On Friday, May 20, several friends reflected on the legacy of the uncompromising Brooklyn activist Sonny “Abubadika” Carson, in commemoration of his 93rd physicalday anniversary. Although he transitioned two decades ago, his influences while he was here on the physical plane have continuously influenced generations of African Americans while encouraging them to relearn their past heritage, and are still being felt today.
“One of the greatest accomplishments in Abubadika’s life is he took the Sankofa bird, which represents an African people who traveled from Africa who were free,” explains Carson’s comrade, Brother Ali Lamont Jr. “The bird is looking back towards its tail from where it came from.”
Throughout his life Carson advocated education and was a prominent force in the People’s Republic of Brooklyn contributing to the cultural, political and social climate there. He built alliances with many people from various aspects of society, from local activists and street youths to law enforcement, politicians, as well as scholars.
“That was a journey of Africans who came to the Americas, as a free people looking back to Africa,” Ali Lamont Jr. continued. “That’s why Sonny referred to the prophet Ezekiel when he said, ‘Can these bones live again down in the valley of the dry bones,’ which is America.”
As a primary force behind the community fight to preserve the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan over two decades ago, he inspired many to stand up and search for their stolen legacy. The power of public protests was a tactic he fully implemented and it almost always yielded encouraging results.
“Sonny Abubadika Carson’s dream was for us Black people to re-Africanize ourselves,” expressed his other close comrade, Brother Tarik Haskins. “Training ourselves to again think of ourselves as intelligent and courageous. As Africans, he no doubt wanted us to practice the old modeling way of raising children to ensure that we would forever live in peace. When we remember Abubadika we keep his dream alive and we stay on the road leading out of harm’s way and leading to forever peace.”