Facing History and Ourselves with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

THE 2009 MIZEL MUSEUM ANNUAL DINNER.

Goree Diaspora Festival, A Taste of Fesman 2009

As published in the "Denver Urban Spectrum Newspaper."

With rich varieties of colors, abundance of musical performances and visual arts exhibitions, The Goree Diaspora Festival, held from Nov. 13-16, 2008 on this West African Island, provided a glimpse of what visitors can expect when they travel to Senegal this year for the World Festival of Black Arts.

The fourth edition of the festival drew thousands of visitors from Europe, the United States, South America, Asia and other nations on the African continent. The festival was a tribute to World renowned Martinique-born writer Aime Cesaire (1913-2008) and was co-sponsored by Ethiopia and Venezuela.

Fashion shows, dance, music concerts and speeches, before an audience composed of Cultural authorities from local, regional, national and international agencies, marked the opening ceremony on Nov. 13. The festival presented an opportunity for the city of Goree, under the leadership of Mayor Augustin Senghor, an Attorney, to showcase the rich cultures and traditions of Senegal and remember the past of this Island redeveloped in 1978 as a world historical site by the United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization.

For three centuries, the Island of Goree was a holding dock from where millions of Africans kidnapped by Europeans were forced onto slave ships bound for Europe and the Americas. It is located at about two miles off the coast of Senegal’s capital City, Dakar and is known for the infamous “DOOR OF NO RETURN”, which was a gate in one of the numerous compounds used to house the captives. Slaves had to go through the “DOOR OF NO RETURN” in order to board the slave ships. Going through that door meant never to return.

One of the Goree Diaspora Festival’s objectives is to keep “The door of return” open for the descendants of those who did not have a chance to comeback, and also to remind Humanity never to forget.

In the early 50s, Aime Cesaire and a group of young Black intellectuals started a movement to celebrate blackness. They were mainly concerned with exposing the falsehood of racist ideologies in the academia and contributing to the uplifting of the Africans on the continent and in Diaspora.

In September 1956, Alioune Diop, then editor of the magazine, Presence Africaine, and chief organizer, convened the First international Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Paris. In addition to Cesaire and Diop, participants included Leopold Sedar Senghor, Frantz Fanon, Josephine Baker, Richard Wright and James Baldwin. The congress institutionalized the world Festival of Black Arts, as part of the African Renaissance effort. Senghor, Senegal’s first president, and also a poet, convened the first edition in the spring of 1966.

Considered the largest celebration of African Heritage and Culture, the World Festival of Black Arts is scheduled to be held from December 1 to 14, for the third time in 43 years.

Delegations from 80 countries are expected to compete in disciplines, ranging from Architecture to Music, including dance, ancient and contemporary arts, cinema, urban Culture, literature and fashions. Internationally acclaimed performers, politicians, writers, musicians, comedians and sculptors will be among the participants. The festival will celebrate black Arts and its impact in the development of Humanity.

For two weeks, visitors will live the legendary hospitality of Senegal and its neighbors who will host some of the festival events, and also to connect with the ancestral homeland.

Colorado Senegal, 10 years later.

Good actions continue years after tragedy.

Colorado residents recently visited the West African village of Diorbivol on the 10-year anniversary of Oumar Dia’s death and perpetuated a tradition of solidarity between the communities.

Dia, a Senegalese immigrant, was murdered by a self-proclaimed skinhead in Denver. He died on the night of November 17, 1997, while waiting for his bus to get home, after a long day at work.

The trip was co-sponsored by the African Heritage Celebration and the Denver Senegal Humanitarian Foundation; two Colorado based not for-profit organizations that promote education and friendship between Africans and Americans.

Myriah and Anthony LaChance, Eric and Kevin Miller and Theresa Neuroth of DSHF and I arrived at the village on the night of Nov. 3rd, after a 9-hour ride from Dakar, Senegal’s capital. The village had a big welcome ceremony to honor its guests. Elders, men, women and children all came out to celebrate the visit.

During the four day stay the group held meetings to assess the village needs and distributed school supplies to the 5th and 6th graders of the local elementary school. We also distributed hats in conjunction with the Eagle Scout project of Michael Linville, a Littleton Boy Scout. We toured the fields where villagers grow various crops, visited the site of a planned middle school building, and viewed major water well, storage tank and distribution project that is underway in conjunction with a United Nations sponsored humanitarian aid program.

We learned that the projects to build the middle school and water facility are currently the most important undertakings in the village. The school project, just initiated by the villagers, aims at curbing the drop out rate among students who make it to the 7th grade. The difficulty to continue education beyond the 6th grade resides in the fact that Diorbivol only has classrooms for 1st through 6th grades, and most parents can’t afford to send their children to others villages for further education. The water project will help establish a relatively clean water source to the village, which relies primarily on a couple of existing small wells and the highly-polluted Senegal River.

We left the village on the morning of Thursday Nov. 7 after a short but very successful interchange regarding future ways that DSHF and AHC can provide humanitarian support to the people of Diorbivol.

Since 1999 Denver-based organizations such as Project Cure and International medical relief have sent equipment, supplies and groups of health care professionals to assist in Senegal. More than 70 Americans have visited Senegal and have been impacted by the experience of their stays. These visits always provide opportunities for the Coloradans and Senegalese to celebrate life through work, food, music, dance and song.

Mohamadou Lamine Cisse

Colorado Senegal, 10 years later.

Denver Group Donates School Supplies in Senegal.

From October 20th to November 7th the African Heritage Celebration distributed school supplies to 180 students in Senegal. Six graders in three schools received the gifts that will help them prepare for the exams they face at the end of the academic year 2007- 2008.

The donations were composed of Literature and Math books, notebooks, pens, pencils, compasses, squares, erasers, etc…; all that is required for the classe. The supplies were purchased in Senegal and amounted to $30.88 per student.

AHC targeted the 6th grade because of its importance in the student’s academic journey. Succeeding at the exams will grant passage to the 7th grade, which correspond to the beginning of the secondary school in Senegal.

AHC believes that education is a way to help improve one’s living conditions.
AHC visited schools in the communities of Bargny, Keur Samba and Diorbivol, Senegal. Ceremonies of presentation were held in the presence of parents, teachers, students and local authorities.

The students were proud to receive the gifts that will add to their motivation. The parents and the school principals expressed thanks and gratitude to AHC for the important gifts, which surely made a difference in the children’s education but also eased a financial burden on those who would otherwise have to pay for the supplies. So they thanked all who helped the fundraising effort.

The African Heritage Celebration a Colorado based not-for-profit organization which promotes education and friendship between Africans and Americans raised the funds during its annual dinner on June 9th 2007, in Denver.

AHC plans to provide supplies for more students next school year.

Mohamadou Lamine Cisse

The Cisses with Hon. Webb, Hickenlooper and Larry Mizel.