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