A going home service was conducted Wednesday, Nov. 16, at New Rochelle’s Barney T. McClanahan Funeral Home celebrating the influential life of urban educator, Sekou Fortune Allah, 75. After a prolonged illness he transitioned to the ancestors Nov. 7 during his rest. While learning at the feet of some prominent African scholar warriors, he devoted his life to sharing that reinvigorating info.
“Sekou wasn’t just a guy that sold things in the streets. Before there was an internet, social media, there was Sekou. All the [Black cultural info online] now, we were getting from him,” noted Professor James Small. “He took the knowledge that was only heard by a hundred people, and shared it with a hundred-thousand.”
As a street vendor since the mid-1980s, Sekou was a conduit between the refined halls of academia and the gritty streets of the ghetto, providing empowering African-centered education via books and videos. He was primarily on Central Harlem’s 125th Street. In fact, his table was known as “Harlem’s U.C.L.A., the University on the Corner of Lenox Ave.” where noted educators like Dr. Ben and Dr. Marimba Ani often stopped by and engaged those present in spirited conversations regarding the Motherland.
“This is serious business [informing people], and time. He didn’t play. He was there,” Dr. Leonard Jeffries opened the event, prior to explaining how Sekou was consistently present at the First World Alliance, United Afrikan Movement and similar educational platforms. “Brother we’re going to miss you, but you will always be here, and you were there with the big-time folks. Wakanda forever! Blueprint for Black Power!”
Then Prof. Small thanked “Sekou’s beautiful family for sending us this god. He did his work and never gave up.” Small then expressed, “We come to say a temporary goodbye to an extraordinary spirit,” and described him as “having this vast intelligence of African history and culture, and love for African people and teaching.”
He then read a passage from “The Book of the Dialog of the Soul,” relaying the process of transitioning to the ancestral realm.
Sekou’s good friend Brother Ativa played musical tributes. “He helped us connect the dots.”
Several friends described Sekou as a “man of integrity” and recalled establishing study groups and visiting Africa together.
Trust Allah described Sekou as “one of the best friends I’ve ever had,” and said, “Our thirst for knowledge bonded us. There’s no other wealth you can give other than knowledge of self, and he did that.”
Some recalled the profound influence he had on them. The Sons of Africa’s Reggie Mabry stated: “A tall, tall tree in the African forest has fallen. All his life he planted seeds, and we are some of those seeds; seeds give fruit, and life continues.”
Reggie also noted how Sekou assisted Dr. Ben in his last days.
Ron Campbell traced his friendship with “Alvarez” to 1973 at SUNY New Paltz: “I saw his conscious development from an African perspective. He was a principled brother. It was his African consciousness that led him to want to help people.”
Small then anointed his former pupil: “Sekou would qualify, if this was ancient Egypt, to be in line with the ones we call the pharaohs, to have his mouth opened so he can speak for eternity. I’m going to give him all the degrees he should’ve had. So I quietly have given him his Master’s Degree. What Sekou tried to do is use history to erase the mystery. Each one of us is an expression of an aspect of the divine essence having the human experience. Sekou taught it because he understood it.”
Some relatives were present including his sister, Debbie and niece Japera. A Harlem memorial took place Saturday, Dec. 3, at 3 p.m., at the Allah School In Mecca, 2122 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. Peace 7!
Thank you Lord, for Bro Sekou!
Free all political prisoners NOW! LA LUTA CONTINUA! FIGHT, WE ARE RIGHT!
Free all political prisoners NOW!
Thank you for covering the memorial to our Brother, friend and Djeli (erroneously dubbed as Griot in the French tradition). Sekou was a researcher and teacher who exalted in sharing his knowledge with those with an ear to heart. We will miss seeing him on 125th street. He was a staple of Harlem and it will not be the same without his physical presence but we take comfort in knowing his essence has not died, but transformed into an even more powerful form as an Ancestor, that we can call on to help us in our struggle to free the African Mind!