THE 2007 MAAFA RITUAL OF RETURN
By: Willie Thompson
Oct, 2007
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.