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."
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