By Darrel Wheeler and Malachi Kudura, Contributing Writers
Earth Day celebrators converged on Balboa Park last Sunday, April 24th, to pay homage to the planet.
Covering a large spectrum of Earth’s issues, people chose the day to spread valuable information concerning Mother Earth, soak up some sunshine and promote peace, Children’s activities, food, dance-classes and much more kept the big park busy.
The Worldbeat Cultural Center was the musical hub for all things Afro-centric, featuring reggae music from local and nationally known recording artists. Worldbeat hosted its Annual Multicultural Earth Day Celebration Sunday afternoon. The smell of African food and the sounds of Reggae music filled the air. The sounds were provided by DJ Dub Carlos of Righteous Street Productions.
Along with the many vendors, was a Reggae concert that featured Andrew Bees (Black Uhuru), Intent (Steel Pulse), Rob Symeonn, Princess Akua and special guest speaker Yah’Ki Awakened, who gave a message of healing.
“When you live together on one accord, supporting one another, loving one another, embracing each other’s cultures, and recognizing we are all one people, that’s when The Most High God steps in and the great peace comes. The Worldbeat Center is a place where you can experience that and that’s why I’m here,” said Alice Smith-Cooper, a vendor at the event.
“It’s good to see us all together in a symbiotic relationship. It’s going to take these types of things to literally save Earth, to save our seeds, our soil, save our herbs, to start shopping organically and to start eating organically. To really have longevity for the future generations of our children to thrive and survive,” said guest speaker Yah’Ki Awakened.
“The Worldbeat Center is a consistent place and source of rich history and culture. For years this place has been a rallying place for our community and it’s very important we support the Worldbeat Center like it supports us,” said an attendee at the Earth Day Celebration.
The Worldbeat Center is a pillar of the community of San Diego and its founder and Executive Director, Makeda Makossa, at 80, does not appear to be slowing down.
Vendor booths were a very important component to the Balboa Park’s Earth Day landscape. Vendor Johnny Ray of UNIA-ACLRC 2020 had this to say about this year’s Earth Day experience:
“I think this a very important event with all this positivity going on. People sharing their information on healthy eating, how to grow food and how to take care of our earth. We only have one. This is a beautiful day.”
