Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the history of slavery and anti-black racism and discrimination in the United States; the supposed "genocide against Africans" associated with historical slavery.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A political neologism coined in 1994 by Marimba Ani (Let the Circle Be Unbroken: The Implications of African Spirituality in the Diaspora). Adopted from the Swahili plural noun maafa meaning "disaster, misfortune". Coined as a "native" term for a genocide in imitation of the Hebrew-derived Shoah.

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Examples

  • "Maafa" - a Swahili word for "tragedy" - goes through several historical resources and highlights controversial quotes linking Charles Darwin's foundational evolution theory work,

    Booker Rising Shay Riley 2010

  • "Maafa" - a Swahili word for "tragedy" - goes through several historical resources and highlights controversial quotes linking Charles Darwin's foundational evolution theory work,

    Booker Rising 2010

  • This European holocaust against Afrika, called the Maafa by some Pan-Afrikanists, therefore claimed the lives of, at minimum, 48 million people, and ranks as one of the greatest crimes in human history, and also one of the most lucrative, since its profits financed the creation of the European and Euro-American empire.

    TONIGHT ON THE TERRORDOME: Francis Bok, Abolitionist: - Escape from Enslavement in Sudan 2008

  • This European holocaust against Afrika, called the Maafa by some Pan-Afrikanists, therefore claimed the lives of, at minimum, 48 million people, and ranks as one of the greatest crimes in human history, and also one of the most lucrative, since its profits financed the creation of the European and Euro-American empire.

    Archive 2008-01-01 2008

  • The word "Maafa" is a Swahili term to describe the period of black enslavement.

    AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed Michelle Goldberg 2010

  • Any one who can't see this should seek out Life Dynamics' DVD, Maafa, and see the horrendous scandal perpetrated by the Eugenics Society originally and carried out today by the agenda of Planned Parenthood.

    Billboard campaign sparks race debate 2010

  • I was unaware of the new popularity of this pseudo-historical argument -- that pro-abortion rights activists are doing the work of racists and eugenicists -- until I joined Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) last year for a partial screening of the documentary "Maafa 21" at last year's "Take America Back" conference in St. Louis.

    'Planned Parenthood's negro project is succeeding' 2010

  • Here's the trailer for "Maafa 21" to give an idea of what this is all about.

    'Planned Parenthood's negro project is succeeding' 2010

  • Perhaps what African Americans can do with the apology is take pride in knowing that we are the survivors of a great Maafa (Swahili for disaster or terrible occurrence) and despite the current challenges of racism today, we are not victims.

    Yvonne R. Davis: The US Senate Apologized for Slavery. But We Ain't Gettin' 40 Acres and a Mule! 2009

  • The Haiti child restavek indentured servant issue cannot be equated to the Maafa, to the Euro-American chattel slavery of the TransAtlantic nor the European

    The Slavery in Haiti the Media Won't Expose 2009

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