OPINION
The
Chronicle
Ernest H. Pitt
Elaine Pitt
T. Kevin Walker
Publisher/Co-Founder
Business Manager
Managing Editor
Hi-'.ll.'.J
Celebrating Kwanzaa
and community
Marian
Wright
Edelman
Guest
Columnist
During the last week of
December, many black families
and communities observe
Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is a unique
celebration because it's not a
religious or national holiday but
a cultural one. It doesn't cele
brate a person or an event but a
set of ideas. In a year when
Americans have heard a lot
about "values," values are what
Kwanzaa is all about. ^
As Dr. Maulana Karenga, the
originator of Kwanzaa, explains,
"There is no way to understand
and appreciate the meaning and
message of Kwanzaa without
understanding and appreciating
its profound and pervasive con
cern with values. In fact,
Kwanzaa's reason for existence,
its length of seven days, its core
focus and its foundation are all
rooted in its concern with val
ues." And the values Kwanzaa
celebrates and asks people to
live up to aren't about individual
private behavior but the values a
community needs to be strong
and thrive.
The Nguzo Saba, or seven
principles, are the framework of
a Kwanzaa celebration. Dr.
Karenga explains that they are
the key building blocks of com
munity in general. Each day
during Kwanzaa focuses on one
of these principles and reminds
celebrants to recommit to that
value: "Umoja (unity), to strive
for and maintain unity in the
family, community, nation and
race. Kujichagulia (self-deter
mination), to define ourselves,
name ourselves, create for our
selves and speak for ourselves.
Ujima (collective work and
responsibility), to build and
maintain our community togeth
er and make our brothers and
sisters' problems our problems
and to solve them together.
Ujamaa (cooperative econom
ics), 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 tradi
tional greatness. Kuumba (cre
ativity), 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. And imani
(faith), to believe with all our
heart in our people, our parents,
our teachers, our leaders and the
righteousness and victory of our
struggle."
Not everyone celebrates
Kwanzaa but these values con
tain many universal principles
for building strong communities.
Kwanzaa ends on New Year's
Day in the Kwanzaa celebration,
the Day of Meditation. Many
people already spend New^
Year's Day thinking about how
they can resolve to improve
themselves during the next year.
But imagine if this year we all
resolved to take steps to improve
our communities instead.
Imagine if every child in this
nation were being raised in a
community resolved to seeing
any member's problems as
everyone's problems and solv
ing them together, or to making
sure that all community mem
bers live together harmoniously
and support each other in their
common goals, or that every
community decision would
leave the community healthier
and more beautiful tomorrow
than it is today. What kinds of
places would these communities
be for our children and. by
extension, for all of us?
During a traditional
Kwanzaa celebration muninoi,
ears of com, are laid on a mkeke,
a straw mat. The mat symbolizes
African peoples' history and tra
ditions, and the corn symbolizes
children and the future.
Families place one ear of corn
on the mkeke for each child in
the household, but they're
instructed to put at least two ears
down even if they don't have
children, because in African tra
dition every adult is considered a
parent to every child in the com
munity. Many people talk about
this belief, but imagine if every
one of us really put it into action.
And then imagine what kind of a
world we could build for our
children if our local, national,
and global communities all com
mitted to making it our most
important community value.
During that final Day of
Meditation in Kwanzaa, people
are supposed to ask themselves
three questions: "Who am I?
Am I really who I say I am?
And am I all I ought to be?"
Everyone answers these ques
tions as an individual, but their
answers should reflect how well
they are playing their part in
making their community func
tion as a whole and with justice.
A person's success is deeply
connected to how much value
they are giving to others. At a
time when our children desper
ately need adults to reweaVe the
fabric of family and community
for them, all of us need to think
and ask ourselves these ques
tions. Are we all that we ought
to be?
Marian Wright Edelman is
president and founder of the
Children 's Defense Fund and its
Action Council.
m.
6
Are you ready to bring back black?
James
Clingman
Guest
Columnist
I know I am. I am ready to
connect with brothers and sisters
who are unwavering and unapolo
getic when it comes to who they
are and what their obligation is to
our people. I am ready to stand
shoulder to shoulder with black
folks who are unafraid and
unflappable when attacked from
without and from within. I am
ready to work with a naw cadre of
black leaders, not new in experi
ence but new as it relates to their
current unsung status, their active
youth status, and new in respect to
what they have done and are
doing "under the radar screen" so
to speak. There are many "new"
leaders out there, and I am ready
to follow them as we Bring Back
Black.
The new book by W.D.
Wright, "The Crisis of the Black
Intellectual," which I highly rec
ommend you read, contains the
following passage on page 3 11. a
"Today there is no general black
leadership and the black political
body is fragmented isolated, indi
vidualistic, fanciful, delusional,
susceptible to posturing, and has
no real sense of engaging with
black politics that are designed to
help black people in America,
specifically those millions still
'stuck at the bottom.' What coujd
interrupt this situation and force
blacks back to a general leader
ship and to a consciousness of
black politics would be the emer
gence of new and differently ori
ented local black leaders. This
would include some individuals
drawn from those 'stuck at the
bottom.' There are enough black
local leaders, community organiz
ers, and activists who could initi
ate this new and different leader
ship across the country and who
could consciously and actively
seek to recruit and train individu
als 'up from varied misery' for
local leadership."
The weekend of Dec. 8 was
the first step on a journey some of
us have taken before. It was the
weekend when strong, dedicated,
determined, and consciously
black brothers and sisters gath
ered to begin the Bring Back
Black movement. We came
together because we know W.D.
Wright is correct in his assess^
ment of black leadership. We
came together tp find one another,
to meet one another, to connect
with one another, to support one
another, and to work with one
another. ?
The Bring Back Black gather
ing comprised stalwart and res
olute black folks, some of who
have been working for decades
empowering our people. No need
to name them; they an? not look
ing for the spotlight. No need to
number them; they are not look
ing for accolades. This group, as
well as those who wanted to be
there but could not, simply works
to overcome the psychological
barriers that now prevent black
people from moving forward
together as well as individually.
They do their work quietly
and without fanfare, in the same
manner that Frederick Douglass
described Harriet Tubman and the
work she did. They work by
building their own businesses,
opening their own schools, and
being serious about their political
involvement. They do their work
by meeting payrolls from which
their black employees take care of
their families. They do it by stand
ing up and speaking out against
injustice and inequity. They do it
by sacrificing their time and their
resources for the collective cause
of black people. That's why they
came to the Bring Back Black
gathering, which was held in the
city Kwesi Mfume called "ground
zero:" Cincinqpti.
In the 1%0's we had the
Black Power Movement, in
which our songs, our products,
our language, our clothing, our
hair, our gestures, and our love of
self, displayed a new thougftt, a
new resolve, and a new dedica
tion. What happened to it? Those
were the first stages of what could
have been a most powerful move
ment for black people. The rem
nants are still with us, but the sub
stance of collective progressive
ness and prosperity are far lack
ing.
So what do we do now? We
seek and follow new leadership;
we take more control of our chil
dren's education; we get serious
about politics by playing to win
rather than just playing to play;
we take better care of our bodies;
we use technology and commer
cial media, to its fullest, to tell our ?
own story, because he who
defines you controls you; we con
nect with our brothers and sisters
in Africa, in Haiti, Jamaica, and
other Caribbean islands, and in
Brazil's Bahia, and in London,
and throughout the world. And
finally, but importantly, we pool
some of our money and invest in
our own projects.
Those are the things we did at
our Bring Back Black meeting.
Now, I asJi, you again: Are you
ready to Bring Back Black?
James E. Clingman, an
adjunct professor at the
University of Cincinnati's African
American Studies department, is
former editor of the Cincinnati
Herald newspaper and founder of
the Greater Cincinnati African
American Chamber of
Commerce. Contact him at
wwwJ>lackonomicsrom or call
513-489-4132.
The Darfur crisis
James
Yates
Guest
Columnist
Memo to George W. Bush
(number 43): Why- are we killing
innocent Iraqi civilians when
Osama Bin Laden is still on the ,
loose in the mountains of Tora
Bora? Why are we forcing
democracy down the throats of
people who obviously don't want
it? Meanwhile, in the Sudan, nine
year-old girls are being gang
raped and sold as sex slaves by the
vicious and unrepentant
Janjaweed (the government spon
sored militia of the Sudan). The
oppressed black Africans who live
in tthe Darfur region are without
qu&tion living in one of the most
gruesome hellholes on the face of
this planet.
Atrocities are being commit
ted against these native inhabi
tants, which are too gruesome and
vile to be repeated on human lips.
The Janjaweed are terrorizing
these black Africans in a manner
that would make the Nazi's of
WWII cringe! Meanwhile, the
U.S. State Department and the
United Nations does nothing but
sit on their hands and offer concil
iatory lip service about possible
sanctions and weak watered-down
resolutions that look good in the
newspaper but offer no real solu
tions about how to stop the present
bloody carnage. In ,pther words,
these resolutions not only have no
bite, they have no teeth!
The international community
turns a deaf ear to the plight of the
Sudanese. This is a place where
husbands are butchered in front of
their wives and children. Where
wives are gang-raped by up to 20
men in front of their children and
in front of their husbands before
the husbands are executed. This is
a region in the world where some
of the most despicable acts against
Muslim men cover the grave of 3-month-old in the Kalma
refugee camp in the Darfur region of Sudan. The infant died
of hunger-related causes.
humanity are being committed
since Rwanda in the early 90's.
I believe I am righteous in my
anger and indignation toward our
government, the U.N., the news
media, and even my fellow
African- Americans for their weak
response and casual anitude in
regards to this humanitarian crisis.
If it were not for the Red Cross,
Doctors Without Borders, and a
few other humanitarian organiza
tions, this crisis would barely be
on the radar screen. To these
organizations I say, bless you.
This present administration
has ticked me off to no end! For
the Bush administration I have
nothing but contempt. France,
Germany and the rest of the
European Union are just as much
to blame as well. They use their
disapproval of the war in Iraq as a
smokescreen for their inaction.
You've got to be kidding me!
Thi news media gives 30 sec
onds of coverage on MSNBC,
CNN, or FOX News, and then
move on to another news story.
You mean to tell me the media
will show a ball player going into
the stands to fight with fans every
five seconds on the news, but
can't take more than a few sec
onds and mention the biggest
slaughter since Pol Pot (1978) and
the Rwandan crisis (1993)? You
guys (the media) disgust me!
It is estimated (USA Today,
AP reports) that l,OjOOO people are
dying each month on the parched
desert landscape of Darfiir and the
world could care less. Many of
these Africans are not even safe in
refugee camps because they are
either too filled to capacity, dis
eases such as cholera, dysentery,
and TB run rampant: and because
border countries like Chad and
Libya are not willing to help their
stricken neighbors.
I am absolutely appalled at the
international community's lack of
outrage on this matter!
I must say to the world these
crimes against humanity will be
punished by God, and the nations
that sit idly by and do nothing will
not escape the judgment!
I am in my mid 30's so I have
a better idea of how the world
operates than when I was an ideal
istic 21-year-old. I realize those
men with money, power, capital,
and other resources run this world.
Throw in regional politics and
corrupt bureaucrats, and you start
to get a panoramic view of how
world politics are played. Human
lives mean nothing to these indi
viduals (obviously). This is evi
dent in the Darfur region, where
children are maimed and their
limbs cut off for nothing.
My guess is that Southwest
Sudan is a place that the western
world cannot exploit. With the
exception of ? few million barrels
of oil (which the Arabs control),
there are no other natural
?resources for the Americans or
Europeans to exploit (ije., dia
monds, gold, mineral, or agricul
tural products).
wnerc is uie outrage irom my
fellow African- American counter
parts who themselves are just 140
years removed from the physical
and psychological hell of slavery'.'
You would think that blacks in
America would be protesting in
front of the White House, the State
Department, or the Capitol build
ing, but no. We're too busy buy
ing rims for our SUV's (sorry, but
I HAD to go there). We are sup
posed to be a Christian nation, yet
many of us don't lift a finger to
help our dark-skinned Christian
brothers in Africa where slavery
and genocide are alive and well. I
don't understand how some of us
can sleep at night while our broth
ere and sisters are enduring this
hellish nightmare.
James Yates is a freelance
writer from Virginia currently liv
ing in North Carolina. He is the
author of "Insights of a Native
Son ; a collection of Pmse. Essays,
and Poems." Contact him at
yfrankS7@hotmail jcom.