Maafa San Francisco Bay Area

Sunday, September 29, 2019

2019 MAAFA Proclamation ~ Recovering our California Pan African Heritage

2019 MAAFA Proclamation ~ Recovering our California Pan African Heritage

Whereas, from the Awash River Basin of Ancient Kush Civilization, the oldest documented human beings with the brain case of modern women and man walked the earth. From throughout the entire global Pan African Diaspora we continue to discover amazing ancient “hidden figures” who have advanced civilization, contributing to the forward flow of humanity, and whereas

We remember the Arabic Sea and Indian Ocean Slave Trade of human cargo that began in the 9^th century with military conquest leading to the buying and selling of men, women and children to serve as chattel enslaved humans. In the 15^th century Spanish and Portuguese military exploration expanded slavery along the entire West African coastline exporting human cargo to the Caribbean Basin and South America. In August 1619, two small pirate ships hijacked on open sea and enslaved Africans off a larger ship along the coast near Veracruz, Mexico. These enslaved human beings were sold along the King James Colony of Virginia beginning the British entrance into one of the most horrific events in world history, that cost Africa 75 -100 million lives, many enduring ungodly inhuman conditions, and whereas

Earlier in 1535, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés first colonized Baja, California, utilizing 300 enslaved Pan Africans and later in 1770, Monterey, California was made Spanish Capitol of Alta California with the establishment of the Presidio at Monterey and Mission in Carmel. In 1776, Yerba Buena, today’s San Francisco followed suit with the Presidio at San Francisco and Mission Delores. African-Latinos migrated by force and free into Alta California and by 1790 made up nearly 20 percent of the population, or one in five residents, according to the 1790 Spanish Census, and whereas

In the disputed free state, California the “institution of slavery [would not] come to an end until 1872, [7 years after the end of the Civil War].” Delilah Leontium Beasley (Sept. 9, 1867 to Aug. 18, 1934), American historian and human rights activist, states in her essay published in January 1919, “Slavery in California.” We revisit this document on its centennial and the 400 Years of African American History Commission Act, federal legislation which acknowledges the institution of slavery’s beginnings in the British colony at Old Point Comfort, now Fort Monroe National Monument, Hampton, VA, even though Spain’s entrance into the slave trade on the west coast predates this by 82 years, and whereas

In 1810, Miguel Hidalgo led the Mexican War of Independence with Spain and on September 27, 1821, the “Cry of Delores” ended Spanish rule and called for redistribution of the land and racial equality. Revolutionary Mexican General and later 2^nd President of Mexico, Vicente Guerrero ended slavery in Mexico in 1829, and was executed in February 14, 1831, and whereas

Pan Africans from throughout the Diaspora settled in Alta California, Mexico yearning for a greater measure of freedom and many becoming very wealthy, and serving in all aspects of the Mexican society. In 1846, the California Bear Flag Revolt included at least 7 men of African ancestry who reported to the US Vice Consul in Mexico at the Port of San Francisco, William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr., “the African Founding Father of California.” The Pan African Mexican Governor of California Pio Pico and many other African-Latinos lost all legal redress after the Mexican American War, the California Constitutional Convention in October 1849 and California Statehood in 1850, and whereas

On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln during the US Civil War’s Executive Order known as the Emancipation Proclamation became law, authorizing the arming of US Colored Troops, women and men, to save the Union and earn freedom on the way to the end of the US Civil War. In 1866, US Colored Troops (9^th and 10^th and the 24^th and 25^th Infantries) became members of the Regular US Army and became known as Buffalo Soldiers. Over 400 Buffalo Soldiers are buried at the SF Presidio and reflect an unbroken continuity of distinguished service worthy of acknowledgement and greater recognition. In fact, in 1903, Captain Charles Young (1864-1922), “served as 9^th Cavalry Company commander at the Presidio of San Francisco. His duties that year included leading an escort of troops for President Theodore Roosevelt and six days later serving as the Acting Superintendent of Sequoia National Park and “the smaller adjacent General Grant National Park (later renamed Kings Canyon).”

“Though the U.S. Cavalry had provided troops to manage and protect California's national parks each summer since 1891, with the prior movement of Troops K and L to Yosemite National Park, and now the movement of Troops I and M to Sequoia National Park, 1903 was the first time African American soldiers were given the responsibility of park patrol for an entire summer season. Previously in 1899, the 24th Infantry patrolled Yosemite.”

“The 9th Cavalry also constructed, repaired, and improved the parks' roads and trails. Beginning in June, the first African American Superintendent Young put his men hard to work. Progress was rapid despite the rough and rocky terrain. In a job that required both skill and hard labor, forty to fifty men and up to twelve horses labored through the season to construct more miles of road than in the past three seasons combined (https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/ patrolling-sequoia-national-park.htm).

Over one hundred years later the road that Col. Young's men helped build is still used as a Sequoia National Park hiking trail. The son of formerly enslaved Africans Gabriel Young and Arminta Bruen of Mays Lick, Kentucky, Col. Young’s life, work and sacrifice for this nation is testament to the great faith and fortitude that guides African American people despite the horrors experienced post-slavery in the various institutions that held and continue to hold segregationist values.

When WWI erupted Young, the highest ranking African American in the US Army was found unsuitable for service by military doctors after a southern born soldier complained that he could not take orders from an African American commander. Young returned to Wilberforce University to teach and then after the semester ended rode from Xenia to Washington, D.C. – over 500 miles to show he was in good shape. He was promoted to full colonel Nov. 6, 1918 and called to active duty; however, the Armistice was signed 5 days later. https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/charles-young-on-foreign-shores.htm

Col. Young, found solace in his home at Wilberforce, Ohio, with his wife Ada Mills, whom he married February 18, 1904 in Oakland, California, and lifelong friends, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and W.E.B Dubois. A mentor to Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis and to other African American soldiers as commander and teacher, the MIT graduate’s life demonstrates how difficult it was to serve a nation founded on racial difference, and whereas

The same Delilah L. Beasley, long time Oakland resident’s seminal work Negro Trail-Blazers (1919), is in its centennial year and serves as consultant for most of the content of this document, is also the first African-American woman to be published regularly in a major metropolitan newspaper, the Oakland Tribune (1925–1934), and whereas

We pause to note the names of other prominent African freedom loving citizens of this great state such as:

James “Jim” Pierson Beckwourth (April 26, 1798 or 1800 – October 29, 1866 or 1867) “was an American mountain man, fur trader, and explorer. He was mixed-race and born into slavery in Virginia. He was freed by his white father (and master), and apprenticed to a blacksmith so that he could learn a trade. As a young man, Beckwourth moved to the American West, first making connections with fur traders in St. Louis, Missouri. As a fur trapper, he lived with the Crow Nation for years. He is credited with the discovery of Beckwourth Pass (a California historic landmark), through the Sierra Nevada (U.S.) Mountains, between present-day Reno, Nevada, and Portola, California, during the California Gold Rush years. He improved the Beckwourth Trail, which thousands of settlers followed to central California” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Beckwourth#Legacy_and_honors)

Mary Ellen Pleasant (Aug. 19, 1817-Jan. 4, 1904), San Francisco civic leader and entrepreneur, is known as the Mother of California’s early Civil Rights Movement. She was a conductor of the Underground Railroad and she financially supported John Brown, 1857-59 (http://mepleasant.com/story.html).

Bridget “Biddy” Mason (Aug. 15, 1818-Jan. 15, 1891) walked with a caravan from Mississippi to Utah to Southern California. When her owner wanted to move his “property” to Texas, a slaveholding state, the mother of three girls petitioned the California court for her freedom after being illegally held in bondage for five (5) years. Her petition for her own freedom and that of others in her group was granted. The African-American nurse and a Californian real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist founded of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, California (https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/mason-bridget-biddy-1818-1891/).

Colonel Allen Allensworth, April 7, 1842, Louisville, KY- September 14, 1914, Monrovia, CA, who founded with educator William Payne, former miner John W. Palmer, minister William H. Peck, and Harry A. Mitchell, a real estate agent, the first and only independent township in California governed in 1908 by formerly enslaved African Americans. “Complete with its own school, a church, and a bank, the town of Allensworth offered a safe haven for over 300 families of free blacks that had continued to be oppressed and controlled under a Southern sharecropping system that was designed to keep blacks on the same plantations that they were working before the war.” When Col. Allensworth was killed in a traffic accident in 1914, a culmination of events: the Pacific Farming Company’s, the land development firm that handled the original purchase, refusal to supply adequate irrigation water, and the Sante Fe train stop circumvented, meant residents could no longer support themselves after 1925 – the town’s peak to 1960 when “the town existed, but did not thrive.”

By the time the judicial system ruled in the town’s favor re: water, the town was already dead. However, Allensworth’s legacy lives on thanks to the vision of Cornelius “Ed” Pope, landscape architect for California State Parks and former Allensworth resident, and Eugene and Ruth Lasartemay, founders of the East Bay Negro Historical Society, who realized in 1969 that if they didn’t take action all reminders of Allensworth would be lost. They started campaigning for preservation of the town to honor those who had founded it, a town that set an example that African-Americans could make their own way. In 1973 the state acquired the property and the California Department of Parks and Recreation approved plans to develop it. The Allen Allensworth State Historic Park was dedicated on Oct 6, 1976, and whereas

What has become known as the Black Holocaust or Maafa, a Kiswahili term that means “great calamity or terrible occurrence,” remains a blight on this nation that has yet to be removed, a blight that continues to affect both the psyche and emotional well-being of descendants of the formally enslaved African men, women and children as well as every American citizen to this date, and whereas

The Civil Rights Act of 1965 and subsequent laws, while addressing some of the legal inequities that directly impact African Americans, has not touched the psychological and legal inequities of this great calamity or Maafa on the Pan Africans whose ancestors paid the price in blood for us to become American citizens here in the United States of America, and whereas

This 24^th year, our Maafa Commemoration Committee, San Francisco Bay Area, has hosted a healing ritual at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, to address the post-traumatic slave syndrome linked to the horrific events of enslavement and ongoing affliction caused by the lingering aspects of systemic institutional racism on society today,

Be it resolved that Sunday, October 13, 2019, the 170^th Anniversary of the signing of the California State Constitution, we reflect upon our 24^th Commemoration of the MAAFA as a time when civic and educational institutions are encouraged to look more carefully into one of the more shameful times in American history and ask California residents to lead the way toward healing the hurt of Pan African in America who still suffer based solely on race, class, and gender.

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Unmarked Graves of 1,000 Enslaved Africans Uncovered Near a Shell Refinery in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Are Honored

TODAY in Ascension Parish, Louisiana:

5 Years After the Unmarked Graves of 1,000 Enslaved People Were Uncovered Near a Shell Refinery, Descendants Will Be Able to Pay Their Respects

Breanna Edwards

March 19, 2018- theroot.com

Some five years ago, the unmarked graves of as many as 1,000 enslaved people who were forced to work in the fields of plantations in Ascension Parish, La., were uncovered by an archaeologist working for Shell Convent Refinery.

The discovery was heralded by one expert as among the largest unknown burial grounds discovered in the state.

And now, five years after that fact, Shell is finally moving forward with plans to honor those who were buried on the site near the refinery, working closely with the River Road African American Museum to mark the two cemeteries where the remains were found and to allow descendants on the property so that they can honor their ancestors.

“I always knew there were cemeteries out there somewhere,” Kathe Hambrick, founder of the River Road African American Museum in Donaldsonville, told The Advocate. “Having the plantation map in the museum and understanding there were as many as 100 plantations in Ascension Parish, I’ve always wondered, ‘Where were all those cemeteries for all those plantations?’ It has been brought to my attention that many of these cemeteries are now on property owned by industry.”

According to the report, Shell Convent Refinery is scheduled to hold a memorial service on March 24 for the enslaved who were buried in the Bruslie and Monroe plantations to the northwest of its plant. The Advocate notes that records show that there are at least another two more plantations that were originally located on the more than 4,000 acres of property that the oil company owns in Ascension.

So why now? Five years after the initial discovery? Shell spokesperson Jordan Tremblay said that that was due to some upper-management changes that the company has gone through in the past few years.

However, now that matters have apparently been resolved internally, the company is ready to revisit its partnership with the museum to figure out how to move forward.

“It became apparent that the project was the perfect fit and the appropriate thing to do based on our core value of respect for people,” Tremblay said.

Shell has cleared the land within the boundaries of the two cemeteries and has put up markers explaining the history, as well as protective bollards and sitting benches.

Tremblay noted that the company would permit the descendants of those buried to visit the cemeteries through scheduled visits.

“It’s currently still agricultural land and adjacent to the refinery,” he said. “It’s not ideal for them to just drive back there anytime they want.”

Meanwhile, Hambrick and others are hoping that the collaboration with Shell will inspire other industrial companies to take similar action, as well as show the need for congressional action.

“I hope that there will one day be congressional legislation on a national level that will protect the African burial grounds of the formerly enslaved to the same level that there is protection for Native American burial grounds,” she said.

-------------------

Graves of 1,000 enslaved people found near Ascension refinery; Shell, preservationists to honor them

BY TERRY L. JONES | tjones@theadvocate.com Mar 18, 2018 - 1:45 pm

DARROW — The unmarked graves of as many as 1,000 slaves who toiled in the agricultural fields of two Ascension Parish plantations were uncovered five years ago by an archaeologist working for the Shell Convent refinery, a finding that one state expert said is among the largest unknown burial grounds discovered in Louisiana.

Now, the company is moving forward with a plan to remember those enslaved people, working with the River Road African American Museum to mark the two cemeteries and allow descendants onto the property to pay their respects.

"I always knew there were cemeteries out there somewhere," said Kathe Hambrick, founder of the River Road African American Museum in Donaldsonville. "Having the plantation map in the museum and understanding there were as many as 100 plantations in Ascension Parish, I've always wondered, 'Where were all those cemeteries for all those plantations?' It has been brought to my attention that many of these cemeteries are now on property owned by industry."

The Shell Convent Refinery is set to host a memorial service and marker dedication on March 24 for enslaved people buried in the Bruslie and Monroe plantations located to the northwest of the plant. Historical records show there were at least two more plantations on the more than 4,000 acres of property Shell owns in Ascension.

Hambrick, through a burial coalition she formed, has been working behind the scenes with Shell since the graves were discovered in 2013. The company had commissioned a survey when it was considering expanding its refinery, a project that has since been scrapped. They ended up discovering the unmarked cemeteries.

Shell's spokesman Jordan Tremblay said the company's response to the finding was shelved for a few years as the company went through changes in upper management.

But after the dust settled, Shell revisited its partnership with the museum to figure how best to proceed in the wake of the discovery.

"It became apparent that the project was the perfect fit and the appropriate thing to do based on our core value of respect for people," Tremblay said.

Thurston Hahn, an archaeologist project manager with Coastal Environments Inc. in Baton Rouge, first suspected there could be a graveyard beneath the land outlined for the expansion during the preliminary phase of his company's survey work for Shell. Hahn spotted a particular symbol on an 1877 map near the spot where the Bruslie cemetery was later located.

"It wasn’t a cross or labeled or anything, but the symbol was similar to the ones they used to mark some of the ones that we knew were cemeteries," Hahn said. "So we had a (ground penetrating radar) survey done back there that showed some anomalies that we couldn't figure out what they were."

The Bruslie Plantation cemetery was located in the middle of a sugarcane field.

Coastal Environments informed Shell about the early findings and received permission to bring in heavy machinery that allowed Hahn and his crew to peel off approximately 1½ feet from the top layer of soil in the area.

Hahn said they found burial shafts beneath the surface, confirming their suspicions.

Burial shafts are the holes into which the undertaker digs to lower a coffin. Hahn said ground surface that had not been disturbed would be one monotone color. The ground beneath the surface at the Bruslie cemetery had spots were the soil had been disturbed, or rather, holes had been dug and then filled back in with dirt.

Hahn said there was a little more certainty surrounding the Monroe cemetery.

"We knew that was there because it shows up on several different maps," he said. "We just didn’t know how big it was."

The area was heavily overgrown and shrouded by trees. Hahn suspects farmers knew it might have been a burial site so they didn't farm that portion of the land.

As they were clearing the shrubbery to peel back the top soil like they had at the Bruslie cemetery site, Hahn and his crew stumbled across a tombstone shrouded in leaves and dirt.

The name on the grave marker was M.K. Mitchell. Hambrick's research claims he was a black man who died at the age of 25.

"That's the only one we found, and it was out of place," Hahn said. "At some point it had been pushed down. So we don't know where it came from originally."

After pulling back the top soil, Hahn said they were able to define the boundaries of both cemeteries and estimate how many enslaved people where buried there by the number of burial shafts they discovered. They believe it could be as many as 1,000 people.

Chip McGimsey, director for the state's Division of Archaeology, calls the discovery a rare find, saying it is among the bigger burial grounds that have been found.

"Typically what you find are the small family plots where a family lived for a generation or two," he said. "It was important for Shell to know where the boundaries were because that defined where they were going to be able to develop and where they couldn’t."

McGimsey said there are state laws that apply to cemeteries defining how Shell could use the property on top of and immediately adjacent to the discoveries.

Shell has now cleared the land within the perceived boundaries of both cemeteries and installed markers that briefly explain their history, along with protective bollards and sitting benches.

Tremblay said Shell will allow descendants to visit the cemeteries through scheduled visits.

"It’s currently still agricultural land and adjacent to the refinery," he said. "It's not ideal for them to just drive back there any time they want."

New York retiree A.P. Tureaud Jr. is flying in to attend the March 24 dedication ceremony, which is being held on the lawn of the former Tezcuco Plantation near the refinery.

Tureaud's father, the New Orleans civil rights attorney A.P. Tureaud Sr., led the legal fight that forced the desegregation of New Orleans public schools. His white ancestors owned several of the other plantations that were once located on Shell's property. His black ancestors worked at those plantations.

"I think everyone has got to face up to the fact that we’re all in this together, and we need to collaborate and work together," Tureaud said. "If this were 1,200 white people buried somewhere, there would have been a cemetery there a long time ago."

"I think this is the beginning to show the collaboration between community activists and historical preservationists to really honor, celebrate, explore, preserve and educate about the true history of the development of the River Road and Gulf South," he said.

Hambrick and others in her coalition hope Shell's response will inspire similar actions by others within the industrial community and show the need for congressional action as well.

"I hope that there will one day be congressional legislation on a national level that will protect the African burial grounds of the formerly enslaved to the same level that there is protection for Native American burial grounds," she said.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Remember to TWEET.TEXT.FACBOOK.EMAIL for the Ancestors Nov. 22-24, 2017

Enjoy this day of Remembrance and Thanksgiving. I just got this lovely tribute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH6BoivsJgc

Join ICCAAMP on this first Annual Tweet.Text.Facebook.Email for the Ancestors: Nov. 22-24, 2017

Join ICCAAMP on this 1st AnnualTweet.Text.Facebook.Email Social Media Black Friday Blast for the Ancestors: Nov. 22-24, 2017

1. Wed.-Thurs., Nov. 22-23, begin sending warm-up tweets, texts and emails.

#REMEMBERtheAncestors

#LIBATIONS4AfricanAncestors-MiddlePassage

#COMMEMORATEAfricanAncestors

2. The image on FACEBOOK and TWITTER and TEXT and EMAIL is our Adinkra logo: Nyame Dua (which is the altar for ritual). Also post the brochure on FACEBOOK and attach to emails.

"Fawohodie" Freedom, Emancipation, Independence

3. On Black Friday, Friday, Nov. 24 the message changes: we will Tweet, post on Facebook:

#BLACKPower2BLACKAncestors
The Andinkra changes to "Fawohodie" or Freedom, Emancipation, Independence.
If there are local events to highlight, I would put them on the Facebook post, especially alternatives to spending with the capitalists.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

22nd Annual MAAFA Commemoration

Maafa Commemoration 22
By Wanda Sabir

What I loved this year was all the celebratory dancing from just before our ancestors crossed into the unknown territory, to landing on these shores and celebrating life and the possibility of freedom which remained physically just beyond reach for centuries.

In small steps as we regained agency over ourselves, even if our bodies then and now continue to be exploited, liberation was a bit sweeter.

Dancers leaped into the air as if to fly home to the ancestors along the West Coast of Africa where so many were detained in conditions too horrible to imagine, yet we must imagine and remember to heal from a trauma—the MAAFA which continues to haunt our gene pools. At the beach that morning Brother Clint, Sister Lola, Brother Kwalin and Lady Sunrise led the primal cry, a sound pulled from within, from the depths – the moan where we felt multiple aches, bruises bandaged were uncovered, the sores aired, the blood allowed to drip into the sand.

Even our sorrow is beautiful.

For the first time in the 22 year commemoration the people danced the Wolosodon as drummers evoked the energies of those gone before. It was beautiful watching both adults and children, young and old, prepare for the journey as our ancestors did. Jazz began at the dungeon site and the improvisational dance that is black life continues to shape the landscapes we terry on briefly before legislated elsewhere.

It is difficult to be black in America, perhaps elsewhere too, but we have our ancestors— black deities and angels who not only have a say but control what is unseen. This is where true power lies, so we danced for those spirits whose lives cycle or course through our veins born and yet to be born, present that morning, present always—no further away than a libation or call.

Led by Sister Ava, we danced the Wolosodon along the path leading to the Doors of No Return and Dundunba – the “Dance of the Warriors” when we made it through the horrific sea journey to shore. Later that morning we learned how to channel our energies into fearlessness – Mu-i –a martial arts form based in Maat led by Zochi. Mu-i followed the Ritual of Forgiveness where we released those burdens we no longer felt necessary to carry any further. With each rose petal we filled a hole and dropped the items inside and then covered the hole so that none would escape to re-infect our aura.

Fleet Week ended that day, a day honoring war. We honored peace. Those people on the beach who

were not invited respected our ceremony, inquiring afterward of Brother Clint, how it went. (Last year someone called the police who told us the use of amplification on the beach was not permitted. This year we were finished before the park ranger trucks came through.)

There were many obstacles in the way this year most of them on the road to the beach where the waves were mighty. Both sun and moon were in the sky together Sunday morning witness to the four heart shaped Mylar balloons guests released from the circle – I just hope no bird choked on the remains of the offering.

Theo had a flat tire on the Bay Bridge while Brotha Clint ran into a horrific car accident en route from Vallejo. Sister Taliba whom I met at the world premiere of Donald Lacy’s film, Hidden Treasure earlier that week, lost all her keys and had to leave her car in Oakland and hire a locksmith to get into her home.

I was still at the beach at 2 p.m. when she called and I went back to look for red rose petals where she might have buried her keys during the Ritual of Forgiveness. I kept finding blue items—a blue sliver of wood, blue bottle cap with a bare foot on it, a blue wrapper for bottled water, but no rose petals anywhere.

For the second year in a row, the Black Women’s Media Project, Sacred Space and the Health and Human Resources Center chartered a bus for East Bay pilgrims and this year they numbered about 40-50. Once again there were many first timers. Big ups to Colette Winlock, Lola Haneef, Lady Sunrise, Brenda Byes and their team members.

During the talk back, ritual attendees spoke of how they measured their year from October to October. We will have to get them to join us for the June Libations for the Ancestors at Lake Merritt in Oakland too. The Second Saturday in June at 9 a.m. (PST) is the International Libation for the Ancestors. It is a global libation: remembertheancestors.com lists all the places where libations take place.
Facebook.com/remembertheancestors

Brother Neter Aa Meri erected his ancestor altar, a masterpiece as usual; however, this year I also made a community altar which grew as one brother placed a candle from Ethiopia, sisters put candy and other items for Yemanja. I had candy and bubbles for Esu Legba. I liked the idea Dhameera Ahmad’s family introduced at her memorial to blow bubbles for the ancestors.

I haven’t figured where to put the bubbles as a group activity.

We remembered the three Iyas or community mothers who made their transitions this year: Queen Mother Makinya Sibeko Kouate, Hajja Dhameera Ahmad, Iya Jacquelyn Hadiah McLeod. Another person the community mourns is Baba Dick Gregory. That morning as I drove behind the slow 5 McAllister bus, I was thinking about Hubert Collins (d. Dec. 2016), my dear friend who would always show up when called with his camera and then make me these lovely albums.

My first cousin Kevin Clark (58) died that week in New Orleans. He was my Uncle Arthur’s son. New Orleans was spared Hurricane Nate’s fury, but Gulfport was not. Mobile and Biloxi were Nate touched down suffered major flooding. I have people these places too.

I was also thinking about Great Aunt Olivia Samaiyah Beyah Bailey (d. Jan. 2017), who at 98 was not about to live in a world with Trump as its leader. She literally “dropped the mic.”

We poured libations for those impacted by the California wildfires and those in Mexico who died in the earthquakes and for the many affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose . . . then Marie, especially those in Puerto Rico and Dominica and the Virgin Islands. Just before Sept. 30 there were over 15 tropical storms that turned into hurricanes. September 30, 13 named storms, eight hurricanes, and five major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricanes had formed in the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. This is an historic hurricane season.

Presently Bay Area air quality is impacted by the raging fires burning in Napa, Sonoma, San Rafael, Yuba City, Ukiah, Mendocino. 100,000 acres burn, 1000s are displaced, there are deaths. Here is a link to updated news coverage at SFGate.com and LATimes. We had people at the commemoration from Redwood City, Sacramento, Antioch, Vallejo, Richmond, San Francisco, Oakland. There were many who were planning to come and sent poems instead like Sister Makeda who sent Sterling Brown’s Strong Men read by Karla Brundage.

There were many people present for the first time like Thomas Simpson, AfroSolo founder. Don’t miss his program, Oct. 19-20. Visit afrosolo.org I was so happy to see Dr. Gail Myers, Freedom Farmers Market, a sister who is lifting up black agarian culture, the literal Roots Culture colonized in city states. She is hosting a program at AAMLO, Friday, Oct. 13, honoring the legacy of Dr. George Washington Carver called Circling Back. The free program beginning at 6 p.m.-8 p.m. will feature films about black farmers, a panel, and poetry.

We forget black people are the original migrant farmworkers, they called us sharecroppers then, but there was nothing shared. Exploited black folks swindled out of land and livelihood ended up in barren cities where they grew Victory Gardens when the war made such shows of patriotism fashionable. But even before this black folk were growing food so they could eat, they were growing food so the kids could stay well, families could stay well, ‘cause there were no medical plans, just burial policies.

Black people’s labor didn’t just build this country, we also fed it and made it fat.

Dr. Myers brought along her friend, Alice Walker. I was so happy to see Ms. Walker. I remembered the semester she was the topic of my freshman comp class. We read the biography, hot off the presses: Alice Walker, A Life. We also read The Color Purple and went on a field trip to see the musical starring Oakland born and raised, Latoya London. We also went to see the stage adaptation of Toni Morrison’s Bluest Eye at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. It was directed by Stanley F. Williams. Both are stories about black girls. Morrison’s story is a bit more tragic. The lesson is the same: black girls are at risk and we have to pay attention and keep our girls safe.

A student who also loved her work and I followed Alice Walker to Whole Earth Expo from our Alameda classroom to San Francisco where she spoke and signed books. I wanted my protégé to meet her. I remember when I saw Ms. Walker at the Howard Zinn event where famous writers, historians and activists read from his Voices of a People’s History of the US. Alice Walker, his former student, was one of the participants. After she read, I was seated with a couple of VIPs, Marina Drummer and Robert H. King, so I went to the reception with them. (The event was at King Middle School, the school my daughter TaSin graduated from).

In any case, Ms. Walker was excited and asked me if I had a copy of her latest book, We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For. When I told her no, she then took a copy from the basket her assistant was carrying and gave me one. I made that book my textbook for the next couple of years. I kept following her to La Peña when she was a part of an event for the Cuban 5 at a book release: Letters of Love & Hope: The Story of the Cuban Five Paperback by author, Nancy Morejon, editor, Alice Walker.

I also saw her again at a wonderful film screening about the literacy campaign President Fidel Castro, her friend launched. This was before Kennedy attacked the island during a battle called, The Bay of Pigs. I saw her at the Museum of the African Disapora (MoAD) when she was in conversation with the author of Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route by Saidiya Hartman. I would have an entirely different view of the book after leaving Elmina City with Imahkus Njinga Okofu, One Africa. According to her, the book is a distortion of the legacy of African American who live in Ghana. She shared a letter she who outlining the inaccuracies.

I saw Ms. Walker again at Laney College in the audience at a Playback Theatre event. One of my students at that time who was a part of the professional troupe, invited me to attend.

I have a photo of Ms. Walker in my bedroom – yep. Can’t make this stuff up (smile). I am a super groupie – from Temple of My Familiar onward, but she would never notice. I hope. Her partner would recognize me and smile after I introduced myself to him the first time at MoAD.

I am fine admiring her legacy from a distance. Seeing her Sunday, October 8, is an opportunity to write all these things down that I have been holding (smile).

Perhaps the most special time I was able to see her was at the African American Art and Culture Complex when there was a program for the Californian Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) when Hamdiya Cooks was the director. Hamdiya said that Ms. Walker had her over to tea when she was released from prison. I think Hamdiya shared that story when she introduced Ms. Walker.

All her life Alice Walker has been showing up. She showed up at Dr. King’s funeral and a week later lost the baby she was carrying along with her will to live. However, she soon shook herself from the apathy and continued the work King had inspired her to start.

A few years ago, her friend Jacquelyn Hairston composed a libretto to her poem, “Why Peace is Always a Good Idea.” It was performed at AfroSolo and Alice Walker read the poem at a concert preview at the Burial Clay theatre. The AfroSolo event August 2011 was prelude to the Carnegie Hall performance in Feb. 19, 2012—Hairston’s conductor debut with a 300 voice choir. She returned again in 2016.

Maafa 2017-2020

Back at the beach, the waves were high and when I finally went to offer prayers to the ancestors, I was caught unaware by a waves which soaked my shoes, not once but twice. Hassaun who’d walked with me there, said, “the ancestors want your attention.” Well they certainly got it. I am still focused on the ancestors and have begun to think about next year.

We are inching towards 2019 which marks the 400^th anniversary of the first Africans to set foot on English American soil in indentured servitude. While white people also served as indentured servants, their servitude had a terminus, black people would be held indefinitely.

There is a bill: H.R.1242 - 400 Years of African-American History Commission Act which passed the House in May 2016, but did not pass the Senate to date. Everyone should lobby the Senate to adopt and pass the bill so the resources become available to those of us doing the ancestor commemoration work.

(Sec. 3) This bill establishes the 400 Years of African-American History Commission to develop and carry out activities throughout the United States to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans in the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia, in 1619.

The commission must:

· plan programs to acknowledge the impact that slavery and laws that enforced racial discrimination had on the United States;

· encourage civic, patriotic, historical, educational, artistic, religious, and economic organizations to organize and participate in anniversary activities;

· assist states, localities, and nonprofit organizations to further the commemoration; and

· coordinate for the public scholarly research on the arrival of Africans in the United States and their contributions to this country.

(Sec. 5) The commission may provide: (1) grants to communities and nonprofit organizations for the development of programs;

(2) grants to research and scholarly organizations to research, publish, or distribute information relating to the arrival of Africans in the United States; and

(3) technical assistance to states, localities, and nonprofit organizations to further the commemoration.

(Sec. 7) The commission must prepare a strategic plan and submit a final report to Congress that contains a summary of its activities, an accounting of its received and expended funds, and its recommendations.

(Sec. 8) The commission shall terminate on July 1, 2020.

(Sec. 9) All expenditures of the commission shall be made solely from donated funds.

Monday, May 22, 2017

12th Annual San Francisco Bay Area Libations for the Ancestors, Saturday, June 10, 9 AM

International Libation for African Ancestors of the Middle Passage, Saturday, June 10, 2017, is at Lake Merritt in Oakland, E. 18th Street at Lakeshore Drive @ the fountain. (Video from Maafa Ritual 10/9/2017. Copyright 2016. All Rights Reserved.)

Wear white, bring instruments, something creative to share like a poem or story from your ancestral treasure chest.

We start at 9 AM sharp as others are remembering African Ancestors of the Middle Passage this weekend as well. Visit remembertheancestors.com for more information.