace is my wish
On my block
Extending out to the world
In a pollen covered pistil
Blossoming new ideas
Unfurling a small bud
Projecting its fantasm
Destruction of ego
Through power of love.

My Hope

by Karla Brundage
My hope for you
Is peace
A current- a torrent
Of open hearted dialogue
A surgery
Of sorts
To repair the egos
Unleashed in
The chaos of war
How to find and tame them
How to conquer the dragon of violence
Lose amidst us.

Grace

by Karla Brundage
What if the weapon were a transformer
To transform hate to love
And anger to forgiveness
What if it were that simple
To put down the cell phone
And listen to the heart
Beating there next to you
To look into the eye
Of that man-captured on tape
Is he begging for mercy?
Can you find it in your heart to give it?

Maafa 2009

2009-10-30T19:07:00.001-07:00

Maafa 2009

2009-10-30T19:06:00.001-07:00

Maafa 2009

2009-10-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

2009-10-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

MAAFA 2009
Maafa 2009 was chillier than usual, but our hearts were certainly no less warmed by the ancestors’ tight embrace. As supplicants made their way through the Middle Passage to the Wolosodon rhythms, the slave march through the Doors of No Return to the beach where each person held a piece of string—symbolic of a connection…a philosophical connection to the homeland, family and history. It was really beautiful as we sang the Mbongi song from the Kikongo tradition, Wolosodon from the Bambara or Mali Kingdom, then prayed in Yoruba and Shona with an English translation. As we stood turned in the four scared directions, spirit grabbed Mama Geri and Mama Ayanna…we had service that morning on the beach as winds whipped our faces, tears dried before they left one’s eyes. There were many new faces and the feeling was certainly reverent and celebratory. We were all thankful to the ancestors for the day and the life and the company and the spirit. Visit www.maafasfbayarea.com to see photos and reflections as they become available.

Photo credit: Copyright 2009 Sara Marie Prada, All Rights Reserved

2009-10-26T14:18:00.001-07:00

The 12th Annual Sankofa Caravan to the Ancestors

“A spirit to be remembered”

By ZIN (Minister of Culture, NBUF)

As early as Thursday, October 15th people from across the country began to converge to the cities of Houston and Galveston, Texas for one event; The National Black United Front’s 12th Annual – Sankofa Caravan to the Ancestors. The kick-off began with an edutainment component organized by the University of Houston’s Liberation Society and N.B.U.F. entitled “Drum and Chant – The Roots of Hip-Hopoetry”, featuring master poet Mutabaruka and other local Houston artists such as Sunni Patterson, 144 Elite, Empress Winter, Bishop Black, Torian, Sar, Rez and hosted by Emcee ZIN. It all took place on the campus of the University of Houston (central). It was a divine mix of Hip-Hop/Poetry! You could feel the revolutionary energy in the room, where all ages from toddlers to elders bobbed their heads, clapped their hands and gave their Ashe’ to the wordsmiths of the night. This was just the beginning of three days of reconnecting our past to the present while showing the necessity for ancestor veneration, unity in our communities and the need to settle our differences. The theme for this year’s Caravan was “Settle your quarrels, come together…the sooner begun, the sooner done” which was taken from a quote by ancestor George Jackson.

There could not have been a more fitting theme, simply due to immediate need for the rebuilding of a united front in the African community as a whole. This has been the mission of The National Black United Front’s Houston Chapter for the last decade, now under the leadership of now National Chairman Kofi Taharka. Bringing together African communities of all faiths with the sole purpose of healing our people through prayers and actions of positive, progressive, forward motion toward the liberation of African peoples worldwide!

The second event took place Friday, October 16th at the S.H.A.P.E. Community Ctr. – Houston, TX. This event was the viewing of the movie “Sankofa” directed by Haile Gerima which featured question and answer period following the movie with two of the films’ stars Oyafunmike Ogunlano and Mutaburaka.

For the last few years the movie has been shown even though a large number of people have seen it. Nearly everyone in attendance would attest to their need to re-visit the movie’s concepts of reconnecting to the African spirit. On this evening the African communities from Houston, Oklahoma, Dallas and Atlanta introduced their children to Oyafunmike and Mutabaruka with proud and respectful reverence as they explained how much it meant to meet “our” movie hero and shero.

The main event showed up as quickly as the rising of the sun on Saturday, October 17th at 6:30 a.m. as beautifully dressed members of the Pan-African community in their all white garbs met at the N.B.U.F. Houston Headquarters, located at 2428 Southmore, for this glorious day. The 12th Annual Sankofa – Caravan to the Ancestors had arrived and all the excitement from the last two days had come to a boil. Peace, Uhuru, Black Power, Forward, As Salaamulaikum, and other greetings filled the air as Brothers and Sisters greeted one another while mentally preparing for what was ahead. Capt. Khalid Greene and the Houston IN-CERT (Inner city emergency response team) organized the vehicles that would partake in the physical caravan down to Galveston, Texas. The caravan included members of various community organizations such as Sehah , O.B.U.-San Antonio, NCOBRA, Third eye-Dallas, TX., AAPRP, The Act of Change and The Shrine of the Black Madonna just to name a few.

Arriving at 29th and Seawall in Galveston, the caravan was welcomed by the sounds of African drumming and waves crashing. Hugs and high spirits filled the air. Bro. Salim Adolfo (Vice-Chairman of NBUF) opened the ceremony with greetings of peace from the National Black United Front. Second to speak was Chairman Kofi Taharka with the word of day on how our communities needed to settle our quarrels now while firing the revolutionary spirits of all on the beach. Oyafumike Ogulano blessed the ceremony with an opening libation, honoring our holy African ancestors. African communities from Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Baton Rouge, San Antonio, New York, Tulsa Oklahoma, Jamaica and Houston poured onto the beach to partake in the spiritual festivities.

Also in attendance on the beach were Cynthia Mckinney and legendary percussionist Bill Summers. After singing songs of praise and dancing to the drummers, all were invited to make an offering into the very waters that once brought our ancestors from Africa into captivity here in America. The ceremony lasted approximately three hours, ending in a closing prayer and directions to the luncheon which was held at Old Central Cultural Center. Once at the center Caravan attendees had a chance to unwind, eat and listen to uplifting and motivational words of wisdom from Chairman Kofi Taharka, Oyafunmike and Mutabaruka just to name a few. Once full of spirit and nourishment, everyone quietly reflected, smiled and gave thanks for the opportunity to work toward the liberation of African people through reverence, sacrifice, love and power of community! With the will of the creator and the ancestors, we shall meet again on the shores of Galveston, Texas next year to revisit and reclaim our divine and rightful place were our forefathers and mothers were brought to this land unwillingly. However we willingly say “Forward ever, Backward NEVER!”

Many thanks and blessings go out to all of the African spiritualist communities that attended and offered their body of knowledge, wisdom and understanding on honoring our holy African ancestors.

Special thanks goes out to the organizers of the Caravan which include, Event Chair-woman, Osunbunmi Gaidi, Bro. Omowale, Sis. Folade, Bro. T. Piper, Sis. Matti and all that came to the weekly NBUF meetings and planning sessions.
Please view the video I produced from the Caravan: http://vimeo.com/7220546

View Pictures from the Sankofa Caravan events: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43762891@N03/show/

Forward in truth,
ZIN
Minister of Culture
National Black United Front

S.O.S. RADIO
Every Wednesday 3p-5p
90.1fm Houston, 89.5fm Galveston
www.kpft.org
www.trickledownent.com
www.soundofsoul.net
www.myspace.com/sosradio
www.breakrecordz.blogspot.com
"Enlightening the ears and souls of the people"

Maafa Commemoration in Alabama

2009-10-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

You are invited to attend our second annual MAAFA Celebration on Saturday, October 24, 2009. Festivities will begin at:

9:00 a.m. At the Slavery and Civil War Museum, 1410 Water Avenue with Soul Prints of Our Ancestors and Ourselves (Interactive Tour).

10:00 a.m. Walking on Water: A Silent Procession down Water Avenue to Memorial Park for dedication of a Maker in honor of our enslaved Ancestors.

11:00 a.m. Marker Dedication Ceremony

12 Noon Lunch at Wallace Community College, 3000 Earl Goodwin Parkway, Selma, Alabama at the Hank Sanders Technology Center. Senator Hank Sanders will prepare and serve his favorite dish "Umoja."

2:00 p.m. Author, Scholar and Activist Raymond Winbush will discuss his book
"The Warrior Method" at George Wallace Community College (Goodwin Theatre). Book Signing to follow.

4:00 p.m. Reception for Ambassador Jean-Claude B. Bope and Dr. Raymond Winbush at the Hank Sanders Technology Center.

6:00 p.m. Premier Showing of BROTHERHOOD AGAINST APARTHEID Talk Back Session with Ambassador Jean-Claude B. Bope Executive Producer George Wallace Community College (Goodwin Theatre).

7:30 p.m. "The Healing Song" an original musical drama written by Faya Rose Toure’
and Survivors of Sexual Abuse.

For additional information please feel free to call (334) 418-4889.

August 23, 2009 is ABOLITION DAY

2009-08-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

ABOLITION DAY TO BE COMMEMORATED AT KEY WEST’S 1860 AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND

KEY WEST, Florida Keys — The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition is to be commemorated at an oceanfront Key West site believed to be the only African refugee cemetery in the United States.

Presented by Key West’s Bahama Conch Community Land Trust, the observance is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, at the 1860 African Burial Ground on Higgs Beach, Atlantic Boulevard and White Street.

The commemoration is to focus on the progress of a memorial honoring the African refugees buried in the cemetery and goals for making it a World Heritage Site.

Experts believe the burial ground contains the graves of Africans who died in 1860 after being freed by the U.S. Navy from three American-owned slave ships captured near the Cuban coast.

More than 1,400 African men, women and children were transported to Key West for sanctuary, housed and cared for after being rescued from the slave vessels. Most eventually were returned to Africa, but 295 died in Key West, probably from illnesses resulting from the brutal conditions aboard the slave ships. They were buried in unmarked graves along the island’s southern shore.

Shortly afterward, construction began on a Martello tower that encompassed part of the cemetery site, and the Africans’ story was virtually forgotten until historical research and a 2002 ground-penetrating radar analysis revealed the presence of graves.

At the Aug. 23 event, presenters are to include Norma Jean Sawyer of the volunteer committee for the 1860 African Memorial Site Project; Professor Gene Tinnie, lead concept artist for the project; and Nigerian-born artist Johnson Odibi, a contributor to the concept design.

The evening is to include a presentation on the cemetery’s significance to international history and plans to introduce the site and its story to UNESCO for consideration as a potential World Heritage Site.

Storyteller, writer and public radio host Madafo, a representative of the Diaspora Arts Coalition of Miami, is to give an overview of Africans forced into slavery in earlier centuries and the overwhelming affects of the trade. Tinnie plans to share the story of how the African symbols that adorn the cemetery’s columns were chosen, while Odibi will describe the significance of other artwork at the site.

In addition, Sawyer will chronicle the ways Key West residents came together in 1860 to protect and care for the African refugees, and continue to spearhead present-day efforts to preserve the cemetery and its story for future generations.

Performances by ceremonial drummers are expected to round out the events.

Proclaimed by UNESCO, the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition commemorates the start of a 1791 uprising of enslaved Africans in Santo Domingo that played a critical role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

For more information, call Norma Jean Sawyer at (305) 294-0884 or e-mail njsawyer@bahamaconchclt.org.

For lodging information in Key West, contact the Key West Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-LAST-KEY (800-527-8539) or visit the Keys Web site at www.fla-keys.com.

Save the Date

2009-08-12T16:39:00.001-07:00

Maafa 2009: Hurricane Katrina

2009-08-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 30, 2009, 5-9 PM, at Shashamane Restaurant at 2507 Broadway in Oakland (corner of 25th Street Auto-Row), there will be a report back and fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina Survivors.

The organizations we have been supporting for the past four years are LIFE of Mississippi (Biloxi site) and Common Ground Health Clinic. We will have poets sharing work, the anthology, Words Upon the Waters, Poets and Artists Respond to Hurricane Katrina will be on sale.

We'll have birthday cake for Chairman Fred Hampton, a young revolutionary killed by the FBI/Chicago police in 1969. Other Leos will also be celebrated.

There will be an art auction, so bring art artists and money public. We accept checks. Donations are requested, minimally $10, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. For information email: racewoman@gmail.com

If you can't make it send checks made out to either charity to P.O. Box 30756, Oakland, CA 94604.

Juneteenth Oakland 2009 at Lake Merritt

2009-06-17T19:52:00.001-07:00

Oakland Libation for the Ancestors

2009-06-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

The Annual Ancestral Remembrance of the Middle Passage Sunrise Ceremony at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park

2009-06-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

The growing Juneteenth Celebration in Miami is linked to the Annual Sunrise Ancestral Remembrance of the Middle Passage Ceremony, held each year on the Sunday closest to the summer solstice. This year it will be held on the Sunday of the solstice itself, June 21, which is also Fathers Day, beginning at 5:45 a.m. (Those who think that is too early to get up are often reminded of the time not too long ago when our Ancestors had no choice.) The Ceremony takes place at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park (turn left at the second traffic signal on Rickenbacker Causeway, after going through the toll gate [$1.50], just before the Bear Cut Bridge to Key Biscayne).

The Ceremony honors the millions who perished in the Middle Passage (the so-called Atlantic "slave trade") and those who survived to give life to us and future generations. It is traditionally opened by members of the native American community, to invoke the permission and the blessings of the Ancestors of this land. Drummers and musicians are especially welcome, and participants are invited to bring offerings of fruits, grains, nuts, eggs, flowers or other appropriate items, which are placed on a raft of palm fronds and carried out to sea. Brief prayers, performances, artwork, words of wisdom, etc. are also welcomed, as we honor those who endured the horrors of the Middle Passage by "showing ourselves strong."

(We also remember that the Middle Passage was not the first or the only time that Africans crossed the Atlantic to the Americas, but its impact on the making of the world today, and the creation of new African peoples cannot be overlooked or forgotten. And, in the spirit of Juneteenth, we also remember the most important lesson of that observance: "Until all of us are free, none of us is free.")

For more information or directions, please feel free to contact Brother Gene at (305) 904-7620 or Sis. Altine at 786-260-1246. Please spread the word. Asante sana.

National and International Remembrance for the Ancestors June 13, 9 AM

2009-06-07T23:44:00.000-07:00

Remembrance for the Ancestors June 13, 9 AM PST

It's that time again, our annual ritual pouring libations for our ancestors. We join communities in Charleston, South Carolina, Panama, West Indies, Cape Coast, Ghana, and Brooklyn, New York.

Stop what you are doing Saturday, June 13th at 9 a.m. PST and pour libations for our African ancestors who were taken against their will from Mother Africa. Ask them for strength and endurance. Freedom is a constant struggle. For those who'd like to pour libations in unity. Join us at 8:30 a.m. We will pour precisely at 9 AM. Bring your drums and other percussion instruments to celebrate our ancestors' lives. Bring flowers, breakfast pastry and fruit to share. It is traditional to wear white, but for those who know me...bring yourself, it's what's inside that counts.

Feel the power of that moment as we recall their greatness of spirit and give thanks. Ashay!

Last year we met at the fountain at Lake Merritt in Oakland, across from the Merritt Bakery where the fountain is: E-18th Street at Lakeshore Drive. We can meet there again this year. It is a nice spot, easy to locate and wheelchair accessible.

This is our fourth year participating in the international remembrance of the African ancestors who were bought and sold during the European slave trade. This is also an opportunity to reflect on those subsequent ancestors like Mama Tubman and Baba Denmark Vesey, and ancestors elsewhere in the African Diaspora. It is, a prayer for our survival and an opportunity to greet and support one another in this important work: healing from enslavement: social, political, and economic. It is also an opportunity to reclaim our personal and collective power, plus long overdue justice and equality.

Visit http://maafasfbayarea.com

Listen to Wanda's Picks Radio Friday, June 5, 2009 8-10 AM where I speak to William Jones, one of the founders of the New York Remembrance, Osei Terry Chandler, founder of the Charleston Remembrance and Oshunbumi Hernandez, director of Odunde Inc. The website is: http://www.wandaspicks.asmnetwork.org

20th Anniversary for the New York Remembrance for the Ancestors

Brother William Jones said when asked about the origin of the New York ritual libation for African ancestors who perished during the European Slave Trade, that it was started by faculty at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, Tony Akeem, specifically, and inspired by Toni Cade Bambara.

Now in its 20th year with international participation growing each year, the only simultaneous ritual honoring the memory of our African ancestors, is this Saturday, June 13 at 12 noon ET. The NY ritual is the inspiration for Remembrances for the Ancestors in San Francisco, Oakland, Charleston... the second Saturday in June.

These simultaneous celebrations/commemorations are for our African ancestors' who endured and those who didn't survive the horrific Middle Passage. (Listen to the interview taped June 5, 2009 on http://www.wandaspicks.asmnetwork.org)

The participants begin assembling on Coney Island at Bay 18 at 9:30-10 AM. The drums call one into the circle, where people are dancing and singing and chanting. The libations are poured at 12:00 noon exactly and then people take flowers and go into the ocean. Guests are asked to wear white if possible and to bring flowers and fresh fruit to share.

12th Annual Charleston Remembrance for the Ancestors

Honoring our ancestors who perished during the Middle Passage, those souls who became nameless whose lives were forfeited as a result of the European Slave Trade. If we don’t remember them, who will?

“We are linked in both life and death. Those who share common blood relations never break apart” (Nkonsonkonson).

Gather in the parking lot, Saturday, June 13, 2009@ Fort Moultrie, Sullivan’s Island, Charleston, SC, from 9 AM to 1 PM. All are invited: Clergy, Drummers, Elders, and Youth

Schedule:

10:00 AM Fort Moultrie Auditorium

Tour and discussion of the NPS newly installed exhibition: “African Passages”

11:00 AM Proceed to Toni Morrison “Bench by the Road” for the Libation Ceremony

12:00 PM Libation at 12 noon sharp @ the Fort Moultrie Dock in conjunction with national and international African Diaspora communities in Brooklyn, NY; Portobelo, Panama; Cape Coast, Ghana, WA; Oakland, CA, Atlanta and Augusta, GA.

12:15-12:45 PM Proceed to Dock

Bring flowers for offering and fresh fruit to share

34th Annual Odunde Festival Weekend in Philly: June 12-14th 2009

Odunde means Happy New Year! And is a cultural event which honors the ancestors and connects African people with other African people via the medium of art and creative commerce since 1975. Visit http://www.odundeinc.org/Index.htm

Although ODUNDE is best known for its highly visible annual festival, it provides educational, cultural and activist services throughout the year which support its mission. Many of its larger programs are sponsored or presented as collaborations with cultural, educational or business institutions which share ODUNDE's mission.

ODUNDE Weekend Events Schedule: June 12-14

Friday, June 12:

Business Forum for the Republic of Liberia - 9AM - 3PM

Business Forum for the Republic of Liberia at the Federal Reserve Bank, 7th and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, PA, Cost: $50. Pre-Registration is REQUIRED. Register at interdependence.org or/and call 484-908-2955

Saturday, June 13:

Saturday, the African Business Roundtable – 9AM - 1PM
The Business Roundtable Ambassadors include: Guinea and Sierra Leone at the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, 1515 Arch Streets - 18th Floor, Philadelphia, PA FREE!!

River Procession - 12 noon – 1:30 p.m.

The River Procession leaves from ODUNDE Cultural Center - 2308 Grays Ferry Avenue (23rd & South Streets)

The Egungun Procession celebrates the memory of our elevated and honorable African ancestors. We humbly request that everyone wear white clothing. Bembe (a drum and dance celebration) will follow the procession.

Sunday, June 14:

ODUNDE Festival and African Marketplace –10 AM. – 8 PM

South Street and Grays Ferry Stage Performances…Following the river procession, performances begin on ODUNDE's stages and end at dusk. As a cultural celebration designed for families to enjoy together, ODUNDE emphasizes performers and craft artists from throughout the African Diaspora whose work celebrates the diversity of traditional African or African-American art forms including: African dance, hair braiding, stepping, roller dance, drill team formations, hip-hop and tap dance, traditional African instruments, drumming, rhythm and blues, and traditional African American popular dance forms. Each year ODUNDE employs over 40 artists. Many have launched their careers from our stage.

The ODUNDE Festival was an originator of authentic African Marketplace festivals, featuring traditional foods, art, crafts, clothing and jewelry. The most colorful aspect of the festival which continues throughout the day, The African Marketplace draws return customers every year. We are grateful to its vendors, who are major supporters of our organization.

Wanda's Picks Radio June 17, 2009

2009-06-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

This week we will be speaking to the founder of the Day of Mourning. Begun June 19, 2007, with a terminus of 2013, this day, 12 AM to 11:59 PM worldwide, African people are invited to participate in the collective mourning of our African ancestors who survived and perished the European slave trade. The premise is that mourning is a way to tune the instrument, to relieve our collective soul of the burden of said memory so we can move on as a community. Given the magnitude of the event, one community or a handful of priest, no matter how well-intentioned cannot address this alone--it needs to be communal. African people are asked to take a moment and mourn our ancestors as individuals or as family or as community. There is no wrong way to participate. Everyone is asked to just do something whether that is a verbal or silent prayer, a walk along a body of water, a meditation, lighting a candle, reading inspirational words of one of our ancestors archived in a slave narrative, hosting a discussion.

Please share your experiences here. We'd like to know what you did and how you felt afterwards. If there are images or video footage you can provide links.

Maafa Altar a part of Dia de los Muertos Exhibit at Laney College Gallery

2008-11-03T17:01:00.000-08:00

Maafa Altar a part of the Dia de los Muertos exhibit which opens at Laney College's June Steingart Gallery, Monday, Nov. 3

The June Steingart Gallery presents Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) from November 3, 2008 to November 15, 2007. This year's theme is "If The Dead Could Vote" which will explore choices that we make which are political, economic and social. The dead have no interest other than the wellness of all who exist on earth. The Dias de Los Muertos is a celebration and a Meso-American tradition honoring our ancestors and remembering them with our friends, family and community. Part of the celebration to make fun of death and the absurdity of societal norms. This tradition invites all to participate knowing that other traditions are very similar. TaSin Sabir and Neter Aameri have an altar for the ancestors in this show. Please join us for the show and participate in our community altars.

The reception will be held on Monday, November 3, 2008 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. For Additional information, please call the June Steingart Gallery at 510-464-3586 or artgallery@peralta.edu

Though seen as a Mexican tradition, all cultures remember their dead. In African culture the ancestors or egun are said to never leave one's side. It is we who forget them. In Haiti, on November 2, the community recognizes Gede, the loa or spirit of the crossroads between life and death. Decked in purples and black, he is a trickster, Ezili Danto told me in an interview on Wanda's Picks Radio Friday, October 31, 10-10:40 segment of the show. Visit http://www.wandaspicks.asmnetwork.org

The notion of tricks and treats is an African one. Gede is also the loa of fertility. I thought it interesting that in Haitian traditional compounds, the dead are buried nearby, so that one can greet the ancestor's remains daily--death a part of life.

FET GEDE Senk: Festival of the Ancestors, featuring Portsha Jefferson, Blache Brown & Petit Le Croix, Lee Iyayo Hetelson & friends, and host, Regina Califa Calloway, was Sunday, November 2, at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 14th St., Oakland, CA, 12 noon to 6 p.m. $15-$20 sliding scale. Fet Gede Senk is a national holiday in Haiti. Gede is the Haitian celebration of All Souls Day.

It is a time of both jubilant celebration and a time to fondly remember those who have passed on. For this occasion, please wear Purple, Black and White, the traditional colors for Gede. There will be live Haitian Drumming provided by a special surprise guest flying in from Haiti. For more information: raratoulimen@yahoogroups.com www.myspace.com/raratoulimen

Breath of Our Ancestor's Artist Reception

2008-10-18T12:54:00.001-07:00

At the Breath of the Ancestors Exhibit Reception, Wednesday, October 15, at the Prescott Joseph Center we honored the legacy of the San Francisco Bay Area’s premiere artists: Berkeley resident, Joy Holland and Oaklander by way of St. Louis, Casper Banjo, with featured artist: Keith Hopkins, another Oaklander.

The exhibit, titled: “Breath of Our Ancestors” is an opportunity to meet a woman whom one guest tonight said sounded like Fanny Lou Hamer, Harriett Tubman and Ida B. Wells rolled into one. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the work of internationally acclaimed artist, Casper Banjo who was taken from us too soon, last year, when he was shot not far from his home in October as he took his evening walk.

Stories of Joy’s banner on the side of her home with the words: “No Son-of-a-Bush,” walks through the neighborhood where talk of her fearlessness spread. No one bothered Joy. Ava said she hadn’t shed a tear since her mom passed months ago…perhaps she said, because her mother’s spirit lives. Her brother Tajmal echoed these sentiments later on.

TheArthur Wright spoke of his good friend Casper Banjo, an internationally well-known artist, whose passing was such a surprise. Shot by a police man, the exact circumstances are still unknown as the police refuse to release their report to family. Casper’s material was brick—an unusual medium…but one the St. Louis native knew well. Mary Rudge, poet laureate for the City of Alameda, spoke of Casper fondly, his love of all art—literary, visual and performance and how he didn’t let his gender or race keep him from participating on art shows or gatherings.
Avotcja spoke of her relationship with Casper who was “a trickster,” portrayed as Anansi in African tales, Brer Rabbit in African folk tales here in America—Elegba in the Yoruba tradition.

“He was such a personality…outrageous and fun.” Avotcja said about her friend, who went to college and high school with her. (Casper’s family relocated to Oakland where he graduated from Oakland Tech.) She and Casper taught at Laney college, and were participants in an artist center not far from Prescott Joseph Center—7th and Peralta. Avotcja said Oakland needed places more places like this now: free, assessable art spaces where artists could get together and hang their work.

Mary Rudge said she thought often of how she’d like to have an exhibit where bricks were the medium…a brick wall. She said bricks were a material used by cultures throughout the world…. Casper told me of a suit he made from fabric stenciled with brick patterns he created. The medium was certainly durable—bricks, reminiscent of the earth and its inhabitants…human beings the new comers, clay a lot older.

TheArthur spoke of his friend. He said Casper was everywhere there was art. Even once he had heart surgery, and suffered from depression, the humor and playfulness associated with Casper was well-known. TheArthur recalled. TheArthur explained how Casper was a friend and a mentor because he comes late to painting, his first love or medium writing. (TheArthur is well-known for his painting with bleach of images of Queen Califia.)

It was great hearing the stories about the artists –Ava shared her mother’s poetry and Avoctja played a DVD she’d made from a performance in 1991 at La Peña Cultural Center where Joy and the ensemble Black Poets with Attitudes: Joy Holland, Avotcja, Abimbola Adama, Beverly Jarrett and Wanda Sabir, performed. “We were better than good!” Avotcja said later on—she’d previewed entire show and pulled our the two segments of Joy’s.

Seeing Joy reciting her poems: “The Key” and “Port Chicago” and her love poem, brought back so many wonderful memories. I recalled Joy’s periodic phone calls and cards and articles in the mail. She’d clip articles I wrote and send them to me for my records. She’s also called me to encourage me to continue writing or to ask how she could help with many of the poetry events I put on. Casper did the same thing. I’m so sorry I never took him up on his many invitations to write a story about his many exhibitions. I didn’t realize until later how great an artist he was. I just knew he was everywhere and his spirit was gentle and kind and encouraging. I think one of my best visits was once when I was on the 57 bus and he and I shared a ride from MacArthur BART to Eastmont and we had a chance to talk. Riding public transportation is a great way to slow down. For once I wasn’t in control and had to give that aspect of the journey over to someone else and thus I was able to enjoy visiting with a wonderful man, a man I respected.
Casper’s body of work spans historic and more recent events and topics, such as a recent piece, Katrina, painted September 2005. Using graphite, printmaking and embossing, he also drew or painted work celebrating his family, like his nephews and mother, Lucy.

Joy was also multitalented. Ava mentioned how her mother began writing during the time she was caretaker of her parents, whom she refused to put in a convalescent home, until after quitting her job to take care of them, the task grew to much for her to handle. Her paintings were something her children Ava and Taj and their deceased sibling grew up watching their mother do. When I met Joy, I guess 20 or so years ago, she was a poet, painter, and clothes designer. Did I mention activist and teacher?

She and I taught poetry workshops at Longfellow Elementary school, just up the street from her home. The children wrote poetry, made books and then performed for the school. She loved children, evident in her relationship with her grandchildren and the youth in the neighborhood.
Joy’s advocacy and work to revitalize the more well-known of California’s black towns, Allensworth, which celebrated its 100 anniversary last weekend, October 11-12, 2008, was known. She was one of the reasons why I wanted to make the pilgrimage last week. It was my way of saying thank you. Even though the town was dusty, its large fields barren, except for the replicas of old buildings like the old library, Col. Allensworth’s house, the school, barbershop, town store and pharmacy, plus homes of prominent citizens, many of them friends of the Colonel and other prominent citizens—it’s history is undeniable. And I hadn’t known Allensworth was in the desert and the land was sold to Allensworth and the other founders because they were expected to fail.

The Buffalo Soldiers were present Saturday when we attended the celebration. Mary Rudge recalled her stop at the town another Founder’s Day years ago—it was a special stop on her trip from Southern California back north. The Amtrak conductor told his passengers the detour was for passengers headed to the felicitations. The fact that the train was rerouted was one of many factors that killed a town, as I said; no one ever expected to thrive. When Col. Allensworth bought the land with other founders, it wasn’t expected that the descendents of enslaved Africans would make an oasis in the desert, but they did, despite hostile responses from Tulare county leadership and some residents.

“It was Klan country,” Avoctja said, “yet these black people made a way out of no way and built their town. They weren’t trying to prove anything to white people, they did this for themselves. This same fearlessness is characteristic of Joy Holland and Eddie Abrams who almost singlehandedly stopped Tulare County from issuing permits to dairy farmers who were going to bring cows into the county just across the road from Allensworth.

It is Joy Holland and Eddie Abrams’ commitment to keeping this town and its revival paramount that forms the basis of its going from a barren field to as stated previous, a slowly growing installation which has the potential of complete revitalization. Presently, the town of Allensworth is still uninhabitable; there still isn’t any running water, electricity. One can camp at Allensworth State Park, but why anyone would want to is questionable—

As we drove through the town last Saturday, it looked like the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, the only thing, there was no hurricane, but the unnatural elements, racism and structural violence struck this black town, the same way –neglect and policies of exclusion keep the Lower Ninth and Allensworth from accessing government resources which would enable both to rebuild. Just as in Allensworth, for miles and miles all on sees in the Lower Ninth are empty fields…boarded up homes, weeds, peopled sparsely by people in trailers. If you didn’t know you were in California, you’d think you were in Mississippi or Louisiana.

Our other artist, Keith Hopkins attempted to call me, but I didn’t hear the phone ring, and so those at the reception were unable to hear from him. Keith Hopkins work can be viewed at http://healourpeople.com/index.html. I also had an interview with Keith some time ago on my radio show: visit http://wandaspicks.com/ (click the links and check October 3. It was a Friday.)
The show is up through the end of the month, October 31, at 920 Peralta Street in Oakland, 9-5 p.m. daily. The community organization is closed on weekends again now that the play, Ebony and Johnny has concluded. Admission is free. For information about Prescott Joseph call (510) 208-5651.

Maafa Ritual 2008

2008-10-13T23:57:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning was breezy. I arrived about 5 a.m. to an African sunset, daybreak on the horizon. People were drumming and sitting around the fires--children prayed, Muslims greeted the rising sun and then slowly the lines formed and people walked through the Doors of No Return. There were many newcomers this year--refreshing, everyone was excited and many had cameras ready to capture the moment, even at those inappropriate times....Some wanted to capture the moment so much so, I spent much of the first part of the ritual asking people to put away their cameras, and most did. The flashing bulbs were a bit disconcerting.

We opened with a dance recalling the suffering and trauma our ancestors experienced, followed by pouring of libations by Brother Greg, Sister Ayanna and Sister Geri. It was really lovely. The entire ritual was lovely...I was so caught up in the logistics, I didn't have a chance to really enjoy the day until everyone was gone and I finally had an opportunity to reflect.

I wrote this prior to the Ritual, and everyone didn't get a copy, so I have resubmitted it here--just in case.

Reflections: Maafa 2008
By Wanda Sabir

It’s been year since I have seen many of you and I hope your solar journey has been blessed. We always hope this annual commemoration of our ancestors is an opportunity to forge bonds and develop umoja, kujichagulia and ujamaa, but alas life and other distractions get in the way. Here we are once again…and with this—our collective presence, is another opportunity to meet one new person today and promise to call each other three times during this 12 month cycle just to let the other person know you care about him or her and hold them in the light of truth and blessings and all good things.

Can we do this? Of course we can.

The organizers, especially this one standing before you appreciates Wo’se Church of the Sacred African Way, and the administration’s commitment to take on the financial responsibility of the commemoration at the beach each year for the past few years. This is the true spirit of Harambee, the clenched fist…each person a finger in the hand –the power present in the impact of the hammer on the situation…in this case remembrance and responsibility and safety. I want to especially thank our elder, Baba Alaman Haile who is part of the handful of volunteers who spent many days and months thinking and planning events around the theme of remembrance and responsibility and safety. Once a people feel safe, they can learn to trust one another.
I’m not saying that spies are not present and that everyone standing and listening is your sister or brother, but we have to start somewhere and what better place than at the feet those who made our path easier to follow?

We come together in the spirit of our ancestors to remember and to look to our responsibility to do more and go further than they were able to. Our community is in dire straits. Ever under attack, we’ve let the enemy into our ranks and it’s going to take a concerted effort to get rid of this evil force. This is what the Maafa addresses, the soul and spirit sickness directly connected to the suffering a disposed and transported people experienced and still experience throughout the world where the African presence is defiled, disgraced, denigrated, and despised. No one wants to be an African, yet most of us cannot escape…some of us don’t want to escape, yet don’t know how to live in this skin, in this heritage, in this soul…connected to generations of other such souls…healthy and happy—well and doing even better than we expected in an ever repressive society, during its time of economic crisis.

This is why we come together each year the day before Indigenous People’s Day: to remind ourselves of our beauty, our resilience, our strength and our wonderful heritage, which though we’re commemorating our ancestors who didn’t get a funeral…who perished without anyone calling their name or setting a marker on their graves—we know African history didn’t begin with the European slave trade, a slave trade outlawed this year, January 1808, 200 years ago in this country. But do you think that stopped anything?

No. Watch the film, “Traces of the Trade,” which is being shown this afternoon at the Museum of the African Diaspora on Mission at Third Street in San Francisco, 12-2 p.m. Admission is $5. The co-producer, Katrina Browne, a descendant of the DeWolf family, the largest traders in Africans in this country, will be present to talk about her film afterwards.

Again, the relationship starts with us. Get the phone number and email address for one person you don’t know today and develop a fraternal relationship with him or her— We have to get to know one another outside this special time for African people in the San Francisco Bay Area—The Maafa Commemoration. This is a funeral and at funerals all the folks come out your haven’t seen in a long while. We usually promise to get together under more pleasant or happier circumstances, but the years pass and once again, we see each other at another funeral. Please fill out the questionnaires that are attached to the program. Send in donations. Visit the website: http://maafasfbayarea.com. Comment at the blog which is linked to the site. Let us know what you are doing and how we can support you. Also let us know what you’d like to see happen outside this commemorative ritual each year. We are especially interested in those who have developed strategies to help our people heal from the residual psychological effects of enslavement—in all its ugly forms and manifestations. I am experiencing drive-bys and walk-by shootings on my block in East Oakland. It’s scary. What can we do to heal? What can we do to help our youth channel their rage? What is available already and what can we create to use this energy as the basis for problem solving and productivity rather than death and destruction? And it’s not just the youth, women and men are also experiencing this trauma—life in America with all its implications. Our morbidity is high from preventable ailments such as hypertension, some cancers, stress which leads to other diseases, like AIDS, illiteracy, mental illness, suicide and homicide. Are there any doctors in the house—and I’m not just speaking of medical practitioners; however, we need to know who you are and where you practice too.

Don’t forget to visit: http://wandaspicks.com/ for all the news you need to know. Listen to my radio show also: Wanda's Picks, a program of the African Sistah's Media Network. Visit http://www.wandaspicks.asmnetwork.org/ (Tune in Thursdays: 6-7 AM and Fridays 8-10 AM)

I went to the historic black town of Allensworth yesterday. This weekend Allensworth celebrated its 100th anniversary. It took my younger daughter, my granddaughter and I, 4 hours to get there and 4 hours to return. I haven’t been to bed in a couple of days now, but I wanted my children to see what an African – Col Allensworth was a former enslaved African, is capable of and what happens to black people when they are prosperous in America. The county of Tulare cut off the town’s water and the train was diverted and all the commerce died with first one injunction and then the other. Yet despite this Maya Angelou says, “We Rise” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0). We might rise a little further down the road, or rise up and muster our posse and return, but like steam from the kettle…we keep getting up, ‘cause there ain’t no stopping an African on a mission, and that mission is peace, justice and prosperity.

Still I Rise
By Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/still-i-rise/

Annual Ritual at Ocean Beach, Sunday, October 12, predawn, 5:00 a.m.

2008-10-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

October is Maafa Awareness Month
Maafa is a Kiswahili term for disaster, calamity or terrible occurrence. This term has been used to describe the European Slave trade or the Black Holocaust. For the past 12 years, this month is a time for the San Francisco Bay Area community to reflect on the legacy of slavery, its economic, political and social impact on the region and nation, and the residual psychological effects on descendants: perpetrators, victims, and beneficiaries. Maafa Awareness Month is a time to look at how Africans or Black people, in particular, can heal from the trauma. The Maafa Ritual helps us put the situation in a context as we recall those painful memories and lay them to rest, this spiritual return to the ships, plantations, auction blocks … dungeon, deserted beach – cyclical movements turning then releasing the tight bands of subconsciousness which keep us tense, frightened and constrained … stuck. The path to wellness, to health, is both individual and collective. It's also ongoing.

The ritual is an honoring of our past and a prayer for our future. All black people are invited to come and share in this time of remembrance. We ask that for this one event, those who support the well-being of black people respect our desires about the commemoration ceremony and mourning ritual. The ceremony takes place at Ocean Beach, Fulton Street @ The Great Highway in San Francisco, before sunrise, about 5 a.m., Sunday, October 12. People are encouraged to wear white, to dress warmly, bring their children, flowers for the ceremony, vegan or vegetarian breakfast items to share afterwards, (along with dishes to serve them on), hot beverages and cups, drums, chekeres, rattles, and positive energy. Fire wood is useful for the bonfires Sunday morning. We will not be camping out the night before as in year's past. Let us know if you want to drop off a load early Sunday morning.

For more information, please call (641) 715-3900 ext. 36800, mail@maafasfbayarea.com, or visit http://www.maafasfbayarea.com/. If anyone needs a ride or can pick someone up please call (641) 715-3900 ext. 36800 #. We'd like to have stops in several locations in Oakland and San Francisco. We can use monetary donations as we have not had a grant in two years. Businesses can also sponsor an event this month such as an artist reception or the fundraising party at East Side. Donations are tax deductible. Mail to Maafa San Francisco Bay Area, P.O. Box 30756, Oakland, CA 94604. Checks can be made out to Wosé Community Church for Maafa http://maafasfbayarewa.com/ and we have a blog now linked to the website. Please visit it for photos from last year's Ritual, comments and updates. We'd like to hear from you.

Maafa Awareness Month Activities

2008-10-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

The Annual Pre-dawn Ritual
Sunday, October 12, 2008, is the 13th Annual MAAFA Commemoration. The commemoration ritual is both an honoring of our African past and a prayer for the future. All black people are invited to come and share in this time of remembrance. We ask that for this one event, those who support the well-being of black people respect out desire for the commemoration ritual and mourning ceremony. The location and time is posted at the website: http://maafasfbayarea,com/. If there are questions please call (641) 715-3900 ext. 36800. You can also send questions to mail@maafasfbayarea.com

Art Reception
Reception for "Breath of Our Ancestors" exhibit at Prescott Joseph Center, 920 Peralta Street, Oakland, CA, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., (510) 208-5651, Wednesday, October 15, 2008. There will be a reflection on the work of artists: Joy Holland, Casper Banjo and Keith Hopkins by their friends and family members, which will include introductory drumming procession and blessing. The show's curator is Wanda Sabir, with guest curators: TaSin Sabir and TheArthur Wright. We'd like to thank Dr. Burns,director of Prescott Joseph Center and Ayodele Nzinga, Shakespeare in the Yard, for their invaluable assistance. For information call: (641) 715-3900 ext. 36800# and visit http://maafasfbayarea.com/ and listen to http://www.wandaspicks.asmnetwork.org/ (Tune in Wed nesdays: 6-7 AM and Fridays 8-10 AM live or later archived shows) (Casper and Joy are ancestors; Keith Hopkins is alive.)

Film Screening of 500 Years LaterHow Did It Get This Way? Why Do We Still Live As Slaves?
There will be a free screening of "500 Years Later," Saturday, October 11, 4-8 p.m. at the Bayview Opera House, 4705 Third Street (between Oakdale and Newcomb) in San Francisco. Food will be served during the discussion after the film. The event is sponsored by: Bayview Opera House, Bayview Safe Haven, The Company of Men. For information call: (510) 393-8803. Visit http://www.bayviewoperahouse.org/about.html

October 12, 2008 Film Screening - Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North12:00 pm – 2:00 pm MoAD Salon
Join us for a screening of the feature documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North in honor of the 13th Annual MAAFA celebration. In Traces of the Trade filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She and nine cousins retrace the Triangle Trade and gain a powerful new perspective on the black/white divide. Q&A to follow screening with Co-producer Katrina Browne.

Art Show at MoAD
There will be projected images from four artists: TaSin Sabir, Opal Palmer Adisa, Keith Hopkins and Nancy Duranteau in the MoAD salon this weeke nd, October 11-12. Admission is $5. (Mention the Maafa Ritual at the door. Demetrie is our contact person.)

Maafa Awareness Month

2008-09-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Theatre and Art Exhibit
We are gearing up for the annual Maafa Awareness Month Activities. The kick off is Friday, October 3, at the Prescott Joseph Center, 920 Peralta, at 10th Street. There will be a reception for the art exhibit and opening night for "Ebony and Johnny," Lower Bottom Playaz, Theatre in the Yard, dress warmly and bring a blanket, just in case. The festivities begin at 6 PM, show is at 8 PM. Visit http://www.prescottjoseph.org/ and http://novoscene.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/617-poetry-by-ayodele-nzinga/ (Artistic Director of Lower Bottom Playaz) Check the website http://maafasfbayarea.com/ for more details.

Reception for Breath of Our Ancestors
Art Reception Reception for "Breath of Our Ancestors" exhibit at Prescott Joseph Center, 920 Peralta Street, Oakland, CA, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., (510) 208-5651, Wednesday, October 15, 2008. There will be a reflection on the work of artists: Joy Holland, Casper Banjo and Keith Hopkins by their friends and family members, which will include introductory drumming procession and blessing. The show's curator is Wanda Sabir, with guest curators: TaSin Sabir and TheArthur Wright. We'd like to thank Dr. Burns,director of Prescott Joseph Center and Ayodele Nzinga, Shakespeare in the Yard, for their invaluable assistance. For information call: (641) 715-3900 ext. 36800# and visit http://maafasfbayarea.com/ and listen to http://www.wandaspicks.asmnetwork.org/ (Tune in Wed nesdays: 6-7 AM and Fridays 8-10 AM live or later archived shows) (Casper and Joy are ancestors; Keith Hopkins is alive.)

Films
October 9, 9 PM we will join filmmaker Baayan Bakari opening night at the Oakland International Film Festival for the screening of the film, "Equinox." Equinox will be proceeded by TaSin Sabir's Maafa slide presentation. Traces of the Trade screens from 6-8:15 PM. I suggest you attend both films. (See the link below.) We're looking to fill the house with youth and adults. The ritual is Sunday, October 12, predawn. Visit http://www.equinoxmovie.com/filmmakerandcast.htm and http://www.oiff.org/schedule2008.html

October 12, 2008 Film Screening - Traces the Trade: A Story From the Deep North 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm MoAD Salon

There will be a screening of the feature documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North in honor of the 13th Annual MAAFA* celebration. In Traces of the Trade filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She and nine cousins retrace the Triangle Trade and gain a powerful new perspective on the black/white divide. Q&A to follow screening with Co-producer Juanita Brown.*MAAFA is a ritual of commemorating and memorializing the 100 million ancestors lost in the horror of the Middle Passage.

Maafa exhibit at MoAD
We will also have an exhibit at MoAD Saturday-Sunday, October 11-12 in the Salon.
Benefit PartyOctober 31 we are looking to have a benefit and ancestor party at East Side Cultural Center in Oakland. The details are being worked out.

Allensworth Centennial Celebration October 11-12
If you are in California, of course you can drive. It is 275 miles south and east, and with a few people in the car it is not too expensive. I'm told that all Amtrak trains will stop at AW on Oct. 11 and 12. But to get there on time, and to get the best rates from Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, there are specific trains. One train from the north and one train from the south will load up early the 11th, and will return you home that evening. $39.00 RT from Los Angeles, $59.75 from Oakland. These are special arrangements. When you contact Amtrak, you must specify that you are going to Allensworth, you want the special rate, and make reservations before Oct 4th. If you can reserve for 20 people, there are even better rates. For more information, directions, etc. at www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=583 Info about trains is at www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25528. Or call 800-USA-RAIL.If you have children, they should come. There will be special programs just for kids. This will be a wonderful experience for everyone.

Maafa 2007

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Maafa 2007

2008-08-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

Maafa 2007

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Welcome

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This is our new interactive site. I hope it is well-utilized by people who care about black people and want to share success stories, resources and questions. This is also a networking tool for black people in cyber-space who are interested in repair or reparations work linked to the damage suffered during the European slave trade, colonialism, and other forms of spiritual and physical apartheid, both external and internal, conscious and unconscious, with malice or just careless inattention. In order to heal and realize our innate potential, black people have to stop riding and take over the vehicle--this is the only way we'll get where we need to go as a community.

Lest We Forget, the parent organization of Maafa San Francisco Bay Area, is committed to providing a place for this discourse. It is only though collective recall will we stop the cycle...stop participating in a drama where our heroes are killed or compromised, a program where black people never come out on top.

We are the ones we've been waiting for, so let's get busy.

Nancy Duran photographer for all posts August 13, 2008, Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved