FRESNO, CA -- With discussion, talks and reality-checks among community members, the 7 days of Kwanzaa celebrated at the African-American Museum this past year, crossing over into the new year reminded participants of the work to be done in the community and individually--just not in 7 days.
Kwanzaa, meaning "first fruits" allows members of the community to explore the good and bad harvest and what can be done to have a fruitful harvest for the next year.
Each night a speaker focused on the Nguzo Saba , the 7 principles of Kwanzaa to demonstrate the need to evaluate oneself, family and community, and the ultimate goal of striving to maintain unity in the family, community, nation and African-American race:
Umoja (Unity)To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
Kujichagulia (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 brother's and sister's 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 heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
Realizing that there was not enough time to practice each of the principles, the African-American Museum opted to have extended community sessions of Kwanzaa every third Tuesday of the month, starting in February, for the community to conduct forums related to the topics developed during the Kwanzaa celebration.
Find out more information at the African-American Museum website: www.aahcmsjv.org