We would like to take the opportunity to wish those of you celebrating Kwanzaa a very happy holiday.
Kwanzaa which is being celebrated to honor the African heritage of African-American culture in the United States. For one week, many African-Americans across the country and around the world will enjoy the holiday by decorating their houses with colorful art, enjoying communal meals, and playing music that celebrate family ties, community bonds, and African-American culture with Africa.
Kwanzaa is rooted in the African principles of unity, self-determination, collective work, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. The words emanate from Swahili language of East, central and Southern Africa as shown here;
- Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
- Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
- Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ 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 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 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.
We believe that all Americans can relate to these traditions not only during this week, but every day throughout the year.
The identity of our county, state and our nation has been shaped by this pan-African culture.
When Kwanzaa was established in the US in 1966, in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, a celebration of this crucial aspect of our American culture was particularly important. It is just as important to rejoice in these traditions today as it was in 1966.
Happy Kwanzaa to you all!
Reform Sasscer Movement Secretariat for prince George’s County.