Sankofa: The Genomic Journey Every Africana Person Must Take
Remembering who we are through ancestral memory, spiritual science, and radical self-healing that is Hoodoo.
I went to a talk commemorating Haile Gerima’s 32nd anniversary of his film Sankofa and he revealed a meaning of the film that I don't think I ever thought about — reconciling our relationship to our past not just on an intellectually historical level but on a spiritually genomic one as well. He stated that our problem as a people is that of unresolved historical trauma and that you can't sit with the ancestors until you reconcile your genomic memory. I would add that sitting with the ancestors is within itself a process of reconciling your genomic memory and becoming more intimate with the epigenetics of your bloodline. African Diasporic spiritual traditions were and continue to be the base of my studies, but specifically how these traditions were cultivated to heal, resist, and create liberatory spaces during times of heavy state-sanctioned violence. This research weighs heavy on my mind because I think this is the key to our individual and collective liberatory power.
So of course this research has continued more intimately these past 2 years, but specifically focusing on Hoodoo and on the process of healing intergenerational trauma in connection to the totality of African spiritual traditions. A process that requires nothing but constant reconciliation of historical trauma, genomic memory, and the habits they create. See, that's one side of African spiritual traditions we don't hear about. We don't hear that African-derived spiritual practices like Hoodoo are a form of indigenous technology that allows us to time travel and heal our genomic memory. We hear that it is superstition, harmful, and deviant to God, goodness, and even science, but Hoodoo is a science. Hoodoo in itself is a reflection and derivative of the Bakongo spiritual traditions and philosophies we know so little about.
I journeyed back to Hoodoo and through my shadow thoughts, habits, and fears over the years — I realized that a lot of it was never mine alone, but a layer of residue from colonization, others’ energy, the reality of who my parents were when I was conceived, and a culmination of what they could or may not work through in their life (my ancestors included). Many didn't have the opportunity to work through their pain; all they could offer was survival and strength. So that pain and power was transferred to me to reconcile — because they believed I could. A transference they believe many of us can.
I think that it's an honor to come to a place in my healing journey where I am well enough to not only venerate my ancestors but become stronger specifically to elevate them, and this has made me much more curious about the power that Hoodoo holds and what it teaches us about the spiritual science and technology we often overlook within the tradition. From the womb to the tomb, we are tethered to our ancestors. This is the reality of us — my story is not a special one but a continuation of a legacy. Because the reality is, no matter who or how you identify religiously, there is no denying that you are a culmination of the genomic matter and genomic memory of your parents and ancestors. We are spiritually and scientifically tethered to the land, our memories, our parents, our power, our pain, and our healing individually and collectively — we are one.
So where do you run when you realize old habits, patterns, and behaviors are in connection to larger battles for the healing of your bloodline? You run home. Home to self. Home to altar. Home to memory. Home to history. Home to God.
You retreat, divinely… But your understanding of each of these things makes all the difference. And this is why understanding our spiritual sciences and indigenous knowledge and philosophies is so important, because in circumstances where our pain forces us to retreat, the question becomes: do we have a spiritual practice that aligns with us? Are we running to spiritually stagnant comfortability or a liberatory practice rooted in reconciliation and renewal?
The reality is, many run away, mask, and choose to escape through addiction rather than deal with our trauma, and in turn try to shape the self into a colonial idea of what it means to be healed, human, and okay. But like many of us who practice and embody African spiritual traditions, our retreat is a process of reconciling ourselves and our historical trauma so we liberate ourselves — not mask or front. Coming to terms with how we truly feel, think, and see ourselves within the world in relation to our families and how that plays a huge role in how we can show up authentically in society. To reconcile is to restore a friendly relationship with something, with someone… and this is the basis of shadow work within the practice. Restoring a friendly relationship with you, your genomic memory, and your shadow self. You almost strip yourself bare so that all is left is the truth. Your most radically honest truth… where you explore how you truly feel and think about you and your life, and through that process you are often remedying yourself and engaging in self-healing and therapy. A concept that reigns supreme in Bakongo traditions, usually happening in community.
You are guided ancestrally to focus on self-healing and remembering your power. To go through a process of reconciliation is to go to therapy, and not in the traditional Western sense but communally. Through writing, through talking, through crying, through ritual, through prayer, through cleansing, through laughter, you find remedy, you find what the practice of Hoodoo is actually all about. You find what Bakongo healing and therapy is about, and it is through pure compassion and healing of your shadow that you are able to see it and know that you are more — because God didn't create you to suffer but to prevail. To remember who created you, the tools they left you, and the people you are a part of and who are a part of you. God leads us with that.
We get told so often we are cursed and we start to believe it. At one point I almost believed we were. And then my Godmother spoke to me and said, if we are cursed, how are we so blessed in that we have and continue to prevail? Cursed people don't prevail, they perish. My people have not perished. We have suffered, and we still do on many levels, but it is through the individual and collective genomic travel and the teachings of our spiritual traditions that we find ourselves again. We are favored, we are blessed, we are magic, and we are God personified — if we allow ourselves to travel genomically and reconcile our memories.