Randall Robinson Returns as a Distinguished Lecturer at St. Paul Community Baptist Churchs 10th Anniversary MAAFA Commemoration

Randall Robinson, author, activist, scholar, and humanitarian, will once again serve as a Distinguished Lecturer for St. Paul Community Baptist Churchs 10th Anniversary Commemoration of the MAAFA on Thursday, September 23, 2004 at 10:00 a.m.

(PRWEB) August 6, 2004 -- Randall Robinson, author, activist, scholar, and humanitarian, will once again serve as a Distinguished Lecturer for St. Paul Community Baptist Churchs 10th Anniversary Commemoration of the MAAFA on Thursday, September 23, 2004 at 10:00 a.m.

Robinson is the founder and former president of TransAfrica, the African-American advocacy organization he established to promote constructive and enlightened U.S. policies toward Africa and the Caribbean. He is the author of the national bestsellers The Debt, The Reckoning, and Defending The Spirit, and his views on U.S. foreign policy and race in America are widely discussed in American print and television media. Robinson will lecture on race relations and reparations and the present political landscape throughout the Diaspora.

Spearheaded by its executive organizer and founder, Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood, The Commemoration of the MAAFA (pronounced MAH-AH-FAH) began a decade ago at St. Paul Community Baptist Church as a movement to commemorate the more than 100 million Africans lost during a period in history known as the Middle Passage and the hundreds of years of enslavement that followed the voyage from Africa to America. Dr. Marimba Ani introduced the term MAAFA, a Kiswahili word for great calamity, disaster, catastrophe, or tragedy," into scholarship in her seminal work Let the Circle be Unbroken in an effort to succinctly redefine the horror formerly known as the Middle Passage.

The 10th Anniversary Commemoration of the MAAFA is a three-week celebration that engages the entire community in understanding and embracing the legacy of the Middle Passage leading to a process of reconciliation and healing. The centerpiece of the Commemoration, a spiritual psychodrama called The MAAFA Suite: A Healing Journey which depicts the capture, enslavement and survival of Africans, will be presented From September 13 through 25, 2004.

In addition, to Mr. Robinsons lecture other activities include MAAFA Museum Tours, visits to the African Burial Ground, workshops on undoing racism, seaside ceremonies, as well as special activities for youth and for seniors. All are invited to experience The Commemoration of the MAAFA.

For more information on the MAAFA visit www.themaafa.com or call 718-257-2884.

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