photos coming soon

In the San Francisco Bay Area we have hosted Emancipation Day Celebrations on January 1 in conjunction with the Kwanzaa celebration of Imani or Faith. We have also hosted celebrations of African Love in March. All the events including the Black Holocaust or Maafa Ritual in October, this year October 7 at sunrise, are associated with Lest We Forget, the philosophical intent behind all we do organizationally to keep alive historic and contemporary African Diaspora memory.

Maafa San Francisco Bay Area is grounded philosophically in the work of scholar Dr. John Hendrick Clark. Visit http://www.africawithin.com/clarke/part30f10.htm.

Peace and Blessings,

Wanda Sabir
Co-founder and CEO
Maafa San Francisco Bay Area

From: Kori Awoyinfa Ifaloju, Executive / Coordinator At-Large, International Council for Ifa Religion

Where were you on August 23rd, 2004? Do you remember? did the day just pass like any other, what did you do? I say this since it is very sad since we all have seemingly missed a prior very important historical victory of our ancestors and which was not celebrated in a grand fashion (nor has ever been celebrated) with the pageantry that it deserved, which was the bicentenary 200th year of the establishment of the first independent African State now known as Haiti back in Aug 23rd, 2004.

The question is why we missed this important date, even thought the United Nations asked all nations around the world to commemorate this day and even declared it “International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition” and the UN General Assembly proclaimed 2004 “International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition”

These dates are symbolic to the African enslaved peoples revolt led by Mr. Toussaint L’Ouverture on the island of Saint Domingue (Haiti) in 1791 which lasted until 1804 and created the first independent African State which had Mr. L’Ouverture and his supporters defeat Napoleon’s army, which at that time in the late 1700’s was among the most highly regarded military powers on the earth, speculations was the support of the various deities (Orisa/Loa) noteworthy Ogun, Sango and Esu Legba that the Haitians sought assistance.

So once again how did we miss this important date? and opportunity to acknowledge and praise our ancestors who shed blood to allow us the positions we have today. I will tell you, it was not well known and no one came and put it in front of us, nor should they, if we as a people fail to recognize and search out ourselves and our own victories, we can not fault another race for not presenting our own historical facts, dates and data.

The Gov’t here has more important things to do, but concern itself with something it wishes people will forget and more so a historical date that was a slap in the face to the European colonizers and all oppressors including the US Gov’t.

Matter of fact, to date, no country other then France has formally acknowledged wrong doing in trading in African’s as slave labour, yet to speak of the US govt. So, the Haitian revolution does not have anything to do with the USA nor should the US Gov’t find the need to uphold the 2004 UN declaration as it had no affect on US soil, and remained a African / Haitian anniversary.

But, wait a moment, perhaps it does, considering this for a moment when the French colonizers had control over Saint Domingue (Haiti) and at the same time the French portion of Canada – Quebec, they often times exchanged cargo and “property’ between these places and one very important massive land holding for the French settlers at that time that was a very important trading & strategic place for France was lower Louisiana, a French settlement and stop over place for ship cargo & property from Saint Domingue, St Marteen, Guadulope and others into mainland North America, then transport by land north all the way to Montreal, Qc Canada.

Unquestionable and likely, as need be, “cargo” and “property” would have been exchanged or sold as needed in all places in between which included human “property”.

Maybe the US Gov’t had forgotten or choose to forget that the Haitian revolution also had a political impact on “trade” in US mainland and may have contributed to the reason why France sold its settlement – Louisiana to USA (which is part of the reason USA is called the United States of America, with the other acquisitions from Spain, namely California, Texas and Florida among others “states”)

So I have said all this to point out, we missed a date, because no one told us and we failed to inform ourselves properly and show our freedom fighting ancestors, those male and female warriors who had managed to defeat Napoleon’s army revolting in a bloody war. That to this date the “developed” world is still holding a grudge against Haiti for the arrogance of being the first to successfully rebel and defeat the then lead military strategist (France) over the course of a 13 year long war.

What will we do differently? do we have another chance to commemorate another important marker in our struggle and perpetual liberation? This year we have that chance, as this March 25th, 2007 marks the 200th year since the British Gov’t signed the declaration in 1807 making it illegal to transport African’s to the New World and abolished the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, making it illegal for all nations to transport African’s from any point in Africa to the America’s, were patrolling the Atlantic ocean, at the same time UK established FREETOWN Sierra Leone and conducted surveillance of the Atlantic ocean by British Naval ships, since at the time Britain was a Naval power known worldwide.

This shocked the European world and all those dealing with enslaved African’s (USA) which caused great economic hardship (since the price for enslaved people went much higher suddenly), so countries like France, Spain & Portugal had illegal slave trade (to keep up with demand for slave labour) and once the British ship caught a ship carrying “contraband” sometimes the illegal smugglers would push these Enslaved African’s over board to avoid getting arrested by the British (this happened many times and those numbers of who were lost will never be known, this was also part of the story we saw in movie Amistad, and the illegal slave raiders transporting Africans over the Atlantic, yet claiming they were coming from Cuba – since at that time still legal, the US honoured the British treaty but this did not preclude African’s enslaved within the US nor those within the Caribbean from moving back and forth to the US, but only those leaving the west coast of Africa and coming to the New World via the Atlantic, were included in the UK declaration), essentially this upcoming event is what makes the movie Amistad relevant and help people to understand the story.

Those ships that were crossing the Atlantic and were caught by the British were redirected to Freetown, Sierra Leone and the British had “devised” yet another way to enrich themselves at the expense of our people, by making these “newly freed” African’s as “indentured servants” to the British Royalty for “freeing” them, and had to work off that debt for the course of approx. 7 years in either Sierra Leone or the British colonies of Barbados, Guyana or Jamaica.

Now it is important to note that Jamaica was the first place to remind and impress upon the UN last year, to declare 2007 as the year to mark The 200th year – International Day for the Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade” signed on March 25th 1807 by the British Parliament, it is also important to note that USA under the presidency of Jefferson knowing the concerns from the northern states who were also aligned with the movement in Britain, signed the bill on March 3rd 1807 to take effect on beginning Jan 1st 1808, so another date worthy of celebration is the signing and the official cease date on Jan 1st 2008 will mark 200 years the US ceased exporting African’s as enslaved people, we ought to recognize.

Britain was the country that first started dealing in transporting African’s as slave labour and others countries saw the benefits and quickly followed suit in the name of enriching themselves, causing this horrific chain of events.

So when Britain stopped March 25th, it was the first important marker in what has shaped history and made this horrific institution of legalized transport of enslaved people to begin to grind to a slow halt, still slavery lasted approx. 80 more years before official end in the New World (Brazil was last in 1888).

Again this British circa 1807 declaration did not end slavery nor indentured servitude in British colonies of the Caribbean & Canada nor did it affect the slavery within South America, the Caribbean islands, and the slavery within USA and trade between / within USA, again often times as contraband, but totally legal, so ensure you know your dates and don’t get mixed up. These events DID however slow the exportation and make it illegal to continue to enslave people from Africa, it was the beginnings to slow and cease the slave trade and eventually slavery.

So it is important to mention that this important date March 25th has impact in our own back yard, as it also shaped the reality on ground within the USA, stopping the massive exodus of more African’s from going through the dreaded Middle Passage and arriving to work as slave labour and adding more to our people here still enslaved, before emancipation.

This is a very important marker and one we can not forgo as we as adults will not have an opportunity to be here at the next marker – the 300th year and may not be here for the other important dates of emancipation which ranged in the mid 1800’s to late 1800’s depending on the country, so we stand to wait 60-80 years until the next big commemorative date of 200 years of emancipation.

The prior dates we may not have had the opportunity nor realization that the first 100 year marker of emancipation had passed some 40+ years ago and 100 years ago for this specific date of this British declaration.What have you done within your lifetime to commemorate the efforts of those that came before you on a large scale like we are proposing?

The British Federal Gov’t plans to fund national events with 20 million British pounds (approx $40 million US dollars) for events and activities with the main event at the national memorial service outside of London, UK.  The Jamaican Gov’t is already into its year of commemoration that began Jan 2nd 2007 and will run until Jan 25, 2008 and their theme: Our Freedom Journey….Honouring our Ancestors.

I am calling on any interested person and group to help us – Ifa Council – Maafa Project to generate a theme and ideas to commemorate this important bicentenary with several major activities in honouring the sacrifice of our ancestors, which we plan to begin on March 3rd with offerings and prayer at the African Ancestral Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan NYC. We will have formed a committee to plan other activities and welcome your suggestions.

We at the Ifa Council – Maafa Project, have established an email to accept your commentary, email us at: maafa@ifacouncil.com and check our website often for updates www.IfaCouncil.com/maafa

Call for committee action team to help coordinate and facilitate the Ifa Council – Maafa Project USA

We are calling on the supporters and believers of Ifa Religious Philosophy to lend your support and assistance in helping to plan this event, we need 10 core team planners and 30 auxiliary planners to make this commemorative ceremony a reality and an inclusive effort.

We plan to host several events, in key locations throughout the USA with first one March 25th. This will be a combined effort of Ifa Priest and Egungun Priest to officiate the ceremonies with libation and offerings, we also call for the inclusion of the representative elders from the other Orisa groups to support and lend assistance during the opening ceremony and libation, noteworthy is Priest of Sango & Oya, I am also asking for support from the other African Traditional systems of the Voudou, Akan and others for support – this is a must.

The 3 key activities I wish to acknowledge our progenitors & their struggles are:

1) Ceremony to those that did not make it through the middle passage (the 8+ weeks on the slave ships when disease, infections, rapes and mass murder were rampant, which had no formal burial rites or anything as yet

2) Memorial event should be used to acknowledge those that did make it to New World, yet either died holding onto and refusing to give up our ancestral ways, or for playing African drums and not hiding the practice of the traditional rites and were massacred for openly practicing our
traditions

3) Then honour those that managed to survive and hold on to the Yoruba & other traditions that was carried to the New World (America’s), by hiding the practices, covering it with what was more acceptable by the slave master / colonizer and by calling it something else, all in order to allow what we believed inside to survive, until another day – today. All these our ancestors need special recognition since it was them that
taught and preserved what they had for all us people today to worship all around the world. We need to appease them on a grand scale, all of them for what they have done and given us – only this is befitting and right, it is our duty as followers of Ifa and other traditional philosophies, what else could we be here for or be more important in life, but to pay homage to those who came before and made it possible for us to BE.

We those that follow Ifa’s Religious Philosophy and other African systems have this as our responsibility to give our efforts and support, to make this years events memorable and serve our progenitors justly and rightly for what they have done for us to be standing where we are today, had it not been, where would we be ?

Remember the Ifa proverb -If we stand tall it is because we stand on the backs of those who came before us …. Odu Ifa Orangun Meji – Hepa Odu

I will not apologize for the length of this email and salute those who saw it necessary to read until the end, nothing less do our ancestors deserve, but our time and effort as indication of appreciation for the centuries they worked for us to be here in this time and this place, to hopefully make a profound difference and allow their voice to be heard.

May our progenitors bless our efforts and allow this to be the impetus that will propel our people progressively forward and may many of our great ancestors start to return to this plane through our children to make us proud as parents and for the betterment of our people over all.

Ase O

Ela Moyin’Boru
Ela Moyin’Boye
Ela Moyin Abosise

Irunmole a gbe wa (divinities of this earth, bless and protect us, those who appease you) TO !

Expecting to hear from you,

Awo Kori Ifaloju

Kori Awoyinfa Ifaloju
Executive / Coordinator At-Large
International Council for Ifa Religion
Awoyinfa@IfaCouncil.com
www.IfaCouncil.com

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Eighteen years ago, Tony Akeem organized a ceremony in New York City to honor the millions of Africans who died crossing the Atlantic during the slave trade. Similar observances have since spread around the world.

On Saturday, offerings of water, honey and rum were to be poured along the shores of South Carolina and elsewhere for Middle Passage Remembrance Day. The remembrance is held the second Saturday in June.

“We must, we must, honor our ancestors,” said Tony Akeem, who has been organizing an observance at Coney Island, N.Y., ever since a 1989 conference on the slave’s brutal trip was held at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he works as a photographer.

The observances have spread from Philadelphia to San Francisco and from Brazil to Ghana. Most were started by people who have attended the New York event, Akeem said.

Saturday marked the 10th year South Carolina was participating in the remembrance. As many as 100 people were expected at a Fort Moultrie dock on Sullivans Island near Charleston.

The first slaves arrived in Charleston in 1670, the same year the Carolina colony was created. Historians estimate nearly 40 percent of the millions of slaves brought to what became the United States passed through Charleston. Many others died at sea.

“The stories run pretty strong that there were people who realized they were enslaved and would rather drown than be enslaved and when allowed up on the decks, would just jump into the water,” said Fran Norton of the Fort Sumter National Monument, which includes Fort Moultrie. “It commemorates those people who gave up their lives for freedom.”

Just how many perished in the slave trade will never be known.

“We know that many died of disease because they were packed in the ships like sardines,” said Osei Terry Chandler, a project director at a Charleston education facility who is helping organize the South Carolina memorial.

Participants at the ceremonies in New York and South Carolina planned to drizzle water, rum and honey into the waves Saturday. Some were to toss flowers into the coastal waters. Some were to beat drums.

“Pouring libations is simply to venerate your ancestors,” said Bill Jones, who helps organize the Coney Island ceremony. “It gives the ancestors a cool drink of water, or a little bit of gin or a little bit of rum, whatever you pour the libation with.

“In African spirituality we believe we are in constant contact with our ancestors. They are not someplace in heaven, they are right here with us.”

MAAFA
We Remember You
The Middle Passage and all that we went though,
We’re Still Here … Lest we forget
Our heads to the sky … We cry … Why?

- For the Millions -
©2005 Dana Austin-Sockwell, Brother Clint, Roberta J. Roberson

She wore a white gele, hands holding a chekere with Yemonja’s blue and white beads singing in the slight breeze as supplicants eased through the Doors of No Return … that final call on the way into a diasporaic hell … an experience none has been able to fully articulate let alone completely recover from, perhaps because the trauma still lives in our collective psyche … the Middle Passage an excursion African people have now claimed – the nouveau enslavers: capitalism motivated by low self-esteem and self-hate.

(Recall Condi Rice’s response to the Katrina Hurricane in her home state, Alabama. She went shopping, while her boss and friend, King Bush, partied.)

The day was a warm predawn Sunday morning, although the evening before was one of the coldest Maafa participants (who spent the night in years’ past) had ever experienced. We never count attendees, yet this year seemed to have record attendance (at least 200 people) and despite the sound system going out after three hours of extended broadcast – this was also one of the best events because everyone could hear.

Libations called on the ancestors to join us and accept our desire to honor them, especially those ancestors whom no one mourned when their bodies were thrown overboard. They expired in cramped cesspools in ship bowels or took their own lives or that of a loved one.

If African people do not mourn their dead, no one else will. This a key factor in the Maafa commemoration.

I hadn’t known that the deity Yemonja was the one our ancestors called on to save them when they were trapped on the slaveships, that she heard their cries to return home yet couldn’t grant their wishes. In a poem, Omilade Wanda spoke of this dilemma and how Yemonja was present when Africans hurled themselves into her arms or were thrown overboard into them.

Omilade Wanda and I had never met – funny but I recall year after year seeing the watermelon with seeds on the beach, okra and other items planted near the shore’s edge. She told me if she cut the watermelon inside the circle, Yemonja might cause the ocean to come up to us, which I thought would be cool, if not impractical. It was comforting to know Yemonja was present to grant our African ancestor’s solace, to assure them they were not alone, just as we weren’t that morning.

The Pacific Ocean was so warm Sunday that participants walked into the water, its cool warmth a baptism and a cleansing – relief from what felt like lifetimes of depression, grief and sorrow. I saw friends crying, praying and meditating throughout the morning, seated, standing or lying on their sides.

Though similar to Maafas in the past, this one seemed to take on a life of its own – the Maafa dance and song cycle spun out into an African Village with a sister seated at its center, dancers and drummers surrounding her in a tight circle dancing away the collective grief and sorrow, pent-up emotions of the past, whether that was yesterday or thousands of yesterdays ago.

This is the way Maafa San Francisco Bay Area is: a ceremony which has room for spontaneity … change and flexibility as the people’s response to the call shapes what happens.

As the line snaked its way through the Doors of No Return and everyone stopped at the altar – the circle grew bigger and bigger as we kept reaching capacity and had to open up for more. I hadn’t realized Sister Harriet Tubman had joined the table this year … her work alone reason enough for Sister Geri Abrams to call her name, one echoed by others early on.

Neter Aameri’s altar, situated on the other side of the Doors of No Return and the long line that stretched back as far as the eye could see, reminded me of the long walk our ancestors had to endure from the holding areas – or dungeons to the waiting ships off the West African coast.

We came to give our ancestors a funeral; we came to honor them with prayers and librations, cries and thanksgiving … and we did.

I saw only one other person who like myself was present 10 years ago when Rev. Donald Paul Miller and I began this event, then called the Black Holocaust Commemoration. It has grown tremendously over the 10 years from a handful of friends into an annual tradition where many couples have met, and even given birth to Maafa babies. Many African children who grew up with the Maafa ritual, which needs no translation, look forward to it the same way their peers greet the birth of Christ or his resurrection.

It was amazing how everything fell into place – all petty arguments and complaints laid aside for the bigger goal: remembering our ancestors and giving them a funeral.

A friend asked me later on about the term Maat which is a Kamitic word for truth, justice and balance and Maafa – if the two words are connected linguistically? His question was a preview of the service I was to experience later on at Wo’se’s Community Church of the African Way, which has hosted a Maafa Service for the past two years. It was marvelous last year and just as wonderful this year.

Minister Moxlisi Ozosawandi leaped linquistic barriers to infuse Maafa with Kamitic consciousness as he took these three letters and saw the connection between the two.

“The first three letters in the word ‘maafa,’ though Kiswahili, (are the same) in the Kamitic transliteration as for the word ’spirit,’ ‘the inner vision,’ ‘desire and determination of the creator to bring creation into being,’” he said.

African people “need to look at the Maafa and have respect for the ancestors and allow (this spirit) to be the fuel and the foundation for new vision and determination within, to create the reality and future in the here and now.”

He called this semantic exercise “a Kamitic infusion into the word (maafa), with Kamitic consciousness.” It certainly worked for me. It was like “wow,” everything is certainly connected: Maat, Maafa, Sankofa and Ayaresa.

The way African people come together locally around Maafa is a model of how we should interact all the time. Let go of the “me” in favor of the “we.” The personal good for the greater good.

I saw people on the beach Sunday who just hours or days before had told me they weren’t coming. I saw people whose last words to me had me spinning out of orbit … present that morning. Sunrise was after 7 a.m., so some people who’d arrived at 5:30 a.m. had already been there for hours before we began, but no one was in a rush and those who were keeping the Ramadan fast had time to have their meal and make salat (prayer).

To borrow a phrase from the past … everything was not only everything; it was groovy too!

If I have one regret each year regarding Maafa – it is that the ritual and related events do not automatically mean that we are connected as a community or that our circles have widened or become more supportive or inclusive. We’ve started Maafa bookclubs and had plans for a film series, salons, retreats and workshops, just to get together, organize and keep the healing process going, but neither spirit, will nor money was there to continue.

I often feel very alone as the days and months between Maafa seasons grow vast like a Sahara desert; then that one Sunday I wave to other ships swimming on the Red Sea. I know people are busy, but I think we need to make time to heal, to connect, to form a more perfect union (to take a leaf out of Jefferson’s book, with an entirely different interpretation in mind).

If we notice what happened in the Gulf, we might call ourselves Americans, but we do not have any “inalienable rights.” This government does not respect Black people, no matter how many wars our people served in, no matter how hard we work to pay taxes and support this government.

Let’s not forget the many Africans, hundreds of millions who died over the course of four centuries building this nation’s wealth without any compensation. The debt is so huge, apologies, even money, can’t begin to address the cost.

We lost our language, family, culture and land. They took our identity and made us into a new people – New Afrikan. We can never really ever go home again, ’cause home is gone.

If African people can let go of conflict for the ancestors each year at the Maafa Ritual, then I think a lesson to be learned is that we can let go of anything which keeps us apart. Disagreements don’t have to be deadly, which is why conflict resolution can be taught.

Peace is an attitude as is war.

The Maafa is not about personalities or individual desires; it’s about community, the “we.” And in order for there to be a “we,” we have to trust each other, which comes from our honoring our commitments, keeping our word and being honest, even if we are at fault. These are crucial steps in our unification and development as an African Diaspora people.

I was raised with the knowledge that I was Queen of the Universe and Mother of Civilization. With this understanding came responsibility. If we all learned to recognize the greatness within ourselves and in each other and live that truth, we’d be a stronger, more determined and loving people.

Why or how the enemy came to be the one we trust the most just shows how disconnected we are.

The Maafa Commemoration is bigger than the sum of its collective parts: ethnic heritage, classism, sexism, other learned biases or bigotry we can certainly unlearn once it’s recognized, proof that African people really can get along, the first step in building a nation.

“Up you mighty nation; you can accomplish what you will!” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, echoing Marcus Garvey, and we can. This time for ourselves.

Two Sundays ago, on Oct. 8, I rose before dawn (way before) to drive a friend to Ocean Beach in San Francisco and take part in Ma’afa, what turned out to be an extremely moving ceremony marking the estimated 100 million African ancestors who perished during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, commonly referred to as the Middle Passage.

Close your eyes, if you will, and picture hundreds of black folks all dressed in streaming white cloth gently tossed by the breeze blowing in from the bay as they/we silently, reverently listen to the prayers, acknowledge the suffering, witness the libations, answer the calls for songs and poetry in remembrance of the men, women and children who came before us—ripped from each others’ arms, languages and cultures; crammed into the hulls of filthy wooden ships: raped, beaten and murdered—all of these sad, searing memories accompanied by the steady rhythm of African drummers lifting us, carrying us through daylight and a short walk to the water’s edge where we toss our flowers and prayers into the receding waves.

Ma’afa is a Kiswahili term that means great catastrophe or disaster; a holocaust of tremendous, life altering proportions. The American involvement in the African slave trade was just that; its residual affects, while greatly in evidence, have been largely unaddressed. Many black people, particularly hopeless young men, seem to be on a mission of self-destruction that too often includes taking innocent people down

with them. Their lives have become so devalued that they neither seek nor find value in the lives of others. Standing on the sandy shore that Ma’afa Sunday, I wished that these troubled young men were there with me, listening and learning about a history not taught in most public schools. I wished that they could witness the elders walking through the crowd with a natural sense of dignity and grace; who were treated with such reverence you could swear they wore crowns. I wished these young men and women whose only allegiance seems to be to a fractured sense of self defined by turf and trifles, could be a part of this huge village family where the children were obviously

wanted, loved and nurtured and no one hesitated to offer a helping hand.

Close to 300 black people gathered together on Ocean Beach and there was no fear, no need for security, no foul language, no screeching cars, no blaring radios and no garbage left behind. As I soaked in the warmth, compassion and beauty of all of these various brothers and sisters, I felt overwhelmed with love and appreciation for who we are, who we were and who we are yet to become.

“This is who we are,” I thought to myself as I looked around me. “This is who we are. Not the robbers and murderers we are depicted as in daily media. Look at this. At these people. The public never sees this side of us.”

While new to me, this was the 12th anniversary of Ma’afa, founded by Wanda Sabir, a Bay Area educator and journalist. Her face was glowing as she circled through the crowd, directing one group and embracing another. Through collective memory, documentation and storytelling, Ms. Sabir is doing her part to contribute not only to the healing of African descendants in this country but to those left behind on a continent decimated by the loss of manpower, brainpower and resources that took place during a

period of over 400 years.

“More people should know about this,” I commented to my friend as we prepared to leave. “They should do more advertising.”

“No,” he disagreed. “I think they have the people here who need to know about it. I think they’re doing just fine.”

And I thought, perhaps he was right. Ma’afa is a unique event which draws particular people to it, for specific reasons. It isn’t about entertainment. It doesn’t need to be on television or the front page of any newspaper. It is a ceremony of remembrance and

acknowledgment for historians and for healers; for teachers and for families who choose not to follow the norm—a norm which is generally unhealthy and full of holes. The Ma’afa community is growing a new kind of African American community based upon one of the world’s oldest civilizations.

“The whole world doesn’t need to witness this,” I realized. “That would probably detract from its significance. We see it. We know it. We feel it, deep in our bones. And perhaps that is how it is meant to be. And that is enough.”

In honor of the Black Holocaust, there are numerous cultural activities and healing events taking place this month. Most notable is an upcoming panel addressing the role of fathers in healing the black community on Oct. 26 at the Malonga Center Theatre in Oakland. For more information, see www.maafasfbayarea.com.

The ocean ritual of the Maafa Awareness Month reverses the route of our ancestors in time, and place. It took us from the San Francisco Ocean Beach on the Pacific Ocean; from 2007 to the 1500s; from the Caribbean and the Americas to where our ancestors were 500 years ago. The Maafa ritual is oriented toward our sacred ancestors and the spirit of all that is just, equitable, fair, balanced, harmonious and good. The ritual is a part of the process of repairing the damage done by the Europeans who underdeveloped Africa and the Africans who built Europe and the Americas from the 1400s to the20th century.

More than 400 descendants of enslaved Africans returned to the shores of the Pacific Ocean at 5 A.M. Sunday, October 7, 2007 to repair the damage done by enslavement. It was the 12th rite of return formally called the “Maafa San Francisco Bay Area Commemorative Ritual”, according to the organizers: Wanda Sabir, Baba Alaman Haile, Minister Mxolisi Ozo Sowande, Khubaka-Michael Harris Wo’Se Church and many other volunteers. (www.maafasfbayarea.com). The pre-dawn ritual commemorates the tortuous journey of our ancestors from their homes and communities through the “gate of no return”, into enslavement castles and eventually onto the ships that took them into more than 500 years of enslavement, “jim crow”, racism, European white supremacy and colonialism in the Caribbean and the Americas. The ritual symbolically returns us to the truth, good, beauty and greatness of African civilization before Europe underdeveloped Africa and its people. “The Maafa is not a choice, rather it is a destiny we haven’t been able to escape without returning through the fire—travel with us there this morning. Let go of the rage that simmers in your stomach, curdles in your throat, burns as it travels in your veins.” ( Wanda Sabir, “Collective Mourning for Loss”.)

Many of the participants spent the night with bonfires, rubber mattresses, sleeping bags and blankets at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. They watched and listened to the majestic power of the Pacific Ocean and the ebb and flow of the mighty tides. Others arrived during the wee hours of the morning to find cars parked for 1/4th miles along the beach front. The new moon provided little light and the walk to the ocean was lighted by bon fire and candles beyond the “gate of no return” that our ancestors passed through more than 500 years ago.
An altar was placed near the gate for tributes to the ancestors which included a march to the sea with flowers given to the sea, the grave yard of many of our ancestors.

The sound of the Wo’Se drummers was constant and everywhere and provided the perfect context for the return to music and message. Young Teju Adisa-Farrar and her mother Opal Palma Adisa, Javier Reyes brought light and lesson with their poems enthusiastically received by the audience. Minister Mxolisi, the consummate musicologist, brought music as only he can do; Sister Geri poured libations as only she can do. Sister Isaura Oliveira and Wo’Se Choir presented the Maafa Song and Dance Cycle which was joined by many, many of the uninhibited young people who made up more than 100 of the more than 400 Maafians. The Maafa Prayer was by Mandaza Kademwa of Zimbabwe in the Shona language and English which crossed the great divide between Africa and the Diaspora.

Note: The World Conference of Pan Africans in Dakar Senegal-West Africa, December 27th thru December 31st, 2007 will include a “curative visit to Goree Island, the location of an enslavement castle where Africans were held 500 years ago before the middle passage to the Caribbean and the Americas. For more information write: Info@jsapublishing.com and visit www.jsapublishing.com/about_world_htmcongress_panafrican.

It is also important to note that Margo Dashielle and Carol Akua have recently returned from The El Mina Castle in Ghana-West Africa. They have stories to tell about the gates of no return and the structure of the castle that were designed so that the European men could prey upon the enslaved African females awaiting deportation.