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Writer's pictureAbby

Sankofa

The Sankofa Experience is a racial reconciliation trip that deeply and authentically looks at our nation’s history and past, as a means to move forward. Since December, as a greater team and with our partners, we have been meeting weekly, watching documentaries and having discussions. We have been learning about the history in the US related especially to marginalization and oppression of those who do not fit the dominant narrative, through out history, as well as currently. Therefore, not only are we exploring race, but also religion, class, gender, and sexuality. For partners, we are paired up with the same genders and different ethnicities. My partner, Atiyya, and I will be sitting together on the bus discussing documentaries, museums, visits, activities, and everything that takes place this weekend. Please PRAY for us!

Sankofa: (san = “to return”) + (ko = “to go”) + (fa = “to look, to seek and take”)

This is the idea that we must return and look back before we can truly move forward. This is the essence of racial reconciliation, and this is what I will be experiencing this weekend. 


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The Sankofa bird is pictured flying forward with its head turned backward to symbolize the need of looking back in order to move forward. The gem in it’s mouth symbolizes the wisdom based knowledge that is gained from the past as well as the generation to come that will benefit from that wisdom.


The Sankofa trip starts TONIGHT with dinner at 7pm and boarding the bus at 9pm.

 Friday morning-arrive in Memphis. Visit museums. Free time. Group Activity. Check into Hotel.

Saturday-leave for Montgomery, AL. Visit location (much of which we are unsure of). Leave for Selma, AL. Visit Museums. Dinner. Leave for Chicago.

Sunday-we will arrive back and debrief together at a church in Chicago.


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This is going to be a weekend full of pain, trust, uncomfortableness, and so much more that I will not know until I am there experiencing everything. We are in for a trip of a lifetime, hopefully one that changes and disturbs us in order to better ourselves and the inequities of our community and nation. 

If you would like to learn more about the meaning and significance of the word Sankofa, visit: http://ctl.du.edu/spirituals/Literature/sankofa.cfm

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