Afrikans Fighting Against Afrikan Burial Ground Project in NY

[Akyeame Kwame]

Architect for African Burial Ground memorial picked
by KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO
Special to the AmNews
Originally posted 5/4/2005

Plans for a memorial design for the historically
landmarked African Burial Ground (ABG) are pushing
forward, even though community activists are still
adamantly against the building of any structures on
what remains of the ABG at 290 Broadway in lower
Manhattan.
“We are mobilizing,� said Ollie McClean,
the chairwoman of the Committee of Descendants of the
Afrikan Ancestral Burial Ground (CDAABG).
“Sister Sybill Clarke is livid, Charles Barron
is livid, Min. Farrakhan is livid – but
we’re mobilizing. We’re going to take
legal action and even if we have to lay down in front
of bulldozers to stop this, that’s exactly what
we’re going to do.�
McClean said that even though the CDAABG struggled for
years with the federal government’s General
Services Administration (GSA) about who would conduct
and control research on the burial ground’s
remains, who would handle their re-interment, and
about what kind of memorial should be placed at the
site, they were still shocked that the announcement of
the memorial design winner was due to take place
without their notice.
CDAABG members made it to last Friday’s
announcement anyway, and protested loudly enough to
disrupt the ceremonies, where the architect Rodney
Léon was named the winning designer of the ABG
memorial. Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel and Schomburg
Library Center director Howard Dodson were on hand to
congratulate Leon, a managing partner – along
with Nicole Dennis – at Aarris Architects PC.
But the Aarris Architects’ design is too
intrusive for the ABG, said Councilman Charles Barron.
The main feature of the Aarris Architects memorial
design is what they term an “Ancestral Libation
Chamber� which, the firm’s literature
states, “will rise out of the ground immediately
above the … large reinterment vaults. ...
Visitors will circulate down to the level of
reinterment, 6 feet below ground level by means of a
Spiral Processional Ramp or Staircases. The Ramp and
Stairs lead to a circular Libation Courtyard. ... The
chamber will be bathed in light from the east and from
the sky above. Upon entering the Chamber, a visitor
will be witness to the clearly defined location of the
... burial vaults. An inscription shall be placed on
the interior walls of the Chamber commemorating the
sacred and historical nature of this site.�
“This is a grave site! It is not a monument, it
is not a museum!� Barron said. “They would
never put something like this on top of the grave of
someone like John F. Kennedy. He just has an eternal
flame, and that’s what we wanted for the ABG: a
simple eternal flame with two eternal beams heading
out from it, and the grass left wavey to show the
waves they brought us over here on – that would
show respect for this site as an African grave
site.�
“People should insist that this be
stopped,� Barron added. His office will be
coordinating planning meetings around the new ABG
memorial. “I don’t think we should give up
the struggle just because the great white powers that
be have said this is what they’ve chosen.�

[Akyeame Kwame]

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[Jahness]

Greetings Akyeame!

Did the CDAABG make their request known before the final design was chosen? Were they allowed any input at all?

Also how active an organization are they, when this is the only time I have heard any objection from them in reference to this design, and did they submit their own design, or did they take it for granted that yt would choose a design that they thought would be suitable for our ancestors?

Actually I thought it was good that this young brother won the final design. But I would have thought that all concerned parties were able to vote on the issue.

Just a few questions.

Thanks for sharing?

[Akyeame Kwame]

Originally Posted by Jahness

Greetings Akyeame!

Did the CDAABG make their request known before the final design was chosen? Were they allowed any input at all?

Also how active an organization are they, when this is the only time I have heard any objection from them in reference to this design, and did they submit their own design, or did they take it for granted that yt would choose a design that they thought would be suitable for our ancestors?

Actually I thought it was good that this young brother won the final design. But I would have thought that all concerned parties were able to vote on the issue.

Just a few questions.

Thanks for sharing?

peace Jahness,

i'm not familiar w/the org but i am familiar with Nana Sybill Clarke, Dr. Clarke's wife. i think the issue more than design is that the gravesite will, in their view, be desecrated by making it a tourist joint.

AK

[IfasehunReincarnated]

this seems to be an issue where more grassroots individuals brought light in the beginning, then whites and more well known black politicians, and civic leaders were used as a buffer at that point. they basically ran w/ the ball, not even understanding they were being used to protect white interest because they were looking for their own camera time and still fall in that category of people that are still impressed by white people appointing "authority"..

this isnt a lapse of interst or engagement by grassroots folks. they just been pushed to the side since the very beginning. they have to fight for any media attention they get.

[Jahness]

Greetings Akyeame & Ifasehun

What can be more important than preserving the sacred resting place
of our ancestors? Since it's not the design, then lets get the issue
resolved already. All concerned parties should come together and
decide on a proper course of action.

To me sometimes even our best grassroots brothers and sisters, take
too long to express their outrage on certain issues.

I mean, I can understand that they may not have access to the mass
media the way yt does, but for something so important, couldn't they
have taken out several full page newspaper ads, printed flyers, utilize
all aspects of other advertisements to reach the Afrikan people on this important issue.

It's amazing that I see thousands of flyers for regular nightclub parties
by different groups, individuals at restaurants, stores, in the mall etc,
but I seldom see for instance flyers like what we have for Assata, or
those we need to have for all political prisoners, and all our captives
who needs to be set free.

Some of these groups have all type of money, but taking the time to
educate the masses in the community, is never done unless everyone
can pose for the 10 second spot in front of the TV Camera.

Why does everything having to do with Afrikan have to always be
such a burden. Our ancestors deserve to be resting in peach.

I applaud the efforts by Nana Clarke and the others who stand with
her, but to me something should have been done sooner.

And also, isn't the site going to be some sort of tourist attraction
no matter what? How do they now plan to avoid having tourists
walk over the sacred site as opposed to having the sacred remain
situated in such a way that our ancestors do not get trampled on,
one way or the next.

Maybe we just need to send all the remains of our ancestors back
home to Afrika, and just designate the space here as being sacred.
But then from what part of the continent did these ancestors come
from or was it a range of different countries, too many to count,
and then someone else will start saying we sending them home to
the wrong place...

Also how come you never hear Afrikans on the continent ever
encouraging us in the diaspora to reconnect with our true
homeland in one way or the next. I know of the one or two
in the past, but sometimes it seems as if we are so
disconnected with our people on the continent that
we are all literally like strangers.

I pray that this issue gets resolved in an appropriate manner.
I am tired of our ancestors devine spirits being desecrated
with so much negative propaganda. Our ancestors need
peace, not this constant fighting, and bickering all the time.

This issues can be a bit depressing at times. But we must
continue with the struggle. By hard work and dedication we
will achieve our freedom one way or the next.

Thanks for sharing my beloved brothers. Your sister here
truly value the exchange, and the honest listening ear you
provide.

Stay connected, inspired and uplifted.

Peace & Blessings!