‘Ubuntu’, one of Ricafrica’s values, describes the communal and interconnected quality of African culture. Ubuntu has its roots in the Zulu phrase, ‘Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu’, which literally translates to, ‘a person is a person through another person’. It is also often translated as ‘I am because we are’ or ‘humanity towards others’. Former Archbishop and Nobel laureate, Desmond Tutu further explains that, “Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness.”
Black History Month is Ubuntu in action. During this month, February, we are cognizant of the presence of our Black/African American brothers and sisters in our existence. The impact of Black American infamous figures, such as Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks, to less known greats like Claudette Colvin and the Quakers, as well as, creatives such as James Baldwin, Esther Jones and Madame CJ Walker, echo through time and space. We recognize that the world, not just the United States, is a better place because of them.
Ricafrica gives thanks to Black America for the struggles they have fought that benefit us today. We celebrate their accomplishments and continue to be inspired by their tenacity and creativity. We affirm that we are because they are.
Follow us on social media @realricafrica to check out our visual Black History Month campaign.
“A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu