By Thomas Rayfiel
October 15, 2024
Maitefa Angaza, a journalist, activist, filmmaker and spiritual leader who co-founded the Coop’s Diversity & Equality Committee, died August 8, 2024. Maitefa joined the Coop in 1989. As Jasmina Nikolov, her friend and fellow committee member, recalls:
“The committee formed partially in response to a change that Black members of the Coop community had been feeling. As the neighborhood gentrified, the Coop had become less friendly to its Black and Brown members and more incidents occurred. Maitefa was one of those who felt the shift and wanted to bring about positive changes to ensure that all Coop members felt protected and included.”
Lewanika Senghor, former membership coordinator and liaison to the committee, praised Maitefa’s commitment to this mission. She did not live near the Coop. Despite pressing demands on her time at home, she would take a bus, then a train to attend meetings, supplying fellow members with vegan snacks such as Uncle Eddie’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cocomels. A consistent thread running through the reminiscences of those who knew her was Maitefa’s empathy and resourcefulness in solving the often difficult problems this committee was presented with. Senghor emphasized her strong desire to contribute to the community and “help the Coop become a better version of what it could be.”
Outside of the coop, Maitefa led an extraordinarily productive life writing for Essence Magazine, Black Issues Book Review, The Network Journal, The New York Amsterdam News, Nu Origins Magazine, and Black Star News, as well as serving as senior writer and copyeditor for Our Time Press. She also co-produced the documentary In Our Heads About Our Hair, in which Black women (and girls) talk about their hair and its relation to identity, politics and self-expression. In addition to her professional accomplishments, Maitefa was co-founder and one of the High Priestesses of Shrim Sa, an Afro-Kamitic spiritual organization. Kamta is a shamanic tradition based upon ancient Egyptian theology, Kongo-Angolan philosophy, Caribbean Spiritism and Afrikan American Spiritualism.
She is survived by her husband, Menshemsaqa Angaza; her brother, Bradley Barton; her sons, Osayande Angaza and Hemamset Angaza; and her grandchildren, Tuji Foxworth, Kayson Fox, Maati Angaza, Annura Angaza and Senmeri Angaza.
Maitefa was also an author. Of her book, Kwanzaa: From Holiday to Every Day, a reviewer for the African American Literature Book Club wrote: “Her aim is not only to encourage folks to observe Kwanzaa during the seven days of the holiday’s season, but also to inspire observers to keep it alive year-round by finding ways to put the seven principles (Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith) into practice on a daily basis,” principles Maitefa clearly embodied in her own life.
Member Thomas Rayfiel is the author of eight novels. He has also written “living obituaries” for VICE TV.