After a fifteen year hiatus, Wilmington’s Afrikan Festival is back. This Saturday, August 1, residents can come out to the Kirkwood Street Park to enjoy food, live music and even free health assessments.
Two years ago, Wilmington city councilwoman Hanifa Shabazz asked the Centers for Disease Control to examine the city's high murder rate - which disproportionately affects men of color. The results of that study are expected at the end of this summer.
But in the meantime, Shabazz is reviving the Afrikan festival, because she says people in her community could use a little healing.
"Having a lack of knowledge of self or your contributions, it will make a person not value life," she says. "I had to take power just in my own hands and do what I know my community needs, and that is to feed them a large spoonful of their greatness, their contributions, and hopefully help them find their purpose."
Saturday’s activities are meant to showcase black American and African traditions.
Little girls will be invited to try out games of double dutch and hopscotch, games their mothers and grandmothers played years ago. Musicians like jazz trumpeter Tony Smith will perform free of charge, and there will be ceremonial celebrations from groups representing countries like Cameroon and Nigeria.
Resources will be made available for people in the community struggling with PTSD, which Shabazz says is a serious concern because the effects of gun violence have touched so many people. The league of black nurses will also be doing on-site blood pressure readings.
Shabazz says that fifteen years ago, the Afrikan festival was an institution that reminded young people of color that they came from a rich history.
She says she hopes this year will produce the same results.
"That’s why I feel it’s my antidote to address the suffering in the immediate community, and hopefully it will spread out across the country."
The festival runs from noon til dusk this Saturday in Wilmington.