Maya McFadden Photos
Eleanor Bumpurs pictured on altar.
Hanifa Nayo Washington: “Pray for protection, peace, healing, joy.”
A Juneteenth celebration in Dixwell centered on the lost lives of Black women — 10 of whom were pictured in a new community altar built outside of the Goffe Street Armory.
The community-built altar was filled with fresh fruits, sage, herbs, incense, honeycombs, seashells, flowers, and jewelry made by community members.
The Friday afternoon gathering to build the altar, heal as a community, and show gratitude towards the nation’s Black ancestors was a collaborative effort led by CT Core and One Village Healing in solidarity with the Black Feminist Future campaign.
Healing, restoration, and grounding were the three tasks at hand for the Dixwell crowd.
As the event began, a police patrol car parked in front of the gathering site on Goffe Street.
Camelle Scott, executive director of CT Core-Organize Now!, took the microphone and announced to the crowd that the presence of the police was not requested or welcomed.
“Who keeps us safe?” asked Scott.
“We keep us safe!” the crowd chanted in response.
Community members healed, sang, and danced under the words “I will continue to fight” on the iMatter poster of Benjamin Brown on the Goffe Street Armory across from the Goffe Street Park.
Many wore white along with face coverings.
Ashley Blount, co-deputy director of CT Core-Organize Now!, said the group selected 290 Goffe St. after multiple people pointed that location out to the planning team when asked: “Where in communities would you like to see more funds go to?”
Blount said the currently unoccupied armory could be invested in to better the community if the New Haven Police Department (NHPD) were defunded and those funds were put into the community. Suggestions like turning the armory into a school, community center, or library were yelled out from crowd members.
The crowd then divided. The Black women were called to the front standing in two lines while the remaining crowd filed in behind them. The community was led by Thema Haida, co-founder of One Village Healing, in a guided meditation and breathwork.
As the visitors took deep breaths they placed their hands over their hearts and looked up at the sky.
The Black women then turned to face the crowd of allies. “See us. Honor us. Listen to us,” said Hanifa Nayo Washington, principal and co-founding practitioner of One Village Healing.
Washington asked the community members to pray for the Black women in front of them and all over the world. “Pray for their protection, peace, healing, and joy,” she said.
Washington advised the Black women looking out to the crowd to open their hearts to receive the love and recognition.
Offerings
Aly Maderson Quinlog.
Essex resident Aly Maderson Quinlog joined the altar-building gathering and placed their offering of fresh healing herbs such as mullein, rosemary, elderberry, lavender, and chamomile from their home garden on the altar.
Maderson Quinlog placed their offerings on a homemade cyanotype cloth they made today. Along with the herbs Maderson Quinlog offered beeswax and honey from their backyard beehive and three candles.
On the tag of the cloth, Maderson Quinlog printed the Gaelic phrase “sen sao breatha,” which they translated to “shroud of sorrow.” Maderson Quinlog is a nonbinary art activist and educator most often inspired by the work of Audre Lorde.
Chad Browne-Springer.
Chad Browne-Springer performed a special musical offering with his acoustic guitar. Browne-Springer played an original song called “Kin” about growing up learning about his heritage from his parents. Browne-Springer wrote the song only two weeks ago about his strict mother and quiet father.
“Can’t go on and not even try to make my way from the dark times to better days,” he sang.
Hanifa Nayo Washington: “Pray for protection, peace, healing, joy.”
Washington sang the song “Sweet Revolution,” from her album Mantras for the Revolution with the crowd.
“Find your center and receive the words,” she said to the crowd facing her with hands over their hearts.
The crowd joined in the song with singing, “In one revolution around the sun… In one revolution around the sun… In this revolution around the sun, breathe in, breathe out, speak truth.”
Washington offered the altar with a grapefruit, candles, and water from the West River to represent the spirit of New Haven.
“It’s necessary in times like this to add a space that is focused on healing,” said Washington.
Along with the community offerings, the altar had a three-page long list of women who were killed by police or in jail, and a red, black, and green Pan-African flag.
Taylor Barrow.
Former New Haven resident Taylor Barrow, 26, used to work with the Bridgeport CT Core chapter.
Since the death of George Floyd sparked the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, Barrow said she has selectively attended events led by Black women and focusing on joy and healing.
Days before the gathering Barrow had many ideas for items to offer at the altar but forgot them at home the day of. Instead, Barrow offered up a pendant from her grandfather she had been keeping in her wallet. Before breaking off its chain, the pendant sat above Barrow’s heart daily, engraved with her name.
“I felt like that’s why I have been keeping it so I could give a piece of myself to the altar today,” she said.
Additionally, Barrow signed a poster board that was placed in front of the altar at the end of the gathering as the crowd began to disperse. On it, she wrote a message to her ancestors thanking them for their guidance in her hobby of cooking. “I know just the right amount of seasoning because of you,” she wrote.
“Thank you for allowing me to be a vessel for truth, love, and aliveness. I will always live your wildest dreams. Ashe, Ashe, Ashe,” read another poster note beside Barrows.
Neighbors stopped by in cars, on bike and foot to watch or join in on the healing and restoration.
“This is a reminder that we’re [Black people] worthy of healing,” Haida said.
Organizers Scott, Blount, Raven Blake, Haida, Washington, Jasmin Honegan, and Saron Garnes spoke out in agreement that the New Haven Police Department should be defunded and eventually abolished, along with modern-day prisons.
Jasmin Honegan.
As Honegan read the names of a dozen women unjustly killed, the audience repeated the names out loud after her.
Poems, songs, pictures, flags, and money were amongst other offerings left at the altar. Victims like Eleanor Bumpurs (1984), Claudia da Silva Ferreira (2014), Breonna Taylor (2020), Atatiana Jefferson (2019), and Deborah Danner (2016) were pictured on the altar among other faces on the list.
Just before the gathering came to an end, the community created a dance circle for dance offerings to the beat of the drummers.
Seny Camara, a member of the New Haven School of African Drumming and the band known as Lost Tribe, played the drums with one bandmate and a few members of the Healing Drum Society. On three Afro-Cuban drums, Eric Rey, Brian Jarawa Gray, and Rafael Ramos drummed Afro-Cuban, bomba, and African style beats.
Camara brought his Nigerian style drum into the center of the dance circle to intimately beat along with the dancers.
Robin Ellington, a former dancer, couldn’t help but join in along with Zakiyyah Muhammad, a Hamden resident. Muhammad said the event left her feeling uplifted. “I didn’t know it but I needed this release today,” said Muhammad who also offered up sage at the altar.
Elethu-Itaemba Rich.
Musical artist Thabisa and her 12-year old daughter Elethu-lthemba Rich also danced with the beating drum as a dance offering.
The altar was moved from the front of the Armory to the grassy gated area to the side of the Armory’s entrance. It will remain up until Saturday, said organizers.
So glad that Eleanor Bumpers is being remembered by more folks. Thank you...I always mention her. I attended her funeral...will always remember...let us remember Yvonne Smallwood, also...1987, another fellow Bronxite... The list is long y'all...the pain still throbbing...the list is long...just have to name Ashanti Nicholas Bartlett, same year. Harlem vendor...I see New Yorkers are making themselves more visible in New Haven now...we know the history...we lived it...two thousand seasons... continue the good work...Keep the story alive...Let the circle be unbroken...Ashe...