Do u think its a good idea to do dna test n then migration for the masses.

Yes!

In all honesty, yes!

African americans are quite talented but the effect of mental slavery still holds sway in many of them, especially in the area of expressing and utilizing their intelligence. I see many african americans, especially males, believe they are incapable of achieving great statuses in life through the use of their brains simply because they are black, which is as a result of lingering echoes racial superiority in America. Sports or music are the only roads to success in life, as viewed by many. I see racial tension between blacks and whites continuing for a very long time. Equally, the american educational system, which only showcases white achievement, is partly responsible for the mental slavery of many african americans. From childhood, black kids are exposed to brainwashing of only white achievers and very little or no black achievers, meanwhile the legacy of slavery is audaciously brandished against black kids in the form of so-called history with the purpose of ingraining in their mindset that their forefathers were slaves, which is an indirect pyschological means of mentally subjugating these black kids from their early years. These kids grow up with the lingering effects of such mental subjugation in their primal years. Equally, the media keeps portraying Africa to be some deserted jungle and desert which many african americans believe and are ashamed to associate themselves with.

During the first quarter of the slave trade era, the Irish (regarded as caucasians today) were sold massively as slaves to English men and women and sold off to the Americas. However, this is hardly taught in so-called american universities. That portion of history has totally been ignored and sidelined and it is almost as if it never existed. However, the entire slave history of african americans was properly packaged and thrown at there at blacks as a subtle reminder of a lower social class in the past.

Thus in that regard, I am in full support of a mass return of AAs to Africa, especially to a country carved out as their own. A country they could call their own.

Ideal but a tall dream. Stay back and fight one at a time. Victory is certain. After the Montgomery and civil liberty achiements, we need to up our games as a people, with black achievers forming a formidable scientific, sociopolitical or intellectual bloc, not neccesarily to compete with white attainments, but to be a breathtaking inspiration to the next black child, and to human community at large. Our history should not be predicated to slavery. My history told me we existed before slave trade. We were not created as slaves. It is people that made us slaves then, mortals like us with their own fears and aspirations. We were robbed and dealth with, but we fough and break free at last, free at last! Are we incapable of self re-invention? Time will tell, it has. Time is the revealer of all secrets.

NO! African Americans should stay in America and fight for equality and their Right.. white americans are not the natives of the Land and they dehumanized and abused your AA ancestors in the name of slavery..

Yes! Most defintely, but do not be deceived by those DNA kits non-sense, All Black people share the same DNA. The whole of the Sahara desert with all of the North-eastern African would be replenished (I wonder where all the missing lakes and river are going to, onething for sure is that they can't escape into space). However, Get your minds back and right.

To fight those white thing, Surprise them by changing your names fight, use a Black organisation agency (so that funds can go there), change your names. Africa would not accept you with them. Why? Because you went 500 years ago as Emeka Utubor, it is very nice if you come back as Haruna Ishola, or Koffi Ibang, or Eboka Ngungu or Shehu Muhammad or Tope Badimu/Badmus or Da-Silva(like the moors).

fightforchange1:
Do u think its a good idea to do dna test n then migration for the masses.

gatiano:
Yes! Most defintely, but do not be deceived by those DNA kits non-sense, All Black people share the same DNA. The whole of the Sahara desert with all of the North-eastern African would be replenished (I wonder where all the missing lakes and river are going to, onething for sure is that they can't escape into space). However, Get your minds back and right.

To fight those white thing, Surprise them by changing your names fight, use a Black organisation agency (so that funds can go there), change your names. Africa would not accept you with them. Why? Because you went 500 years ago as Emeka Utubor, it is very nice if you come back as Haruna Ishola, or Koffi Ibang, or Eboka Ngungu or Shehu Muhammad or Tope Badimu/Badmus or Da-Silva(like the moors).

I am in total agreement with you. I have always advocated for a name change for african americans as the first step in reclaiming their african heritage. African americans NEED to start rediscovering their african roots. They need to start reclaiming their african heritage. Like you said, they all left here as Emeka Utubor or Olawale Adeyemi and today are Jaquan Brown or LaShonda Carter, which are ancestrally inappropriate.

Americans of Italian ancestry whose acestors settled decades or centuries ago STILL bear Italian names, last names at least. Same for German, French, Spanish and Jewish Americans. Why do Black Americans have to be different? Only African Americans walk around bearing English names or so-called black names which have no meaning whatsoever.

I am thinking of founding a non-profit organization for Reclaiming African roots by African Americans specializing in helping millions of African Americans return to their African roots, which would offer paternal DNA testing services to determine tribal affiliation in Africa, and provide a huge database of African names to choose from to adopt as last names, as the first step in the reclamation process.

Migrate back?

The second biggest wrong that the Whites in America have done to the Blacks there is making them believe that they have no claims to America. You never hear White Americans talk about a Back-to-Europe Movement.

Acknowledge your African heritage, but understand that America is every bit yours as it is the whites'.

Radoillo:
Migrate back?

The second biggest wrong that the Whites in America have done to the Blacks there is making them believe that they have no claims to America. You never hear White Americans talk about a Back-to-Europe Movement.

Acknowledge your African heritage, but understand that America is every bit yours as it is the whites'.

Exactly! Become masters of where you were once slaves and helped build with strenuous labour

We can't affort to build miniature 'concentration camp'. We can orchestrate 'parochial unity' in form of technology transfer and landmark building(schools, monuments) and awards (humanity&science hall of fame for Africa). Mass exodus is impossible or useless: Has Libreville or freetown become like Lisbon or London? Lets try encourage mass movements that has worked, in economics, industry and social institutions and entertainments. Bigfrancis and Gatiano: 'historic cities' are also good, but it needs an economy to survive. Let them purchase d free zone on the bight of benin or in the hinterland, let them build us a Dubai, not a Callacuta for themselves as model city.

What makes you think that they are coming to Nigeria and other places in South of the Sahara? In about 40 years, We may be needing visa to go to the sahara(lol, real black sense don't require visa to go to the moon or any place in the world, All you need is to obey the laws and rules of the places).
There would be exodus from Nigeria too, Nigeria is a country to accommodate not more than 42 million people. The rest of Africa is very scanty. Metascientifically, or Spiritually, or Esoterically, Not all Nigerians are spiritually Nigerians. Due to the several wars going on all across Africa for decades, the children that are supposed to be born in all those places were all birth here in Nigeria.
That is why I have been saying and telling people remove the idea of tribe completely away from your thoughts and minds. There is no Igbo, Yoruba, Hutsi, Tutsi, Fulani, Ijaw, Hausa, Zulu etc, They are just languages that we adopted. My greatgreat grand father was not a Nigeria, He came from Mali, before him Sudan, On My Mother's side, They must have come up from the central Congo, into Cameroon, into Igbo, then later as Yoruba. Who am I? I am simply just a Blackman.
So a lot of Exoduses is going to take place either peacefully or otherwise. Our brothers and sisters from the america sub-continent from north canada down to the southern tip of south america are all coming back home. All of Africa including the whole of the arabia penisula and Israel is our home. somebody would have to move, either peacefully or by otherwise.


WARNING WARNING WARNING TO ALL AFRICANS ESPECIALLY NIGERIANS.

WE CANNOT WAIT ON THE GOVERNMENT TO COME CLEAN OUR SURROUNDINGS AND ENVIRONMENT. WE MUST CLEAN IT ALL UP BY OURSELVES IF WE INDEED DO LOVE OUR LIFE.
WHATEVER IT IS THAT IS SO IMPORTANT IS NOTHING WHEN YOUR LIFE IS LOST OR MOST OF YOUR PROPERTIES. CUT THE BUSHES AND THE GRASSES LOW TO AVOID REPTILES COMING INTO THE HOUSES, CLEAN OUT THE DRAINAGE SYSTEMS ALL OVER NIGERIA AND AFRICA, SPACE YOURSELVES, LET VENTILATIONS BE FREE, CLEAN THOSE GUTTERS, PUNISH THOSE WHO DIRTY AND DROP TRASH AROUND THE PLACE, IF POSSIBLE PASS A DEATH SENTENCE(HOPE IT WON'T GET TO THIS) SO OTHERS MAY LEARN, LIFE AND PROPERTY DEPENDS ON IT. NO HEEP/HIP OF DUMP IS TOO BIG FOR CLEANING, CLEAN THEM INTO A PLACE AND BOUND THEM THERE IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO ESCAPE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES (burning is one method). WATER CAN BE BOUGHT THE SAME WAY WE BUY SOFT DRINKS, BRING EMPTIED BOTTLE OF WATER TO GET OR BUY A NEW BOTTLED WATER.

FLOOD IS COMING, FLOOD IS COMING, IT IS COMING BIG. IT IS NOT TO KILL, INFACT NO LIFE MAY BE LOST OR PROPERTIES DAMAGED, IT IS GOING TO BE MAYBE TO CLEAN UP; BUT FLOOD IS COMING, IMAGINE THE RIVER NIGER BURSTING, THE BENUE RIVER, DELTA ETC. THEY WILL.

absoluteSuccess:
We can't affort to build miniature 'concentration camp'. We can orchestrate 'parochial unity' in form of technology transfer and landmark building(schools, monuments) and awards (humanity&science hall of fame for Africa). Mass exodus is impossible or useless: Has Libreville or freetown become like Lisbon or London? Lets try encourage mass movements that has worked, in economics, industry and social institutions and entertainments. Bigfrancis and Gatiano: 'historic cities' are also good, but it needs an economy to survive. Let them purchase d free zone on the bight of benin or in the hinterland, let them build us a Dubai, not a Callacuta for themselves as model city.

Radoillo:
Migrate back?
The second biggest wrong that the Whites in America have done to the Blacks there is making them believe that they have no claims to America. You never hear White Americans talk about a Back-to-Europe Movement.
Acknowledge your African heritage, but understand that America is every bit yours as it is the whites'.

I agree. Do you think the fight for racial equality is inappropriately placed today? We get to hear of some movements/uproar on racial inequality when some white guy and black guy is involved. Meanwhile the main issues killing the blacks in America is mostly poverty which in turn brings about black on black crime. Where is the uproar on that? Black Americans fought and still fight for civil rights, but you find out that other minority groups/ immigrants take advantage of these institutions of 'equality' and all the black american does is to keep on fighting for other people to benefit from.
It's ideal to have racial equality, but in a system where an Indian would rather hire an Indian, a White would hire White, a Jew a Jew, I believe black america needs to change its 'equality' strategy.

Stillfire:


I agree. Do you think the fight for racial equality is inappropriately placed today? We get to hear of some movements/uproar on racial inequality when some white guy and black guy is involved. Meanwhile the main issues killing the blacks in America is mostly poverty which in turn brings about black on black crime. Where is the uproar on that? Black Americans fought and still fight for civil rights, but you find out that other minority groups/ immigrants take advantage of these institutions of 'equality' and all the black american does is to keep on fighting for other people to benefit from.
It's ideal to have racial equality, but in a system where an Indian would rather hire an Indian, a White would hire White, a Jew a Jew, I believe black america needs to change its 'equality' strategy.

You are right. Black Americans are the reason there is equality in America today, which minorities and immigrants have continued to enjoy abundantly. Then some African migrants will come to US and look down on the very same black Americans they owe the equality status they enjoy.

African Americans sacrifice their lives in outright confrontation with the police and racial institutions in place here and there in the quest for equality, which often amounts them to arrests and some jail time. I call that sacrifice.

Looking at the history of America, America has been a government that only listens when there is violence and destruction of property. Every single landmark in the form of human rights in this country that has been achieved was achieved by some prior level of violence or protests. An example is the recent Baltimore city protests and rioting over the police killing of a young black male. Before he incident, hundreds of calls by the black community had been made to reduce the number of young black males killed by white police officers, yet nobody took that to be a serious issue until the killing of the young black male in Baltimore that sparked the heavy rioting, looting and burning of places in Baltimore and then the government knew the level of anger of the black community. Ever since, we have begun to see police officers involved in the shooting of black males getting indicted and indicted, unlike before when all that the police officer needed to claim was that he shot the black male in self-defense of his own life and he walks away scot-free without any form of investigation into the shooting. Until the Baltimore city rioting and protests, police officers, mostly white, were hardly indicted in shootings involving black males neither were investigations made into the incidents to determine if the police officer was wrong. Currently, shootings or brawls involving black people and white police officers are investigated thoroughly and police officers indicted appropriately. Many of the African Americans who sacrificed their lives to be involved in the Baltimore protest have been arrested and are currently in jail. They are heroes for they have achieved a monumental feat in the law system of America.

Now, African black males can walk freely on the streets of America without fear of being arrested (first assumed to be African American male) or harassed unduly. African males like me can benefit from the sacrifice and struggle of African Americans for the greater black people from the Caribbean and Africa etc.

Had I been here in the US just barely 50 years ago, maybe I would not have been admitted into the university that I am currently studying at for being black, maybe I would not have been granted my credit card application for being black, maybe I would not have been living in the neighbourhood where I am currently living at because the neighbours wouldn't want black people living around them, or maybe I would not have gotten my current job because the employer would tell it to my face that he would rather employ a non-black person.

Today, I barely know how it feels to be directly discriminated against in the face because of the sacrifice and efforts of African American ancestors who fought so that people like me in the future would have better lives than they had during their time.

African Americans are heroes.

Let's face fact and discards sentiments soaked in demented illusion. African Americans must stay put in America because it's their birth rights. They should not trade that for their heritage. A lot of them have changed their names to african names, but are still proudly african americans.

Direct migration is simply wishful thinking. We should be striving to promote african history from an african perspective. When african immigrants become naturalized citizens of America does that take away their heritage or lineage. Certainly NOT..! What is all this mass migration talk.. By migrating en mass they are equally playing into the hands of whitey. How can they mass migrate and forfeite the accomplishment of their ancestors... Tufiakwa.. The destiny of african americans lies in America. If they embrace their africans ancestry wholeheartedly that is extra bonus points.

First, I tend not to like the term African American cause there's no need of stressing Africa. America is one country formed by immigrants and I don't get to hear Caucasians for example being referred to as European Americans.

However, their destiny is in Africa. Eventually, every black man/woman will return to Africa from the various countries they've been sold to slavery and in captivity. When this will happen nobody know it, but it will.
Marcus Garvey saw the vision centuries ago. It's a question of WHEN not IF.

See Jesus Christ was a blackman at http://www.africason.com/2015/02/Jesus-is-black-man-according-to-bible.html

NB: More importantly, there's a video at the bottom of the page that explained real history of ancient blackman and how the return of all blacks will occur.

GooseBaba:
Let's face fact and discards sentiments soaked in demented illusion. African Americans must stay put in America because it's their birth rights. They should not trade that for their heritage. A lot of them have changed their names to african names, but are still proudly african americans.

Direct migration is simply wishful thinking. We should be striving to promote african history from an african perspective. When african immigrants become naturalized citizens of America does that take away their heritage or lineage. Certainly NOT..! What is all this mass migration talk.. By migrating en mass they are equally playing into the hands of whitey. How can they mass migrate and forfeite the accomplishment of their ancestors... Tufiakwa.. The destiny of african americans lies in America. If they embrace their africans ancestry wholeheartedly that is extra bonus points.

so true, I agree. Building their influence in America is the way forward for african americans

Capital NO!!, especially because this is what white American really want. America is an immigrants country and African American has contributed immensely to is development, its simply their birth right and they should not throw it away in the name of ancestry heritage. I believed a lot can be done though by the african america in identify with african in general apart from taking african names.....lol, for example there is a yearly ODUNDE festival tomorrow in Philadelphia which has been described as the largest African America street festival. This festival started about 40 years ago and it has been getting bigger ever since.

last year ODUNDE festival pictures

Odunde Festival, the nation's largest African-American street festival, has been getting bigger and bigger for decades. Now celebrating its 40th year, Odunde's day of arts, culture and family fun returns Sunday, June 14 to its traditional South Street West location.

The festival, a concept which came from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, includes a beautiful procession that walks from 23rd and South Street to the Schuylkill River with an offering for Oshun, the Yoruba goddess of the river. Sprawling out over 12 southwest Center City blocks, the rest of the day includes live entertainment on two stages and a marketplace with over 100 craft and food vendors from African nations, the Caribbean and Brazil.

The live entertainment features dance and music, including performances by the ODUNDE365 children's program, an open mic, PHILADANCO and the African Heritage Dancers. A group of hip-hop legends will close out the night in celebration of Odunde's big anniversary: Kurtis Blow, Chubb Rock, Special Ed and Kwame will all perform.

http://www.phillyvoice.com/nations-largest-african-american-street-fest/

more pictures and video....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwptjjyR5kw





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLhtwvvBmBU





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svW4PnJoQx0

onideinde o

Saworo dede Osun

Osun ki

eyin ipako re

rodorodo

iyare dobo

o daguntan.

Kara alata wa mo'ta

karaonide wamode,

peupeupeu

onide wa mode re.

Ore yeye o.

everybody loves Osun, we loved her as children too.

Beautiful pictures. That is the preparation of them coming back. Yes, they laboured there in the americas, infact, Black had always been there even before the indians, let alone the europeans. They would all have to come home first. Every Black person on earth will converge in the whole of Africa which include the middle-east which is infact Northeast Africa, it only got splitted in 1850. Europeans too would go back into europe, all of them. Every man unto his or her own.

It had already started.

Lushore1:
Capital NO!!, especially because this is what white American really want. America is an immigrants country and African American has contributed immensely to is development, its simply their birth right and they should not throw it away in the name of ancestry heritage. I believed a lot can be done though by the african america in identify with african in general apart from taking african names.....lol, for example there is a yearly ODUNDE festival tomorrow in Philadelphia which has been described as the largest African America street festival. This festival started about 40 years ago and it has been getting bigger ever since.

gatiano:
Beautiful pictures. That is the preparation of them coming back. Yes, they laboured there in the americas, infact, Black had always been there even before the indians, let alone the europeans. They would all have to come home first. Every Black person on earth will converge in the whole of Africa which include the middle-east which is infact Northeast Africa, it only got splitted in 1850. Europeans too would go back into europe, all of them. Every man unto his or her own.

It had already started.

Hahahha....very funny, you actually remind me of someone i know, anyway asking all black people in the whole world to move to Africa is just a fantasy that will never happens, having said that i know of many africa america and blacks in caribean that are currently in nigeria (south west) learning about yoruba religion/cultures.

xaxaxaxa, They will, to Yorubaland, Igboland, Fulaniland, Zululand, Tutsiland, Hutsiland etc. They will come home.

Lushore1:


Hahahha....very funny, you actually remind me of someone i know, anyway asking all black people in the whole world to move to Africa is just a fantasy that will never happens, having said that i know of many africa america and blacks in caribean that are currently in nigeria (south west) learning about yoruba religion/cultures.

gatiano:
xaxaxaxa, They will, to Yorubaland, Igboland, Fulaniland, Zululand, Tutsiland, Hutsiland etc. They will come home.

watch this video of two African America girls in Nigeria during their initiation as Orisha priestess


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqQFHmvMOUg

This initiation is just a Fraction "one one thousandth" of the usual one. A complete one is done just once in 1000 years, more than once would lead to physical death. There are 7 stages because 7 represent completion. 7 spectrum of light, 7 tones of sound etc. That means 7000 years. We actually did live up to 7000 years and more, and We will again. After the seven stages of ritual or initiation are complete, You are then A God(with a capital G or Goddess) All these initiation can only be done in Africa(include mideast, they are all black area). Africa is where the sun strikes, that causes the movement of the earth.

I also heard where it was stated that they were locked away for a while, Usually it is 40 days without food or water in a place called "Garden of Eden". It is actually the exam. once passed, celebration takes place.

That is why all Black people must come back home. Ile ni apoti wa.

Lushore1:



watch this video of two African America girls in Nigeria during their initiation as Orisha priestess


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqQFHmvMOUg

gatiano:
This initiation is just a Fraction "one one thousandth" of the usual one. A complete one is done just once in 1000 years, more than once would lead to physical death. There are 7 stages because 7 represent completion. 7 spectrum of light, 7 tones of sound etc. That means 7000 years. We actually did live up to 7000 years and more, and We will again. After the seven stages of ritual or initiation are complete, You are then A God(with a capital G or Goddess) All these initiation can only be done in Africa(include mideast, they are all black area). Africa is where the sun strikes, that causes the movement of the earth.

I also heard where it was stated that they were locked away for a while, Usually it is 40 days without food or water in a place called "Garden of Eden". It is actually the exam. once passed, celebration takes place.

That is why all Black people must come back home. Ile ni apoti wa.

Hahaha......Kilagbe, Kileju? Egbon Musiwa is that you?..lol

I am not he. However, You showed me a section of an initiation. I used it to explain further why all Black people on the planet will come back home to Blackland.

Cheikh Anta Diop once wrote that when Africans learn about their true history, they won't believe it, it will be too much. in the sense that, If we were so great of a people, how come we are what we are today? The answer is very long but can be simplified into two words which are learnt from a Brother here on nairaland, It is to "Observe and Experience".

Or was it the 7000 years that bothers you? If you eat good food and eat it accordingly, You'd live very long. There are no good foods now. they would be again.

Abeg brother, no need for arguments, When they come home, chase them back.

Lushore1:


Hahaha......Kilagbe, Kileju? Egbon Musiwa is that you?..lol

Lushore1:


Hahaha......Kilagbe, Kileju? Egbon Musiwa is that you?..lol

wat took you so long to realize?

Lushore1:
Capital NO!!, especially because this is what white American really want. America is an immigrants country and African American has contributed immensely to is development, its simply their birth right and they should not throw it away in the name of ancestry heritage. I believed a lot can be done though by the african america in identify with african in general apart from taking african names.....lol, for example there is a yearly ODUNDE festival tomorrow in Philadelphia which has been described as the largest African America street festival. This festival started about 40 years ago and it has been getting bigger ever since.

Actually there's every reason to keep your ancestral heritage. .. African Americans need to never forget their home, take regularly trips to the motherland but stay in America and do the black race proud

macof:

wat took you so long to realize?

I initial thought my drink was spiked.. because i read his quote about three times and i still did'nt get it. he is one of the reasons i still visit nairaland though....

macof:


Actually there's every reason to keep your ancestral heritage. .. African Americans need to never forget their home, take regularly trips to the motherland but stay in America and do the black race proud

Exactly! and i am glad Yoruba culture/religion is playing important role in this process.......

Ancient African Religion Finds Roots In America


In the suburbs of Seattle, an ancient West-African religion is gaining followers. Yoruba, from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, has been spreading across the U.S. for the last 50 years. The religion is particularly popular with African-Americans who find it offers a spiritual path and a deep sense of cultural belonging.

Looking For Answers

Wesley Hurt's Yoruba story begins the night he met his wife, Cheri Profit. It was nearly eight years ago, not long after a tour in Iraq. He had just gotten off for weekend release from an Army base in Tacoma, Wash.

Hurt was ready to go out and have a good time. He and some friends went to a club, where he saw Profit. She avoided him at first, but eventually he got her attention. Not long after their meeting, they were a couple.

They bonded quickly — over food, politics and religion. These two seekers were constantly rethinking their relationships to the divine.

"With my mother, we were Jehovah's Witness, we were Pentecostals, we were Baptists, we were Seventh-day Adventist," Profit says. "It did not work for me."

Hurt had been a Southern Baptist for most of his life.

"And a lot of things have brought me to try to find my spirit," he says. "So ... of course, you start off in church asking questions, and, you know, I didn't get the answers that I wanted."

So Hurt, a 32-year old Atlanta native, started exploring — first Judaism, then Islam. He was looking for something that spoke to his spirit and to his blackness. About two years ago, he found a home in one of Yoruba's esoteric branches, called Ifa.

"What brought me to Ifa is that how close this tradition is linked to us as African-Americans in this country," he says.

This feeling is familiar to many black Americans who practice Yoruba today, just as it did with those who have been practicing for years. In New York City in the 1950s, African-American Yoruba communities began to grow alongside a surging black nationalist movement.

For several decades, the religious tradition spread down the East Coast and westward, to Chicago, to Oakland and Los Angeles — and to the Seattle area, where Hurt met an Ifa priest named Ifagbemi.

Entering A 'Sacred Relationship'

At a recent gathering, Hurt, Profit and a group of about a dozen other believers worshiped in a circle on the carpeted floor in Ifagbemi's bare dining room. The priest sat with them, shifting between English and the Yoruba language as he lead them through an Ifa ritual.

Ifagbemi's path has been a lot like Hurt and Profit's: a black American, born in Topeka, raised in a Christian home. He embraced Ifa as a young adult and later initiated into the priesthood. For nearly four years, he has headed this small group of devotees.

"When you enter into this stuff, you're enter into a sacred relationship with people that you're working with," Ifagbemi says. "I think it's a privilege."

He runs the group mostly from his apartment, where he has converted one of the carpeted bedrooms into a sacred space full of shrines to the gods of Yoruba's pantheon, spirits called "orisa."

There's a long table covered with pure white cloth and spread with sliced watermelon, bananas and gin — gifts to the divine.

Along with a life of worship, Ifagbemi says part of his job as a full-time priest is to help people adapt this ancient religion to a modern, American reality.

"We're not African anymore," he says. "I need to sort of emphasize to a lot of African-Americans that yes, this is an African tradition, yes, we want to connect with our roots and whatever else. But our roots are here, too."

It's a lesson he's been impressing on Hurt and Profit. Ifa's tenets resonate with them: good character, respect for elders. Plus, there's an element of homecoming in the ways this African faith speaks to them as black people.

But it was different for Profit in the early days, when her husband introduced her to Ifa. "Initially — I'm not gonna lie — I was a little hesitant at first," she says. "It was just the general notion, you know, you shouldn't do that."

With Yoruba's shrines and statues and worshipers going into trance states, some newcomers admit that the African traditions might disturb the folks at church back home.

What helped calm Profit's worries was a ceremony where the faith came alive for her.

"They had the drums going, and the ladies were up dancing, and after a while, I was, 'Hey!' 'Cause I was feeling it! I got up, I danced, I was dancing — me and the other women, and it felt good," she says. "I've never experienced that in church, and I've been to church many, many times."

'Finding Myself'

Tracey Hucks, chairwoman of the religion department at Haverford College, says, "for so many African-Americans, this tradition has been a space of freedom and a space of home."

She says blacks in America have been drawn to Yoruba for more than a half-century because it offers them an ancient spiritual heritage, one that predates slavery in the United States. At the same time, she adds, it helps them affirm their racial identities in this new world.

"And it also allows them to be able to affirm their black physicality, in a place that has said that, 'You represent anti-beauty in this culture,' " she says. "It is this religion that comes and says, 'No, you look like the gods of Africa.' "

Doing rituals for those gods, dancing for them, and finding fellowship with her community, Profit says Ifa just feels right to her.

"It like it gives you a sense of purpose, and when you feel that, there's no other feeling like that, I feel like, in the world," she says. "When you feel that, you know."

Her husband, who had been searching for years for spiritual answers, has found his place, too.

"First, I was looking for God, but then I started finding myself," Hurt explains. "And in finding myself, I started bettering myself."

Ifagbemi's congregants, seated together in the priest's apartment for an intimate ritual, are all on paths a lot like Hurt's. They're trusting Ifagbemi as their guide.

To close the ceremony, he shakes a rattle and calls, and everyone responds with Yoruba's most ubiquitous blessing: ase. It's like saying "amen."

For the young couple with ties down South, for the Ifa priest from Kansas and for his small flock near Seattle — so far away from Ifa's West-African roots — this old tradition has given its followers a new home.

Funding for this story came from a Knight Grant for Reporting on Religion and American Public Life, a program of the University of Southern California.

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/25/215298340/ancient-african-religion-finds-roots-in-america