Instead, they\u2019re celebrating Indigenous People\u2019s Day, in honor of the traditions of Indigenous people, while also shedding light on the tragic truth of what happened when Mr. Columbus stepped foot in North America.<\/p>\n
In Miami, the day was celebrated through a cultural and educational gathering called \u201cVoices of Sankofa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was something that I thought was very important, especially now that we\u2019re canceling out Columbus Day and we know the real history, the true story \u2026 so I wanted to just tap into that,\u201d said Fabienne Claude, one of the event\u2019s organizers.<\/p>\n
Voices of Sankofa brought the concepts of history, reconnecting with African roots and repatriation to the forefront. \u201cIt\u2019s so important to go back to our African heritage or African roots or African culture, and just rebuild, reconnect, and bring it back. That\u2019s what Sankofa means,\u201d Ms. Claude said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always talk about knowledge of self. I believe that learning history and learning wisdom and then having different people who know the history to share that insight, in order for you to just walk stronger. I talk about that a lot, like, walking stronger on Earth. Knowing yourself and knowing yourself starts with history, it starts with the foundation, it starts with the roots.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 50 people of different religions and ethnicities enjoyed live music, art and enlightening conversations. Several guest speakers with backgrounds in fields including the arts, education, health, and activism, shared words about healing Black and Indigenous communities, making progress, history and more.<\/p>\n
Tony Muhammad is a member of the Nation of Islam and a student in the ministry class at Mosque No. 29 in Miami, Fla. He was invited as a panelist to the event held Oct. 9. He said unity among the different people that were present is needed in order to transform underserved communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnity does not mean uniformity,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re all divine expressions, different pieces of the puzzle that Almighty God has put forth. We have to find the way that we come together and that we fit in together. It doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re going to all look the same and sound the same. It means that we\u2019re coming together to find common solutions to our common problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who attended took the time to network with one another and began to plan for future ways to collaborate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat kind of dialogue can lead to further programs in the community that can further inspire more people to now start thinking differently and (acting different) and as a result, making better choices in their lives,\u201d Mr. Muhammad said.<\/p>\n
The event also featured a screening of the documentary \u201c50 Days in Afrika\u201d which documented the journeys of three people as they backpacked through African countries. Donisha Prendergast was in the film and is one of its creators. She\u2019s also the granddaughter of Rita Marley, who is the wife of the late reggae legend and activist Bob Marley. She addressed the gathering and offered insight into her experiences in Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since birth and growing up, Africa and repatriation has always been forefront in our foundation and in the legacy of my family,\u201d Ms. Prendergast told The Final Call.<\/p>\n
She says there may be challenges for some to make it to Africa, but she says people should look at it like paying a bill. She says a renter would do everything they could to make sure their bill was paid.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will be liberating yourself in such a great way,\u201d she said. \u201cRepatriation isn\u2019t just a romantic idea anymore. We have access to travel, access to the internet, (and) opportunities to collaborate and create. So, trying to instill the understanding of repatriation is one of the ambitions of our documentary, and also to relate it through a personal lens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the event, Ms. Claude intends to push the conversation forward. \u201cIt was so intense,\u201d she said. \u201cThe conversation was so deep; it was so insightful. People definitely were inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Muhammad says he believes people were able to walk away with steps on how to do their part to help their community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who were blessed with the opportunity to not just share words but be there with a sense of mission and purpose to come together and have further dialogue and come up with ideas and ways that we could strategize and organize and make our communities greater places to live,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The second Monday in October is federally recognized as Columbus Day in the U.S., which honors the day Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. However, some people have decided to do away with honoring Mr. Columbus, who brought genocide and colonization to the Indigenous people who were already here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":34714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,12],"tags":[7,30,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-34717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-entertainment","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-entertainment"},"yoast_head":"\n