ON PUBLICLY INAUGURATING SANKOFA FORUM: ADLA-CHICAGO ELDER LIONS FOR AFRICANA STUDIES EDUCATION

This entry is a development of our 2/10/16 blog spot headed: MEET SANKOFA FORUM (ADLA-CHICAGO ELDER LIONS FOR AFRICANA STUDIES EDUCATION).  This post should be read together with it. 

More, this note presents our idea for publicly launching SANKOFA FORUM, as a part of the upcoming 2016 African American Holiday calendar observance, of Minister Malcolm X's (Al Hajj Malik Shabazz's) Kuzaliwa (birthday)-nationally celebrated this year from May 19th thru the 22nd.

This said we are in conversation with a developing coalition of concerned, faith-based, Africana forces, inside and outside the Metro Chicago Synod of the ELCA, that are interested in joining us in producing the following tentatively themed SANKOFA FORUM (ADLA-Chicago Elder Lions for Africana Studies Education) event:

"BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY:" Saba, Dr. Maulana Karenga  on the Socio-Ethical Teachings of Minister Malcolm X (Al Hajj Malik Shabazz) & on Essays on Struggle (Position and Analysis-Second Edition-Black Power Series) 

To date we have the offer of a presentation venue available to us from Afriware Books of Maywood, one of Chicago's leading sellers of Africana books.  

We also have available to us the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall of Reformation Church-Chicago ("Young Barack Obama's community organizing sanctuary").

Moreover, we are additionally seeking to secure either the Common Room of Chicago's McCormick Theological Seminary or the Chapel of Lutheran School of Theology Chicago. 

We have also added the Library of Chicago State University and the Community Room of Englewood's Bethel Terrace Co-Op Senior Apartments (the latter of which we've recently reserved) to our venue prospects list for the planned SANKOFA FORUM public launch- marking the Kuzaliwa (birthday) of Minister Malcolm X (Al Hajj Malik Shabazz) to be keynoted by the internationally recognized activist-scholar Saba (Moral Teacher), Dr. Maulana Karenga.

For those that may not be aware, Dr. Karenga is currently Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at California State University-Long Beach, the Creator of Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba, as well as Executive Director of Us/African American Cultural Center, LA, now celebrating "50 years of work, struggle, service and institution building."

He is the author of over a dozen books and numerous scholarly articles-the most notable books being:

1) Introduction to Black Studies, 4th Edition. which is the most widely used introductory text of the discipline, 2010;

2) Maat: The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt (A Study in Classical African Civilization), 2004;

3) Odu Ifa: The Ethical Teachings (Translation and Commentary, A Kawaida Interpretation), 1999;

4) Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, 1998;

5) Kawaida and Questions of Life and Struggle, 2008; and most recently

6) Essays on Struggle: Position and Analysis, Second Edition, Black Power Series, 2015.

Dr. Karenga holds two Doctoral Degrees-the first in Political Science from U. S. International University and the second in Social Ethics from the University of Southern California.

From 2006-to-date Dr. Karenga has been the contributor of "Dr. Karenga Speaks" a weekly OP-ED opinion column in the Los Angeles Sentinel, the largest circulating Black weekly newspaper West of the Mississippi River.

Dr. Karenga is the subject of the definitive intellectual biography, by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, Temple University, titled "Maulana Karenga: An Intellectual Portrait" published by Polity Press, Cambridge, UK, 2009.

He is the author of a forthcoming work on: "The Liberation Ethics of Minister Malcolm X."

Note: The promotional organizing precedent within the ADLA Community for our proposal is the 2015 Dr. Cain Hope Felder set of Lent Season presentations in Chicago which was an outgrowth of cooperation between Afriware Books, The Pero Multicultural Center of LSTC, The Metro Chicago Synod, and the Synod's African American Strategy Team.   

Respectfully submitted: Rev. Joel Washington (Khunanpu Sangoma), Reformation Church-Chicago ("Young Barack Obama's comunity organizing sanctuary") and for SANKOFA FORUM (ADLA-CHICAGO Elder Lions for Africana Studies Education)-Updated 3/12/16     

Dr. Maulana Karenga's INTRODUCTION TO BLACK STUDIES-4TH EDITION Usage of Sankofa (Word Study Part 3 of 3)

In this entry we turn to the Sankofa usage of Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, the Creator of Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba as well as the Executive Director of Us/African American Cultural Center, LA, now in its 50th year of "work, struggle, service, and institution building."

In discussing Black History as the central field of the multi field discipline of Black Studies Dr. Karenga observes: "Black History is engaged here as the first field of study in the introduction to Black Studies for several reasons.  First, it is to emphasize the discipline's stress on the indispensability of the historical perspective in understanding social and human reality (Keto, 1994)."

Leading us to his usage of Sankofa, in the context of defining the relationship of Black History within Black Studies, Dr. Karenga writes: "Secondly, beginning with Black History stresses also the importance of the ongoing project of historical recovery in every field within Black Studies.  This process is called sankofa."

Moving to his explanation of Sankofa Dr. Karenga writes: "sankofa (is an) Akan word which means 'to return and recover it.'"

More, Dr. Karenga teaches us: "this (sankofa) involves returning to the rich resource of the African past, or history, and using it as a foundation to improve the present and enhance the future."

Turning to the Akan symbol of Sankofa Dr. Karenga explains: "The idea of sankofa is depicted as a bird reaching back with its beak into its feathers.  According to Niangorian-Bouah (1984 Vol. I:210), the sankofa bird 'is a symbol representing the quest for knowledge and a return to the source.'"

More, Dr. Karenga teaches us: "This (sankofa) process of returning to the source in the constant quest for valuable and diverse knowledge of African peoples and African culture has become the central concept and practice in all fields of Black Studies-history, religion, sociology, politics, economics, creative production, psychology, etc."

More still, Dr. Karenga teaches us: "It is from the ongoing process of sankofa that Black Studies scholars discover and recover some of the most important paradigms of African thought and practice.  And these data are used not only to constantly develop and expand the discipline, but also as a critical resource to understand and address the major issues of our time." (Our emphasis in the context of reorganizing ADLA-Chicago and nationally-inside and outside the ELCA)

Respectfully submitted: Rev. Joel Washington (Khunanpu Sangoma), Reformation Church-Chicago ("Young Barack Obama's community organizing sanctuary") and for SANKOFA FORUM: ADLA-Chicago's Elder Lions Round-Table for Africana Studies Education, 2-12-14           

Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr.s' Usage & Sankofa Word Study-Part 2 of 3

According to Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright Jr., writing in the introduction to his 2013 work: A Sankofa Moment (The History of Trinity United Church of Christ),  "The Akan people have an important symbol known as Sankofa.  It is expressed in the Asante Adinkra symbols whose body is heading in one direction, but whose head is turned in the opposite direction."

More, Rev. Wright takes us into Sankofa's meaning with: "What the symbol is teaching is that we cannot go forward without first going back to our past to understand how it is we got to where we are."

Pastor Wright goes on to write: "Put another way, Sankofa means that if we do not know from whence we came, we will forever be heading in the wrong direction. The African concept of recognizing the past, honoring the past, knowing our past, embracing our past and learning from our past is found not only among the Akan people.  It is found all across the Continent of Africa."

Turning to an anecdotal Sankofa illustration story Pastor Wright says: "In Chancellor Williams' book, Destruction of Black Civilization, Dr. Williams tells the story about the young traveler in Africa who asks the old man, 'Whatever happened to the people of Sumer? Legend has it that the ancient people of Sumer were Black!'"

Rev. Wright further unfolds the Dr. Chancellor's anecdote with: "The old man stopped and thought for a moment.  Then he softly said to the young traveler, 'Ah!  They forgot their story and so they died!'"

Dr. Wright drives home the meaning of his usage of Sankofa with: "Any people who forgets their story, any people that does not remember their history; any people who ignores their past, are people who are on their way to death. Psychologists call it social death. Theologians call it spiritual death."

       

MEET: A WORD STUDY SERIES ON THE AFRICAN CONCEPT/CATEGORY/TRADITION OF SANKOFA-Part 1 of 3

This is the first of a three part word study series on the idea of SANKOFA as a key Africana Studies concept, category, and tradition.

According to Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia, then: 

"Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that translates into 'go back and get it' (san- to return; ko- to go; fa- to fetch-to seek and take) and also refers to the Asante Adinkra symbol represented either by a bird with its head turned backwards taking an egg off its back; or as a stylised heart shape."

More, the Wikipedia entry adds: "Sankofa is often associated with the proverb...which translates as: 'It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.' "  (Source: The Spirituals Project at University of Denver; African Tradition: Proverbs and Sankofa).

More still, the online encyclopedia informs us: "The Sankofa symbol appears frequently in traditional Akan art, and has also been adopted as an important symbol in an African American and African Diaspora context to represent the need to reflect on the past to build on the future.  It is one of the most widely dispersed Adinkra symbols, appearing in modern jewellery, tattoos, and clothing."

Turning to AKan African tradition and philosophy the encyclopedia further tells us: "(The Sankofa sign) symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress through benevolent use of knowledge. Adinkra symbols are used by the Akan people to express proverbs and other philosophical ideas."

Finally, the online reference work says: (The Sankofa symbol) functions to foster mutual respect and unity in tradition."

Current and past popular uses of the Sankofa symbol as a defining symbol are reported as that on New York City's African Burial Ground Memorial installation, as a symbol on the website of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C., as the title of 1993 iconic film by filmmaker Haili Garima as well as in the graphic title of the film 500 Years Later, by Owen 'Alik Shahadah.

Note:  This writer plans to present the two films above as part of the launching of SANKOFA FORUM.

Respectfully submitted: Rev. Joel Washington (Khunanpu Sangoma), Reformation Church-Chicago ("Young Barack Obama's community organizing sanctuary"), and for SANKOFA FORUM: ADLA-CHICAGO Elder Lions' Round-Table on Africana Studies       
  

MEET SANKOFA FORUM: ADLA-CHICAGO ELDER LIONS FOR AFRICANA STUDIES EDUCATION

1.  As we have mentioned before the field of multiculturalism and diversity is what progressive sociology calls "contested terrain."

There are multiple competing and colluding top-down and bottom-up approaches within both.

2.  At the risk of oversimplification, the top-down approach works to contain multiculturalism and diversity within the established order.  

More, the top-down approach, then, tends to reduce multiculturalism and diversity to gatherings of food, fun, and fashion on the one hand and on the other the inclusion of multicultural and/or people of color faces in highly visible places without making significant changes in the lop-sided distribution of wealth, power, social status, and other resources.

The bottom-up approach, by contrast, seeks to break out of the containment of the established order toward a new social arrangement characterized by multicultural and people of color forces striving for an equitable distribution of all social premiums. This said our multicultural and diversity approach seeks to emphasize the latter bottom-up approach over the former.

3. Clearly, the African Descent Lutheran Association (ADLA) is a multicultural and/or diversity project within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). However, even within ADLA the project is contested terrain with competing, contending, and colluding approaches despite the tendency of some to have God, God's Self, endorse their particular approach-often to the exclusion of others.

4.  What is needed within ADLA (locally and nationally) is operational unity in the organizing process i.e. unity without enforced uniformity, unity in diversity-of organizing approaches.  In a word we need multiculturalism and diversity within ADLA.

5.  More still, this blogger's basic approach is to use Black or African culture as a resource and not merely as a reference.  By which we mean consistently dialoging with (studying, learning from etc.) and building on African culture and not simply making a reference to it while quickly following in the ways of the dominant culture or established order. 

6.  We therefore take the concept and tradition of SANKOFA seriously. And because we understand it as an essential ongoing or continuing education project in the field of Africana Studies, we are creating SANKOFA FORUM: ADLA-CHICAGO ELDER LIONS FOR AFRICANA STUDIES EDUCATION.  

7.  The objective of SANKOFA FORUM is to bring Africana Studies to the local and national ADLA community and the local and national ADLA community to Africana Studies.  More, SANKOFA FORUM is our contribution to evaluating the recent February 6, 2016 Sankofa Gathering Special Event at Lutheran School of Theology-Chicago.  We advance it as a much needed bottom-up multiculturalism and diversity approach and thereby social corrective.

Respectively submitted: Rev. Joel Washington (Khunanpu Sangoma), Reformation Church-Chicago ("Young Barack Obama's community organizing sanctuary") and for SANKOFA FORUM, 2-10-16

    

     

NEEDED: ELDER LIONS ON DIVERSITY & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT (ADLA-Chicago Global Elders Center on Racial & Social Justice)

"Let envoys come out of Egypt; let Ethiopia hasten her gifts to God"-Psalm 68:31

"SOS

"Calling all black people

"Calling all black people, man woman child

"Wherever you are, calling you, urgent, come in

"Black people, come in, wherever you are, urgent, calling you,

"Calling all black people 


"Calling all black people, come in, black people, come on in."

Amiri Baraka, Circa 1967-Black Arts Movement Period

Just in case no one has noticed it, the need of rebuilding, maintaining and developing  the African Descent Lutheran Association (ADLA) inside and outside the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is an urgent one. 

Note: the ELCA currently holds the dubious distinction of being the 2nd least diverse "mainstream" national Christian church denomination in the USA.

This said, the ELCA houses a meager 4% membership of Africans in America and other peoples of color combined.  

This ice cold fact creates a sense urgency for concerned Black Lutheran self-organization today as the need of Black social movement organization appeared to author Amiri Baraka in the referenced 1960s Black Arts Movement poem above.

To address today's Black Lutherans concerned sense of urgency we are:

1) fundamentally committed to participating in reviving ADLA nationally as the best possible hope for significant African Descent and other people of color inclusion within the ELCA.

2) fundamentally committed to making a significant contribution to reorganizing the ADLA-Chicago Chapter itself tragically dissolved in recent years and in need of the Good Samaritan intervention and restructuring-now underway.

3) fundamentally committed to convening, within ADLA-Chicago, a much needed sub-structure or an  affinity grouping of ADLA seniors-operating under the working banner of ADLA-CHICAGO ELDER LIONS FOR DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT.

More, the goal of ELDER LIONS is to establish, strengthen, and expand  an African Global Elders Center at Lutheran School of Theology Chicago (LSTC) for Racial and Social Justice Understanding inside and outside the ELCA.

More still, ELDER LIONS will also seek to organize a series of educational forums, on current and ongoing critical issues, out of the Community Room of South Side Englewood's Bethel Terrace Co-op Senior Apartments, at the hub of S. 63rd & Halsted, that has been the residential base of this proposal writer for the past ten years.

The working organizing slogan of ADLA-Chicago ELDER LIONS is: "Act III for Kwanzaa Holiday Grounded Simba Wasais-elder lions.  Note: Simba Wasais is Swahili for elder lions.

We hope our readers are ready for it.  Because the time for ADLA-Chicago ELDER LIONS is now.

Respectfully submitted: Pastor Joel Washington (Khunanpu Sangoma), Reformation Church-Chicago ("Young Barack Obama's community organizing sanctuary"), and Convenor of ADLA-Chicago ELDER LIONS, 2-4-16