Lessons From Kwanzaa that Can Help as we Enter a New Year

TRENTON-- As we usher in a new year and await what is to come, I think now is a good time to, if ever, reflect on the importance of planning.

 While at my dad's house last week after Christmas, I was taken to a Kwanzaa celebration in Brooklyn, New York.

During the presentation, my brother, Rahman, and I were introduced to Nguzo Saba or the seven principles of Kwanzaa, a week long celebration of African American family, community, and culture originally created by Black Studies professor Maulana Karenga in 1966 (Karenga, 2002).

At one point during the presentation, there was a call and response encounter between the host and the audience. The host said, 'Habari gani' which means 'What's the news?', the audience then responded by saying, 'Umoja', which means unity.

As I sit back and reflect on the seven principles of Kwanzaa (Umoja or unity, Kujichaglia or self-determination, Ujima or  collective work and responsibility, Ujamaa or cooperative economics, Nia or purpose, Kuumba or creativity,  Imani or faith), I find that these principles can help individuals living in communities like Trenton.

As the city of Trenton wrestles with its recent spate of crime, failing public schools, and growing distrust of elected officials, the seven principles of Kwanzaa cry out for attention and immediate application. I want to be the first to say that I commit to collective work and responsibility.

Now you might ask, how does one apply the principle of collective work and responsibility in one's everyday life. I'm glad you asked. My suggestion is that instead of looking at the condition of your community as someone else's problem, try looking at it as part of your responsibility. The best way to do this in my humble opinion is to ask yourself, 'am I part of the problem or part of the solution?' The best way to deal with this question is to be honest with yourself.

For instance, if you litter, but then complain that there are too many soiled diapers on the street, you might want to adjust your attitude and be less self-righteous. Here is where you can say how you can become a part of the solution by first cleaning up after yourself and then secondly, maybe starting up a neighborhood clean-up party that you conduct every week or every other week. Or perhaps, instead of moaning about the lack of programs in your community that offer youngsters mentoring and constructive things to do, maybe you can mentor one person or just maybe appeal to your neighbors to see if they are interested in helping out and giving the community's youth something positive to do in their spare time.

These are just suggestions, but are designed to show each and every one of us (including myself) how living out some of the principles of Kwanzaa can enhance not only our individual lives, but also the lives of others in our communities.

So, I end where I started, let's plan to make the year 2012 a year filled with collective work and responsibility (along with other principles of Kwanzaa) where we actually take the first step to improve our communities as opposed to waiting on someone else to rescue us thinking that the conditions of our communities are someone else's burden or responsibility, when in reality it is not.

For more information on Kwanzaa, please refer to Maulana Karenga's book, Introduction to Black Studies from the University of Sankore Press or visit the website by clicking here.

Please see a video below discussing the history of Kwanzaa:

An Evening With DR. CORNEL WEST

LAWRENCEVILLE-- Today, Anwar's Reflections visited Rider University where renowned scholar, professor, and author Dr. Cornel West gave the keynote address for Rider's Black History Month Celebration. The event was held in the Bart Luedeke Center inside the Cavalla Room.

 The purpose of West's discussion was to highlight the seven principles of Kwanzaa, i.e. unity, creativity, cooperative economics, faith, purpose, self-determination, and collective responsibility. Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration honoring African American heritage and culture.

Kwanzaa was created by UCLA Professor Maulana Karenga. According to West, Kwanzaa is all about "education in the deeper sense, how do you undergo the shift from living at the level of the superficial and begin to engage with the substantial, its called a turning of the soul, to use the language of Plato". During the talk, West went on to discuss the importance of finding your true "voice" and not simply being what he calls "an echo" that simply imitates others but never creates one's own vision. He said that students ought to approach life with purpose, self-determination, and faith. But he says that faith has nothing to do optimism, for West faith is all about sustaining a "blues inflicted hope" against all odds. Members of the audience included students and others from the community. Audience feedback is below.

One person, Shaila Counts, a senior at Rider University, said she attended the event because she wanted to support one of her"sorority sisters" that just so happened to be the president of the Black Student Union and was an integral part in getting Dr. West to speak at the University. Shaila went on to say that she also went to the event because she felt "Cornel West is an inspirational speaker" and because she "wanted to hear what he [Cornel West] had to say. With speakers like Dr. West, you get to hear a different perspective, a perspective from the older generation, something I think is needed".

Another audience member, Rance Robeson, a senior at Rider and the editor and chief of the school's well-known literary journal On Fire, said "When Dr.West comes, you have to go, he's a scholar, he's a social critic, he's a professor, he's a leader in our communities. I've never seen him in the flesh up-front. I've seen him so many different times and in so many different ways on television supporting the same efforts and particular views that I have, so when I heard he would be here I said I have to come out, especially on a university of higher learning like this, especially one I'm already attending. You got to go".

Robeson went on to say, "I think events like this are crucial at this particular point in time. I'm doing fairly well in school but, I feel invigorated in the sense that now I want to be a better friend, I want to be a better student, I want to be a better person, I want to be a better leader. Just from seeing his particular image and knowing all the things that I envision for myself, he's my proof, for me its like, I understand that I'm a male, I understand that I'm black, I understand that I'm a minority. This brother right here [Cornel West] is all of those same things, he fits the same criteria that I fit, yet he is the proof. If you never have proof that something exists, then you never really believe in it, and that's why I think events like these are crucial".

Another audience member, well known poet and community activist, Raul Polo Cortes, said that its "good to go and hear his [Cornel West's] perspective. Its good to soak in and listen to what he had to say. Its very rare when a person who has such a name and talks all over the country and all over the world to hear his perspective, because a lot of people with that kind of money and that kind of name are not going to say what he said". Cortes went on to say that West encourages others to speak up "and tell it how it is, whether the cameras are on, or whether they are off".

Anwar's Reflections will be sure to keep you up to date on any upcoming events.