The Meaning of the Sankofa Bird


The concept of SANKOFA is derived from King Adinkera of the Akan people of West Afrika. SANKOFA is expressed in the Akan language as "se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki."
Literally translated it means "it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot".

"Sankofa" teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.

Visually and symbolically "Sankofa" is expressed as a mythic bird that never forgets the innate power of his (her) heritage and therefore is able to fly beyond the limitations of expectation (thanks aunt prema).

Hiroshima and Nagasaki...

Hiroshima and Nagasaki...
When Racism and Foreign Policy Collide

Monday, September 29, 2008

Jeremiah Wright and the audacity of Hope (read: Fake Indignation - reprint from Linkages / 2008)

The mainstream news media in the US has lost its mind, and Black America just surpassed them in craziness. Jeremiah Wright has expressed nothing different than what has been expressed by countless Blacks since we have arrived here. Jeremiah Wright is clumsy with a powerful message. He is clumsy in the tradition that he doesn’t coalesce to the socio-political whims of White America. Obama IS a politician whether you want to hear it or not. The fact that he would disown Wright without at least acknowledging some of his truths, while simultaneously giving credence to the life of Dr. MLK, should speak volumes to the state of race relations in America in 2008. Correction, the fact that i dont hold that shit against Obama speaks volumes to the state of race relations in America in 2008.

It has been expressed from the plantation to the pulpit. It is a cry that has been heard from the poor to the economically powerful. And anyone who would suggest that America has arrived at a place where we need no longer question its integrity with regard to race relations on an international scale needs their head examined. The dramatization of indignation by some is both disingenuous and sickening. Again, we see the reality of Black American politics as expressed by Dr. MLK in his letter from Birmingham Jail. i feel the need to speak on the self-evident reality surrounding the current mainstream media coverage and the volume it speaks with regard to race relations in the US as experienced by white America in light of the recent events surrounding Barak Obama’s campaign, and his so called spiritual advisor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright.

What did Wright say that was so wrong? Okay, Pope quotes somebody calling the religion of Islam, a religion spread with Terrorism (more specifically, by the sword). It’s the Pope, so i guess he’s incapable of offending (who cares about the offended Muslims, Wright?) Rev. Wright quotes an author re the origin of Aids, he points to the PM of Iraq who said America’s Chickens have come home to roost. I saw a Black kid say the same shit tonight on PBS! THE SAME SHIT. Guess where he was when he said it. A Black church service on board a US Navy ship.

I hate to burst the bubble of White America, but a lot of those Black folks who joined you in calling for Wright to apologize, were just saying and / or hearing the same message in their own churches. Some things never change. Some in Black America continue to say one thing in front of whites and something different in their own circles. To summarize, this young man made a point that is often articulated within the walls of the Black church. He articulated that his service in the war was disturbing his moral makeup. He said we were no different in our numbers of mass murders, hate crimes, and overall conflict. So, what gave us the right to decide that we could do what they could not? From the mouth of military babes...

Who are we kidding? Is the west really the keepers of the earth? By what authority does the west parade itself as the global police? OH...weapons. Until we surpass our current evolution, beyond Neanderthals with suites, i believe we’ll be trapped in a cycle of war and violence both at home and abroad.
Delma Jackson III

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