As the Trump administration works to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Black history and the Department of Education, more than 250 educators, students, and families gathered for the 36th annual Sankofa Conference April 4–6, to uplift the legacy of re-Afrikanization through family development, nation building and spiritual restoration.
Hosted by the Ankobea Society and held at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, this year’s theme was “Actualizing the Onyame Nhye Hye Paradigm: Family Development and Irreconcilable Cultural Realities,” featuring discussions, a keynote speech from Howard University Afro-American studies professor Dr. Mario Beatty, and the hallmark rites of passage ceremony.
The conference called participants to explore how family structure, cultural identity, and Afrikan sovereignty are essential to surviving and thriving in a world that often undermines all three.
“We cannot depend on others to edify us in a way that will lead to our self-determination or liberation. As parents, we are the first teachers of our children. Centering nation-building on the family unit is a reminder that if we are at war, then the family is our army,” said Kentry Kinard, a longtime Sankofa attendee and father of two.
The notion of re-Afrikanization in itself is a reclamation of history and culture. Using the letter “K” instead of “C” goes back to Afrikan roots, where most traditional languages and vernacular spell words with a “K.” Europeans substituted “C” in many instances such as Afrika to Africa, Kongo to Congo and Akkra to Accra, however in 1979 educator Haki Madhubuti, rejected that cultural imperialism with his work: “From Plan to Planet: Life Studies—The Need for African Minds and Institutions.”
With Afrikan-centered educators like Madhubuti and the late Nana Kwame Agyei Akoto, co-founder of the Ankobea Society, the re-Africanization movement has worked to empower people of all ages across the Afrikan Diaspora.
To this day, the Sankofa Conference, started in 1989, furthers that work, offering Afrikan-centered solutions to national and global challenges.
Educator Kamau Grimes called the conference a direct pushback to America’s education system.
“The climate on education is an attack on truth, and we are warriors of truth. Young Black children are alienated from our heritage and our center,” Grimes told The Informer. “There’s a particular attack on African history right now, and it’s important to recenter ourselves so that we don’t get lost.”
The Sankofa Conference Continues its Mission of Nation-Building to Combat Challenges
Since its inception in 1989, the Sankofa Conference has remained steadfast in its dedication to cultural continuity and liberation-focused dialogue.
Akoto, who also co-founded the District’s Afrikan-centered school NationHouse in 1974, coined the term “Onyame Nhye Hye Paradigm,” referring to the divine blueprint of Afrikan life, family, and sovereignty.
He viewed re-Afrikanization and nation-building as rituals of healing and wanted to bring that notion in Black communities in the District and beyond.
As violent crime escalated in the District during the 1980s, NationHouse founders and 21 community members birthed the Ankobea Society, meaning “one who stays home” in the Akan language.
In 1989, Ankobea Society launched its rites of passage program for boys, and began one for girls the following year. Over the decades, both programs have supported youth and families from New York to Florida.
In his 1999 work “The Sankofa Movement,” Akoto emphasized that “national liberation and development require mobilization both at the spiritual level and the socio-political and economic level.”
For 36 years, the Sankofa Conference’s rites of passage ceremony and programming has furthered Akoto’s goal of mobilization from a spiritual, social and economic lens.
This year’s theme “Actualizing the Onyame Nhye Hye Paradigm: Family Development and Irreconcilable Cultural Realities,” required attendees to examine the power of unifying despite modern-day racist attacks and threats to Black people around the world.
“What do we need to add to what the earliest ancestors did,” Beatty asked during the keynote address, before encouraging the audience to work toward progress. “Something has to die for something new to be born. It’s time for new ideas. Time for the old order to die.”
The Power of the Sankofa Conference, Celebrating the Sacred Rites of Passage Tradition
The annual Rites of Passage Ceremony is a critical part of Sankofa’s convening that works to empower young people and uplift sacred Afrikan traditions.
In 2016, NationHouse graduate and musician Kwesi Hargrove began his own rites journey with 12 other young Black men and for several months, learned from community elders months about the principles of Afrikan manhood.
“Rites gave me a sense of brotherhood that a lot of young Black men are looking for,” Hargrove told The Informer. “The men of my line are in different places today, but I still can call them my brothers.”
Hargrove’s rites brother Amoa Salaam, who was also in attendance at this year’s ceremony on April 5, took pride in watching this year’s graduates and presentations.
“Watching the young people present their knowledge to the community was beautiful and impactful. They recited their family lineage – which is deep,” said Salaam, considering his own rites of passage nine years ago. “They have to call back as far as they can of the ancestors they know. That’s a big thing for Afrikan people in the United States because a lot of us don’t have that information because of slavery. It was emotional, and people were crying. I was crying myself.”
Among this year’s graduates was 13-year-old Nasanet Ayakimaa Eubanks, who described the experience as a transformative step into young womanhood.
“I learned to be vulnerable with my new sisters and more confident in myself,” she said. “It taught me that I can get through womanhood with the support of a community that loves me.”
Her mother, Ifeyado Crystal Eubanks, said she was filled with pride and a sweet sadness, as she watched her daughter come into her own.
“She’s always had this quiet strength,” Eubanks said. “Her feminine power burst forth in that moment. I’m really grateful to have her as my daughter and to share this experience with her.”
For Hargrove, who began attending the conference while still in his mother’s womb, it has taken some time, maturity and life experience to truly understand the value of the Sankofa Conference.
“As a child, I didn’t recognize the significance of the conference and the community around it until I grew up. In my adulthood, I now understand I have a sense of self and direction that a lot of my peers don’t have,” he explained.
Now, as a supporter for the conference and rites ceremony, Hargrove fully appreciates the convening as a means of mobilizing others, particularly considering today’s social, political and economic challenges.
“The amount of effort that goes into facilitating the conference is a lot,” he said, “but it’s needed because if we don’t, who will?”
During the confrence’s final elder circle, Nana Ansah Atei offered a reminder and call to action that rang through the room.
“It’s not too late to always go back and get what belongs to us,” she said. “As it says in ‘The Sankofa Movement,’ ‘go back and get it and bring it forward.’”
