In the wake of the rising African Centered Movement
in America, it is important that every segment of the African Community
in America begin preparing for the Kwanzaa Season. It is estimated
that more than 30 million Africans in America participate in some
sort of Kwanzaa activity or event.
In order for this occurrence to continue, parents,
teachers, principles, ministers, business people, and community
activists must begin preparation immediately.
The first question, that obviously should be asked
in preparation for the 2006 Kwanzaa Season is: “What is Kwanzaa
and why is it so important for African people in America to celebrate?”
In 1966, the Black Power explosion shook up America.
The call for Black Power was a major shift away from the Civil Rights
Movement during that era, a movement that had successfully dismantled
the system of racial segregation (by law) in the southern region
of the United States. However, among the masses of Black people
in America, there was a deeper meaning to the idea of freedom, justice
and equality that had not been advocated by the Civil Rights Movement.
The call for Black Power by Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.,
Kwame Ture (a.k.a. Stokely Carmichael), and others, gave a new impetus
for the Black Liberation Movement in America.
When the smoke cleared from the Watts Rebellion in
1965, an organization emerged in the Los Angeles, California area,
called US. Its leader was Dr. Maulana Karenga. After intense study
of African cultural traditions, Dr. Karenga and the US Organization
established the only nationally celebrated, indigenous, non-heroic
Black Holiday in the United States and they called it Kwanzaa. The
concept of Kwanzaa was established for Africans in America and was
derived from the African custom of celebrating the harvest season.
In Dr. Karenga’s own words he says, “The
origin of Kwanzaa on the African continent are in the agricultural
celebrations called the ‘first fruits’ celebrations
and to a lesser degree the full or general harvest celebration.
It is from these first fruit celebrations that Kwanzaa gets its
name which comes from the Swahili phrase Matunda Ya Kwanza.”
Further, “...Matunda means fruits and ya Kwanza means first.
(The extra "a" at the end of Kwanzaa has become convention
as a result of a particular history).”
Kwanzaa is officially celebrated December 26th to
January 1st and each day a value of the Nguzo Saba (seven principles
of blackness) is celebrated. The Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles) are:
Umoja~ Unity - To strive for and maintain
unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
Kujichagulia ~ Self Determination - To
define ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves,
instead of being defined, named, created for, and spoken for by
others.
Ujima ~ Collective Work and Responsibility
- To build and maintain our community together, to make our sisters'
and brothers' problems our problems, and to solve them together.
Ujamaa ~ Cooperative Economics - To build
and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to
profit from them together.
Nia ~ Purpose - To make as our collective
vocation, the building and developing of our community in order
to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
Kuumba ~ Creativity - To do always as much
as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community
more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.
Imani ~ Faith - To believe with all our
hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders,
and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
Under the leadership of Zerrie Campbell, President of Malcolm X
College and Baba Hannibal Afrik, the Kwanzaa Celebration Committee,
over the past several years, has sponsored Kwanzaa Celebrations
and activities during the seven day observance. These celebrations
have drawn thousands of people and added to the growing Kwanzaa
movement in the Chicago area.
Kwanzaa is a step in helping African people in America
fulfill the desire to be a united people, with a common set of experiences
that lead us toward a common set of goals and objectives for freedom,
independence and liberation.
Conrad W. Worrill,
PhD, is the National Chairman of the National Black United Front
(NBUF). Worrill’s
World appears weekly in BC. Click
here to contact Dr. Worrill. |