Kamua Khalfani

Kamau Khalfani, a Paterson community activist and an advocate for black history education, died Feb. 2. He was 50.

The cause was a heart attack, his family said.

Three days before his death, Mr. Khalfani was honored as a Paterson icon by Jump Start Community Training, a city-sponsored organization.

Paterson leaders knew Mr. Khalfani as a community educator, albeit one not employed by the schools.

"He was like a street-corner preacher, sharing his knowledge with kids in the parks and in community programs," said Mr. Khalfani's City Council representative, Vera Ames-Garnes of the 4th Ward.

"He kept the stories about our ancestors alive in the minds of our children."

Mr. Khalfani, born Kevin Lamont Lawrence, served many roles in Paterson. He lectured. He presented in the schools. He worked as a labor union organizer. He led the Paterson Kwanzaa Committee. According to news accounts, he helped quell unrest in 1995 after an unarmed black teenager, Lawrence Meyers, was fatally shot by a white housing police officer during a drug bust.

"Kamau stood beside me as we made peace when the young people were up in arms," Ames-Garnes said, referring to the aftermath of the shooting.

Mr. Khalfani also was producer and host of "Under the Learning Tree," a public affairs program on radio station WBAI in New York.

In a 2001 interview with the Herald News, Mr. Khalfani described his road to becoming a community activist. He said that when he was named co-chairman of the black student union at Passaic County Community College, he was reluctant to accept the post because he "didn't know anything about black people."

He responded by tutoring himself in black history and culture, studying at the Paterson Free Public Library and Harlem's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

"I was really beginning to develop this anger," he told the newspaper. "I was looking at aspects of black culture that I'd never been taught."

It was during this time, he said, that he chose an African name meaning "quiet warrior, destined to rule."

Ames-Garnes, in fact, said Thursday that Mr. Khalfani "was one of the last warriors & He believed in the concept of a community as village. He had a dedication and commitment to our community and our people."

Mr. Khalfani was the caregiver for his mother, Alma Lawrence.

Referring to her son's WBAI radio program, Alma Lawrence said, "Kamau was like a learning tree himself. He was the type who could not learn enough, and wanted others to learn as well. Basically, he wanted the young |to learn about their elders |and about their culture. He felt the schools were not doing enough."

In addition to his mother, Mr. Khalfani is survived by a son, Kamau Jr., four brothers and four sisters.

Visiting will be Sunday from 3 to 7 p.m. at Community Baptist Church of Love, Paterson. The funeral will be held Monday at 10 a.m. at the church.

Arrangements are by Cushnie-Houston Funeral Home, East Orange.