Celebrating Kwanzaa in difficult and demanding times
23rd December 2024 · 0 Comments
In 1966, Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, an activist and professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, created Kwanzaa. It was during the middle of the Black Freedom Movement, the Black Arts Movement and the Black Power Movement.
As we embark on Kwanzaa’s 58th anniversary, the celebration is needed more than ever. The theme and message for this year’s Kwanzaa celebration strike at the heart of African-American life and cut as deep as the laser-light efforts of some striving to put African Americans back into figurative chains and intellectual and economic despair.
This is not hyperbole. The attacks are on “wokeness” and being carried out through the lifting up of states’ rights by the U.S. Supreme Court, the legislation coming out of state trying to strip away powers from the executive branches of state government, the abolishment of the education department and its funding, and casting a shadow of the impending doom over all non-rich Americans, especially African Americans, as the heavy hammer of injustice falls upon their communities in the next presidential term.
Dr. Karenga is woke to the challenges facing families, communities and the cultural manifestations of African Americans and Pan Africans. In the effort to reflect the best of African thought and practice, reaffirm the dignity of the human person in community and culture, foster the well-being of family and community, and the integrity of the environment and our kinship with it, Dr. Karenga launched Kwanzaa in 1966.
This year, Kwanzaa (first fruits) brings with it extraordinary reasons to celebrate African-American families, communities and culture, as well as the holiday’s Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and lmani (Faith).
This year, Dr. Karenga is issuing a clarion call in Kwanzaa’s theme and message. “Celebrating Kwanzaa in Difficult and Demanding Times: Lifting Up the Light That Lasts” is a warning and remedy for the difficult and demanding times ahead.
He stresses the need for all to practice Umoja (Unity), the first principle of Nguzo Saba, to begin the celebration and address the ever-present struggle faced by the people of African ancestry.
But how? The cohesiveness that once held our communities together disappeared with the onset of integration. Our people, for all intents and no good purposes, have been divided and conquered. Few are freedom fighters or willing to confront injustice. Some of us don’t know our neighbors but co-exist alongside strangers amid gentrification.
Still, all is not lost. Kwanzaa brings Umoja into our communities, and millions celebrate it around the globe.
Kwanzaa participants will celebrate with feasts (karamu), music, dance, poetry and narratives, and end the holiday with a day dedicated to reflection and recommitment to The Seven Principles and other central cultural values.
Events are planned for New Orleans, Slidell, Baton Rouge and other parts of Louisiana. Evolve Louisiana has announced its 2024 Kwanzaa event in Baton Rouge on December 28.
The New Orleans Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is also hosting a Kwanzaa Celebration on December 28 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (doors open at 10:30 a.m.) at McDonogh 35 High School (4000 Cadillac St., New Orleans) in the 2nd floor gymnasium.
The Delta’s Kwanzaa Theme is “Ujima – Collective Work & Responsibility.” Activities include Lighting the Kinara, African drumming and dancing, poetry readings, head wrapping, jewelry making. There will also be tribal face painting, a Karamu (Feast) and more. The event is free and open to the public.
Look for more events to come online from The New Orleans Kwanzaa Coalition, Community Book Center, Ashé Cultural Arts Center and other organizations.
Indeed, these events will be united. Hopefully, those in attendance can lay the foundation for lifting up the light that lasts.
This article originally published in the December 23, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
