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Africans In America

Published

13 years ago

March 15, 2013

A Veneration Ceremony often has dancing, singing ,drumming, and spiritual chants to honor the ancestors. A Yoruba Mythology saying:” As a spirit in heaven before taking a body, we each are given assignments tasks from our ancestors to achieve then we are sent to earth through selected parents. which leads to the chant – It is the errand of my ancestors that I run, or it is the path of my ancestors that I walk. Photos by Kayode Gbadebo and graphic design by Adam L. Turner

Part II
By Kayode
Gbadebo

According to historian John Ridpath, “Observers of traditional African culture, so inevitably influenced by Western style of thought and intellectual traditions, failed to understand and interpret the culture.”
This may be because, according to writer John Bascom. “The Yoruba way of life is traditional, dating back well before the period of European penetration.” This is also supported by Wole Soyinka’s “Cyclical reality of the Yoruba world-view.”
The Yoruba beliefs about health encompass the present as well as life after death.
They don’t just define health as the absence of disease, but rather, more expansively, health includes good luck, riches, protection against ill luck or attack.
Their prayer chant for many blessings embodies this sentiment: “Ire owo (wealth); Ire omo (Children); Ire aiku pari iwa (immortality, or afterlife is a continuation of life). Hence, a healthy man is favored by the spirits of the community ancestors Orisa and is a believer in Olodumare (Almighty God).
George Sarton maintains that, “There is no conflict between science and religion, but there may be deep conflict between science and theology.”
Archbishop Immanuel Milingo, addressing life after death and Africans endowed with powers said, “We are what we are because our society still has something special. We can speak with the dead, and a community may be guided in its endeavor to carry out a decision which affects the whole community. The traditional spiritual consultant speaks to the ancestors and other protective spirits, and they give answer.”
The Ori (head) is thought to be the origin of life. In this belief system death is not the end of life, and belief in reincarnation is linked to respect or veneration for one’s ancestors. Ancestors are considered to have enormous power to watch over the living. The Odu Ejiogbe verse states, “I have become Ose tree, I will no longer die. I have become 200 hills rolled into one, I am immovable.”
The Yorubas of South Western Nigerian presents the highest dizygotic(fraternal) twinning rate in the world, particularly in Oke Ogun (Iseyin) Oyo, Nigeria borne out of dietary factors of a species of yam grown locally containing oestrogenic (Nylander 1979). Therefore twins are believed to have supernatural powers bestowing health, happiness and posterity upon families with more permissive upbringing. The first twin is called Taiwo, regarded as junior who came to “taste life” and the second Kehinde, the eldest who “sent” the first so he/she can join him/her and are believed to share a combined soul.
Babalawo (priests) were usually consulted on the third day for the Akosejaye(the life script) to determine one’s mission on earth, to check if they have been here before and to seek taboos or possible mishaps in life.
It’s thought that when one dies, the life of the other would be disturbed and ere ibeji (the sacred image of twins) is usually carved and based on the immortality of the soul and reincarnation, which are both essential to the ibeji, Babalawo, may after interpretation of Ifa corpus( divine knowledge), commission an artist to carve a small wooden figure as a symbolic substitute for the deceased twin and if both twins died, two of these figures are made. The figures are washed, fed and clothed, and as in the Yoruba custom they say “dead Ibeji expenses,are expenses for the living.” The mother enjoys special privilege and dances with the effigies (representations of the persons) once a year while singing praise songs. It’s also important to conduct life gently that one may die a good death, that children lay hands over one’s body in burial. A popular Yoruba saying states that if we die young and a horse is killed in celebration of one’s life: it is better than dying old without people killing a chicken to celebrate.
It is believed every human soul will have a chance to return to earth in the body of a new born. From personal experience, I witnessed some of my siblings who died as young children returned with tattoos made on their bodies before interment by my mother. Odu Oturupon explained Yoruba belief in life after death, how the dead joined the ancestors to become dwellers of heaven (Ara Orun) and why Oyo Yoruba egungun is fully masked.

Oakland Post

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Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

7 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

12 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

1 year ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.