DSA Night School - How to Rename a Monument

This one's very personal to me. 

Follow these instructions if you want to rename a monument yourself.

There is an extensive bibliography here. Check it out.

Thank you to DSA San Diego for allowing me to be the Education Secretary for 18 months. 

 

Professor Awoonor Has Been Killed

I can't believe this.

Ghanaians Mourn a Poet and Scholar Killed in Nairobi Mall Attack




It was a great honor for the poet and former UN Ambassador to speak to our small group of West Chester University students in 1995. He spent at least two hours talking to us about so many things about Ghana. When he signed his book for me, he asked me about my name, which means King. He noticed that my name was Scandinavian because it is spelled with a K. Most people with my name are spelled Eric, which has more of a German origin. This is so sad.

I have been seeing little things here and there about this attack in Nairobi. Unfortunately, I have limited internet access here in Wales. I hope I have paid proper tribute to him. I have always remembered him and will always remember him even more now. He was a tireless advocate for African people and for all people really. This will have shockwaves all through the African diaspora. Pay attention people.

Where I've Been

Listen to WNTI on Tomorrow Night

Cable Man Dan asked me to help him answer phones in the studio for WNTI public radio's fundraising drive.

Listen to WNTI- FM- Public Radio from Centenary College - Where Great Music Lives!

Cable Man Dan's show is the Reggae and World Rhythm Show.

91.9 FM in the Northwest New Jersey Area - or stream it online!

I hope to tell a story or two about my experiences in Ghana and Jamaica.

Give us a call - 908-852-4545!

Komfo Anokye Sword

When I was in Ghana, my brother Padmore showed us the Komfo Anokye Sword in Kumasi:

Komfo Anokye's Sword
Photo taken by Erik B. Anderson
Kumasi, Ghana, 1995

Read more about it from Ghana Expeditions.

Komfo Anokye Sword
Just behind the Okomfo Anokye Hospital, one will find the Okomfo Anokye Sword. It is named after a famous traditional priest who, in the 17th century, was said to have conjured the ""Golden Stool"" from the sky. Legend states that as high priest of the Akan kingdoms, he drove his sword into the ground with such force that it has remained there ever since, marking the site of the new imperial city, Kumasi, which unified the Akan kingdoms. The site is revered by all as a sacred shrine.

The unmovable Sword of the Komfo Anokye remains in the grounds of the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, where he pushed it. It is believed the Komfo pronounced that no one would be able to remove the sword, and so it has remained in spite of many attempts.

In October 2008, I sent a photo of the B. Bruce Anderson Memorial Flag to Governor Corzine. On the back of it, I wrote something like this:

October 2008

Dear Governor Corzine:

As long as the B. Bruce Anderson Memorial Flag remains in the Ground, our nation will remain strong!

Sincerely,

Erik B. Anderson
Independence Township, New Jersey
Established 1892

The B. Bruce Anderson Memorial Flag - Established 2006

Elminah Slave Castle - Ghana, 1995

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”

-Mark Twain

*******

*******

*******

*******

*******

*******

*******

*******

*******

*******

*******

 

*******

*******

Erik Visited Kwame Nkrumah's Tomb

Accra, Ghana, July 1995 - I went to Ghana with a group of college students and professors from West Chester and Temple Universities. The first place we went to was the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and Memorial Park.

It is designed to look like a tree stump to signify "The Big Tree Has Fallen." Big Tree is an affectionate term that Ghanaians use to call their leader.

Kwame Nkrumah was the first president of The Republic of Ghana, which is the first African country to obtain independence from one of it's European colonists in 1957. He wrote a lot of books about the struggle for independence. He used many of Mahatma Gandhi's techniques. Mostly forgotten in many parts of the West now, he was almost as influential as Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1950's and 1960's. It was a great honor to visit his mausoleum on the first day of our trip.

I would like to thank Dr. Nelson Keith of West Chester University, who was our Big Tree. I also want to thank my Nye Bro, Dr. Padmore E. Agbemebiese, the Chief of the Abor Village in the Volta Region of Ghana, for taking us there.

That whole trip was profoundly influential on me in my formative years. I promise to post more blogs about the Slave Castles, Mensah Village and other events in Kumasi, Accra, the Volta Region and elsewhere around Ghana.

Warm Regards,

Erik B. Anderson
The King of Funny Faces
Independence Township, New Jersey
Established 1782

Erik Met Kofi Awoonor - Poet, UN Ambassador

Formerly known as George Awoonor-Williams, Prof. Kofi Awoonor is one of the most celebrated Ghanaian and African writers. A poet, novelist and critic, Awoonor was born in 1935 and educated at the University of Ghana, the University of London, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he bagged a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature.

Former Chair of the Department of Comparative Literature at SUNY Stony Brook, and Head, Department of English and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Cape Coast, South Africa, he has served as Ghana’s ambassador to Brazil and Cuba and Ghana's representative at the United Nations. He was awarded the National Book Council Award for poetry in 1979.

MORE: Wikipedia

MORE: "What, then, is the way forward?"