African Burial Ground Trip

The African Burial wasn’t what I expected but was more impactful because of that. I was expecting something like a cemetery that had military guards and a somber environment. That was nothing of the case. It was a relatively small ode and section of the City in comparison to the giant skyscrapers. The fact that I didn’t have a good night’s sleep accompanied by the cold weather made me feel like the trip was in lack of a better word “the L”. However, when Dr. Carr took off his hoodie proclaiming its not cold ad began his libation series it immediately gained my attention. I too no longer felt cold. Moving my body I attempted to gain a better view of Dr. Carr performance. His voice was powerful and sorrowful at the same time. It compelled my soul and connected me to my African ancestors. Last year I saw the video of Dr. Carr giving libations at the burial ground but it wasn’t anything in comparison to being there in person.

As the day went on a man began to speak to us about how the Burial ground was established. This man was white and I was turned off at first by his usage of the terms we, us, and our. Then I heard it in his voice. His skin might have been white but his mind was black. He understood our struggle and as I listened to his voice I heard our paradigms. One of the most interesting elements of the burial ground was the African symbols. I was exposed to a different Sankofa symbol. I was always familiar with the one of the bird but never seen the heart shaped one before. All of the other symbols present were also informative and impacting. Some of them I knew and some I didn’t. I realized the advance nature of our symbols and technology. Overall, the burial ground trip was an amazing experience that was even worth waking up at 5:30 am.

By Stanford Fraser