Orrin Williams will look at Sankofa—translated as “it is not bad to go back for that which you have forgotten” or “looking back to move forward”—as the framework for applying African cultural and spiritual antecedents to community and economic development initiatives. Those cultural and spiritual antecedents are grounded in reverence and respect for our ecological support systems that all beings rely upon for life. Those antecedents have been transmitted to and survived throughout the diaspora and will be useful as we forge a future that respects all life.

Orrin Williams is the director of the Center for Urban Transformation.