Kunta Kinte

A popular Annapolis public artwork - the dockside memorial honoring Alex Haley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Roots, and his African slave ancestor, Kunta Kinte - will have storm damage repaired with federal emergency management funds, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin announced yesterday. Cardin presented a check for $20,790 to city officials yesterday and said the funds would restore the memorial's four statues (including one of Haley reading), bronze plaques, a 14-foot compass rose and electrical lighting.

Although the drizzling rain fell throughout most of the day in Crownsville, the dreary weather did not dampen the spirits of hundreds who gathered yesterday for the annual Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival. The first day of the two-day festival drew thousands of people who danced and sang along with gospel music and rhythm and blues and dined on hot dogs, cheese steaks and barbecue sandwiches. The annual festival is held to celebrate black culture and to pay tribute to Kunta Kinte, the slave who was the central figure in the book and film Roots.

Kunta Kinte arrived in Annapolis aboard a trans-Atlantic slave ship more than 235 years ago. Visitors to the city can see his presence here today - in a memorial to him on the City Dock, in a festival in his honor, and in calls for understanding and reconciliation in his memory. The ancestor of author Alex Haley immortalized in Haley's Pulitzer Prize-winning book Roots is a part of the celebrated and sometimes ugly history of Anne Arundel County. But the community has embraced Kunta Kinte and his journey, hoping commemorations of the present will heal wounds of the past.

At the beginning of the 1977 miniseries Roots, the father of Kunta Kinte takes his baby out under the African sky and holds the infant high beneath a stunning canopy of stars. "Behold," he says, "the only thing greater than yourself." Last week, the terrible and wondrous swirl of clouds and winds and water called Hurricane Isabel forced us to behold the same thing - an acknowledgment of the superiority of nature. For almost all of human existence, this was a daily reality. It still is in many cultures.

The 20-foot lumberjack statue standing sentinel over the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds was wrapped in unusual new garb over the weekend -- brightly colored cloth with African patterns marking a new site for the 16th annual Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival. Construction at St. John's College in Annapolis forced the celebration of African-American, African and Caribbean cultures from its usual home on the campus, and farther from the Annapolis City Dock where the event's namesake, as chronicled by the late Alex Haley in his book Roots, was brought from Africa and sold as a slave in 1767.

Organizers expect heavy crowds to attend this weekend's Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival, which moves for the first time to the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds. The 16th annual festival - which highlights African, African-American and Afro-Caribbean culture - will be held from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. The festival has traditionally been held at St. John's College in Annapolis, but was moved this year because the college is building a new dormitory. It is also expected to be held at the fairgrounds next year.

AS PRESIDENT Bush winds up his five-nation tour of Africa, perhaps it's time to revisit that annoying question of whether he should have apologized for slavery. The president started off his tour in Senegal, where he visited the slave castle on Goree Island. Several newscasts quoted Bush when he called slavery a "sin," but added that he didn't issue a blanket apology for slavery. That apology has been a demand of some African-Americans for the past several years. Should Bush have apologized?

For the 15th year, Annapolis residents and others from around the region will gather in the name of a slave to celebrate African, African-American and Caribbean culture. The Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival - named for the slave-ancestor of Roots author Alex Haley who is believed to have arrived in Annapolis in 1767 - will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow near the water on the campus of St. John's College. "I think it is important that we know our descendants are still alive in spirit, and they have left a legacy for us to fulfill," said Renee Spears, co-chairwoman of the festival's entertainment committee.

Festivals Celebrating the legacy of Kunta Kinte Kunta Kinte, the slave immortalized by author Alex Haley in Roots, landed in Annapolis in September 1767. This weekend, celebrate Kunta Kinte's legacy, and the historic contributions of African-American, Caribbean and African cultures to this country at the 15th annual Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival at St. John's College, 60 College Ave. in Annapolis. Two stages will showcase African, Caribbean, calypso, R&B, doo-wop and jazz acts. Children can make crafts from beads, listen to stories and learn to dance and drum at the children's tent.