Saturday, December 5, the African American Studies and Cultural Diversity Committee here at Sinclair will be hosting the 26th Annual Pre-Kwanzaa Event in the Ponnie Kendall Student Activity Center in Building 8’s Lower Level from 5:00 p.m to 8:30 p.m. It is free admission and is open to the general public. It is an evening dedicated to culture, family and community and how to preserve them.
It will be an evening filled with family fun, culture and health in the community, and will have health promotion and business vendors present. There will be a featured Soul Food dinner (called a Karamu), and entertainment and activities for people of all ages. A host of entertainers, including the Kuumba Drama-Drum & Dance Company and Mira Raye Entertainment featuring the Rainmakers will be in attendance to perform. There is also to be a guest speaker at the event: Christopher D. Landrum, the minister at the Broadway Church of Christ.
For those who may be asking, “What is Kwanzaa and why is it important?”, here is your answer.
Kwanzaa, created by Maulana Karenga in 1965, is a week-long celebration held in the United States and other nations of the Western African diaspora in the Americas. It is a celebration that honors African heritage in African-American culture and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. Kwanzaa has seven core principles behind them, collectively given the name Nguzo Saba.
It is the first specifically African-American holiday ever conceived and was originally supposed to act as an oppositional alternative to Christmas, but this was later changed as Kwanzaa became more mainstream. Due to this, Kwanzaa began to be celebrated in addition to Christmas. The holiday itself has its roots in the black nationalist movements of the 1960s and was established in order to give African Americans a means to reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage by uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and Nguzo Saba.
Dr. Boktai Twe, Chair of the Psychology Department, is a proponent of racial socialization, or the “cultural orientation” of ethnic groups with their respective histories, customs and ideologies. By learning about their culture, Twe believes they will learn about themselves.
Pre-Kwanzaa and the celebration of Kwanzaa in Dayton can help serve to resocialize and remind the African American community of the traditional values of African American culture, according to Dr. Twe.
These values can get lost between the commoditization of Black Culture and the urban jungle of inner-cities, Twe believes.
“We have turned African American culture into a commodity. And often times, it is the worst aspect that has been commodified. When that is projected to the mainstream culture and to African Americans themselves, many of them believe that that is what the culture is. It perpetuates that [struggle].
“What Kwanzaa does, it reminds us all that there is more to African American culture than what you see on TV, what you see in a movie or hear on the radio,” Twe said.
Karenga established the seven principles called Nguzo Saba, stating it was a “communitarian African philosophy” and it consisted of “the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world.” These principles comprise the Kawaida, a Swahili term for tradition and reason. Each day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of these principles, as follows.
- Umoja (Unity) – To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
- Kujichaguila (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.
Key symbols of Kwanzaa include a decorative mat (called a mkeka) on which other symbols are placed: corn (Mahindi), and other crops, a candle holder kinara with seven candles (Mishumaa Saba), a communal cup for pouring libation, gifts, a poster of the seven principles, and a black, red and green flag. These symbols were designed to convey the seven principles.
Families celebrating Kwanzaa often decorate their homes with objects of art, colorful African cloth, such as, kente. Especially the wearing of kaftans by women, and fresh fruits that represent African idealism. It is customary to include children in the ceremonies and to show reverence to ancestors.
Libations are shared, generally with a communal chalice or cup passed around to all celebrants. The traditional greeting is “Joyous Kwanzaa.” Kwanzaa ceremonies typically include drumming and musical selections, libations, a reading of the African Pledge and the Principles of Blackness, reflection on the Pan-African colors, a discussion of the African principle of the day or a chapter in African history, a candle-lighting ritual, artistic performance, and finally a feast. The greeting for each day is “Habari Gani?” which in Swahili means “How are you?”
homes with objects of art, colorful African cloth, such as, kente. Especially the wearing of kaftans by women, and fresh fruits that represent African idealism. It is customary to include children in the ceremonies and to show reverence to ancestors.
Students interested in joining the African American Culture Club can contact Bolkai Twe at 937.512.2913 or by email at bolkai.twe@sinclair.edu or Bobby Beavers at 937.512.3032 or by email at bobby.beavers@sinclair.edu.
Barton Kleen
Managing Editor
Christopher Witt
Reporter