8/13/2019 Get Ready for Kwanzaa

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Get Ready For Kwanzaa

"The concept of Kwanzaa was establishedfor Africans in America and was derived

from the African custom of celebratingthe harvest season."

In the wake of the rising African Centered Movement in America, it isimportant that every segment of the African Community in Americabegin preparing for the Kwanzaa Season. It is estimated that morethan 30 million Africans in America participate in some sort ofKwanzaa activity or event.

In order for this occurrence to continue, parents, teachers, principles,

ministers, business people, and community activists must beginpreparation immediately.

The first question, that obviously should be asked in preparation forthe 2013 Kwanzaa Season is: “What is Kwanzaa and why is it soimportant for African people in America to celebrate?”

In 1966, the Black Power explosion shook up America. The call forBlack Power was a major shift away from the Civil Rights Movement,during that era. A movement that had successfully dismantled thesystem of racial segregation (by law) in the southern region of the

United States.However, among the masses of Black people in America, there was adeeper meaning to the idea of freedom, justice and equality that hadnot been advocated by the Civil Rights Movement. The call for BlackPower by Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Kwame Ture(a.k.a. Stokely Carmichael), and others, gave a new impetus for theBlack Liberation Movement in America.

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When the smoke cleared from the Watts Rebellion in 1965, anorganization emerged in the Los Angeles, California area, called US.Its leader was Dr. Maulana Karenga. After intense study of Africancultural traditions, Dr. Karenga and the US Organization established

the only nationally celebrated, indigenous, non-heroic Black Holiday inthe United States and they called it Kwanzaa .

The concept of Kwanzaa was established for Africans in America andwas derived from the African custom of celebrating the harvestseason.

In Dr. Karenga‟s own words he says, “The origin of Kwanzaa on the African continent are in the agricultural celebrations called the „firstfruits‟ celebrations and to a lesser degree the full or general harvestcelebration. 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. (Theextra "a" at the end of Kwanzaa has become convention as a result ofa particular history).”

Kwanzaa is officially celebrated December 26th to January 1st andeach day a value of the Nguzo Saba (seven principles of blackness) iscelebrated. The Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles) are:

Umoja~ Unity

To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, andrace.

Kujichagulia ~ Self Determination To define ourselves, create forourselves, 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 sistersand brothers problems our problems, and to solve them together.

Ujamaa ~ Cooperative Economics To build and maintain our ownstores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia ~ Purpose To make as our collective vocation the building anddeveloping of our community in order to restore our people to theirtraditional greatness.

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Kuumba ~ Creativity To do always as much as we can, in the way wecan in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficialthan 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 ourstruggle.

With the assistance of Malcolm X College, the Kwanzaa CelebrationCommittee, over the past several years, has sponsored KwanzaaCelebrations and activities during the seven day observance. Thesecelebrations have drawn thousands of people and added to thegrowing Kwanzaa Movement in the Chicago area. KwanzaaCelebrations are held throughout the United States and the AfricanDiaspora.

Kwanzaa is a way to help African people in America fulfill the needand desire to be a united people, with a common set of experiencesthat lead us toward a common set of goals and objectives for freedom,independence, and liberation.B l a c k C o m m e n t a t o r. c o m C olumnist, Conrad W. Worrill, PhD, is the National ChairmanEmeritus of the National Black United Front ( NBUF ).