- Hi, and welcome to Connections, I'm PA Bennett.

It's not a holiday, but a celebration Kwanza created in 1966 by Doctor Maulana Karenga is a celebration of family, community, and culture.

It starts December 26 and ends on January 1.

Now, because of it's closeness in time to Christmas, some mistakenly believe it was designed in some way to displace Christmas, not so.

The African American and Pan-African celebration is about appreciating African culture and heritage.

With us to talk about the details of Kwanza, some of my favorite people Bangwa, Mr. Ivory Johnson and Ms. Natalie Williams.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for being with us today.

And one of the things I, we said that Kwanza was started by Doctor Karega in 1966.

Bangwa, I'm gonna ask you, initially, we talked about African culture and heritage.

To you, what does Kwanza exemplify?

What does it mean?

- It exemplifies coming together, a family community and integrating culture with it.

It's a celebration, especially for African Americans.

And it's needed.

- [Bennet] You know, and I heard this on some talk show one one time, and I don't know why people would even assume this, but I mentioned it in the lead in here that some people think that, Oh, you're trying to get rid of Christmas with this African celebration.

Ivory, how would you respond to a thought like that?

- Well, definitely Kwanza is not in competition with Christmas.

It's not a replacement for Christmas, Hanukkah, any political, social, or religious program or activity.

It's really just designed for any and everybody who wants to participate.

And you know, the first fruits are harvest.

That's all.

- Natalie, why do you embrace Kwanza?

Because you actually do Kwanza celebrations around Kwanza and involved lots of folk.

why you so involved in it?

- Well, because it is our heritage.

It's our culture.

Maulana Karenga designed it for African Americans so that we can have identity with who we are and where we come from.

- [Bennet] And you, the timing I think is interesting that January, the of the December 26th to January 1 start of a new year, we all are in a process of, reflecting on what we've accomplished and what we need to accomplish.

But it has something to do too with just a, an African or a harvest time, that whole process.

Something very natural.

Is that right Bangwa?

- Yeah, supposed to be based on the concept of the first harvest or first fruits of the harvest.

However, the principles are, I think are designed to reconstruct our history and our past, something that we need very much.

During the time that Maulana Karenga came up with those principles here in a group of people at the University of California, he had traveled all over Africa trying to find some principles that he thought would be applicable to what we need to do.

And so he came up these with these Swahili principles.

- And that was, when you think about mid sixties, that was kind of a turbulent time.

Do you think that the times too had something to do Ivory with Dr. Karenga coming up with this tradition?

- Definitely, it was needed.

Just, importantly then, as it is needed now, it again, it's the foundation.

It's the building block for a African people to become a free, proud and productive people.

So you have Kwanzaa, which is built on the Nguzo Saba, which is the seven principles.

So that's something that is not just celebrated during a particular time of the year, but it's something celebrated throughout the Year.

- [Bennet] You know, and I was talking to someone not too long ago and they said, Yeah what we really should do, and I think he broke it down to like, I don't know how many days or weeks out of the year, we should take each principle and celebrate it throughout the year, emphasizing that principle for a certain number of weeks and talking about the principles.

Let's go over those principles so folk will know exactly what they are.

And the first principle I'm gonna ask you Bangwa to, to go over that one for us, Umoja Unity.

- [Bangwa] Okay.

The first principle of Quanta is Umoja.

And we usually, we let the black counter represent Umoja.

It means unity.

And that means togetherness of African Americans, no matter what we do, all going down the same street, rowing in the same boat, singing the same song, reading on the same page, whatever.

Just showing togetherness in unity, not being separated cuz where there's unity, there is strength.

- [Bennet] And that's a challenge for any people.

What do you think the basic challenge is for, us as African Americans to develop this, Umoja this unity?

- [Ivory] The basic challenge?

- [Ms. Bennet] Yeah.

Do you, is there something there that may be holding us back from that unification?

- Yes, I believe that we, because of our, the seasoning process, coming first here to America as Africans and not knowing really who we are or whose we are, where we came from, and therefore where we're going.

We don't have that trust factor.

We have so many issues that keep us from coming together, which are not inherently us, as an African spiritual people.

So yes, we do have these issues of, unity of coming together.

We, speak it, but we don't practice it.

And hopefully through Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba, we can once people understand, have a better understanding of what it all represents, and the need to correct ourselves than then hopefully we can get past that, unity issue.

- [Bennet] Okay.

- And also Brother Ivory also.

Also I'm gonna add onto that.

On another thing, we are so used to the idea of divide and conquer because of what has happened to us in the past too, it is deeply inculcated in us and it's hard to get it out of us and it still prevails today, divide and conquer.

So sometimes we are pulling against each other.

- [Bennet] So that's what even more of a reason to think about this particular principle on the first day of Kwanzaa, and to really digest it and understand what we mean when we say Umoja and what it really means when we talk about unity.

As we progress, We're talking about seven days, seven principles.

And Natalie, you told me that this is your favorite principle, so tell us about it.

- [Natalie] Well, the Nguzo Saba, the second one is Kujichagulia.

And it means self-determination that we should define ourselves and determine who we are, where we come from, and what we want to be for the future.

And we should not let anyone else define ourselves.

And that there are three questions that we should ask ourself when we talk about self-determination.

Kujichagulia, we ask ourselves, who am I?

Am I, who I am?

am I, all that I ought to be?

- Those are critical questions.

- [Natalie] Yes.

- And that self-determination and our being able to really decide who we are for ourselves, is not an easy thing though, because you have all of this stuff, coming at you constantly telling you who you are and what you should do and what you should be and how you should interact.

So how do you combat all of the not so positive information coming towards you about who you are?

- [Natalie] I think that we should stay focused.

One thing we don't really do is read.

We should read and teach our children to read their culture and their legacy because they're responsible for carrying this down.

So reading is important.

Self educating yourself on your own culture.

- [Bennet] Yeah.

And I can, it's hard for me to say the word Kujichagulia, beautiful word, but my tongue always gets twisted when I try to say that.

Beautiful word.

Self-determination and a beautiful principle as well.

Ivory, we're gonna come to you for collective work and responsibility, Ujima.

- [Bangwa] Oh, I want that one.

Let brother Ivory take - [Bennet] Ujima - [Bangwa] Brother Ivory you do the economics - [Ivory] Ujima.

- [Bennet] We can deal with that - You work on that one then Bangwa - [Bangwa] That's Ujima, Ujima - [Bennet] Ujima, okay - [Bangwa] Ujima That's cooperative work and responsibility.

I switched with brother I cuz he loves to talk about the next one.

- [Bennet] Okay, good.

- [Bangwa] And I love to talk about this one.

I really believe in this one cooperative work and responsibility, that's African Americans joining to joining together, getting work done in whatever way you can.

You know, and I was on your program before I talked about cooperative gardening.

- [Bennet] Right - [Bangwa] Well you can do cooperative gardening, you can do cooperative building.

Like if Brother Ivory's building his house, all of the brothers in the neighborhood could go help him build it and in turn he can go and help somebody else build theirs.

- [Bennet] Right?

- [Bangwa] You could come and help me decorate my house and in turn I can come and help you decorate yours.

You can do this on any, level.

It's very, very applicable and it really works because a lot of hands doing work makes work easy.

- [Bennet] Yeah, and Bangwa, I think you really truly exemplify that because any time that Bangwa can help, she's right there.

That is so vital.

I tell you, you live the principle.

- [Bangwa] Oh, okay.

- [Bennet] You know, and that is so important and that's another thing I wanna talk about is living these principles.

- [Bangwa] That's what they're for - [Bennet] is just not spouting the words during the season.

It's, really living the principle.

Brother Ivory, let's go to you your favorite one.

Cooperative economics.

- [Ivory] Right, Ujimaa, - [Bennet] Ujimaa - [Ivory] Ujimaa - [Ivory] Cooperative Economics.

I just believe in we have to be in charge of our own destiny.

We have to be able to employ ourselves.

We have to stop being the, tenants and the employees and start being the landlords and the employers.

Then we can control our destiny by educating our own.

We say that we should read, but what books should we read because we're constantly combative or debating philosophical issues that are not neither here nor there when there's just too much work to be done.

So with collective work, excuse me, cooperative economics means that we need to produce our own manufacturing from distribution to where we need to control what we build.

Again, PowerNomics comes to mind, Tuskegee Institute, excuse me, Booker T Washington, where again, we just need to be in control of our own manufacturing distribution.

- [Bennet] Yeah, you know, it's so interesting because in political years and thinking about economics and the the divisiveness that can come about as results of this kind of time, it also pulls us apart when it comes to building us economically as well.

The other thing that was interesting when you mentioned Tuskegee Institute, I mean even back then, there was some divisiveness as to whether or not we should be more intellectual or we should be concerned about the other kinds of jobs and professions.

So there's an awful lot to talk about.

And then again, you a person who, you live that principle, that's an important one.

- [Bangwa] PE also along with that, I think that also means keeping money in our communities, in the African American community, not always spending money with other people where it goes out of the community and never comes back to us at all.

- [Bennet] Yeah.

- [Bangwa] When there was segregation, all of the money was kept in our neighborhoods, most of it anyway.

Much more than it is today because we had to spend money with our people, so to speak.

And today no one wants to spend money with our people.

All our money goes out of the neighborhood to people who won't even care about us or who don't put it back in our communities.

- [Bennet] And I think you mentioned Power Dynamics and of course Claude Anderson talks about the fact that how long do we keep money in our neighborhoods?

- [Ivory] It doesn't circulate one time.

- [Bangwa] not even one time - [Bennet] Doesn't circulate one time.

- [Bangwa] Not even one Time - [Ivory] Right, not even one time - [Bennet] And - [Ivory] But yet with, we're encouraged to compete with America, compete with the world.

and how in the world can you compete when as, Dr. Anderson says, when you're a midget and they're, you know, 20 foot giant.

There is no competition when you always looking to them to employ you.

And African Americans are primarily employed by the federal and state and the local government.

So therefore, just like you're, it just as easy as your job was written in with a pen, it can easily be, you know, eliminated with a pen, with a stroke of a pen.

But if you are empowered, self-empowered as a people, so therefore you have a captive audience, people who look like you have the same interest as you, then you don't have to be dependent on a system to do for you what you should be doing for yourself.

- [Bennet] How hard is that struggle though?

I mean that that's one that, we are really gonna have to work hard and long with that one.

- Well, we don't have a choice because I used the saying that, you know, every one of our children who end up in DJJ end up dead.

You know, the blood is on our hands because it's up to us.

It's not the children who are the problem, it's us the parents who are the problem.

You can go back 40 years and trace the problem started 40 years ago, and I won't get into that, but since we changed our mission and our vision and so the economics went with, you know, as Dr. Anderson says, with the head of the African who has the money and how you have the body who is still stuck in the neighborhoods or the ghetto.

So what we've got to do is be about the business of reuniting the head with the body.

And that is gonna be a long struggle.

And of course it's one that we have to win.

- [Bennet] one that we have to keep learning how to do it effectively too, so it's a process.

Let's go on to the, to the next principle because we are, we're running out of time here, but Nia and we are gonna ask Natalie.

- [Natalie] Nia means purpose it's the fifth principal of Kwanzaa.

And Nia means that we should have a plan for our children, for our community, for our families to prosper within our own arena.

- [Bennet] And you really talking about respecting who you are.

- [Natalie] Yeah.

- [Bennet] Because if you do for yourself, it just means that you know and appreciate and love who you are.

If, there's nothing negative about that, it's only about the positive here.

Creativity.

I know that Bangwa, you are full of it.

I'm talking about creativity.

- I love that one too Kuumba - [Bennet] Tell us about it.

- [Bangwa] Okay That means saving your money because you can do so many things yourself.

Each of us, we are so full of ideas of saving money, that's a part of our heritage to save money.

So it means if you can use a sheet for a tablecloth and you have a lot of sheets, use a sheet for a tablecloth.

That's what we do sometimes on the Kwanzaa table.

It means making your own jewelry, it means making your own clothes.

Stay out those stores, putting your money where it's not recirculated back in our community.

Make your own.

- [Bennet] What about creativity?

For the rest of you You have a feel for what creativity means to you?

What about you Natalie?

- [Natalie] Well, when I think of Kuumba and creativity, I think about the inventions that the African Americans contributed.

I think about the ironing board, the computer, the refrigerator, the air conditioner, the mop, the mailbox, the door knob.

I think about all those things.

If it wasn't for African Americans, we really would not have a railroad system per se.

You know, when we think about those things, I think about the creations, the inventions of George Washington Carver and what he did with the peanut.

He not only made peanut butter and peanut ice cream, but he made shampoo, he made the deodorant, he made ink, he made briquettes, he did all of that with the peanut.

So that when I think of Kuumba, I think of the inventions that we contributed.

- And the last day of Kwanza, Imani.

Who wants to tackle faith?

- [Ivory] Faith, I'll speak on that.

Faith, you need to have faith in your history.

Faith in what you believe in and faith in yourself.

Faith in everything that you do.

One of the things, one of the big issues that we have in African American community is what to believe.

You know, some wanna be believe in the Christian faith, some Muslim faith, some in Maha, et cetera.

But it, that's not what divides us.

That's not what keeps us divided.

As Malcolm said, you're not hated or destroyed or targeted because you are Christian, et cetera, but because you're black.

So one of the things that we have to do is understanding that faith is something that we just can't say we have but something that we practice.

- [Bennet] And that's what we were talking about really the seven principles, seven days, December 26 through January 1st.

And it is a celebration.

And so there's some things that go along with the festivities and we have some, I don't know if you wanna, what do you call 'em?

Symbols.

- Symbols.

- Yeah symbols.

- Symbols of the celebration.

Let's start from the, well the candles are obviously most apparent, right?

Right Now, why do we have these particular candles and displayed in this way, these colors?

- [Bangwa] You want me to speak on that?

- [Ivory] Sure.

- [Bangwa] Alright.

We have the green, black and the red because they symbolize colors that are in our flag.

The African American flag.

The black symbolizes our skin, our people.

The green symbolizes the earth.

The red symbolizes the blood that has been she down through the generations for black people.

So that's the reason we use those colors in the candles, which the candles are in Nguzo Saba.

- [Bennet] And in front.

- [Bangwa] In each principle.

I'm sorry - [Bennet] There are, we have out front, we have a display of fruit.

Is there a particular reason why we have that particular display?

I'll ask you to go on Ivory and talk about that.

- [Ivory] Symbols is the first fruits just like, it's pretty much in line with Thanksgiving.

Everybody coming together as a community for the harvest to rejoice in the harvest because it takes all of us to go out there and to work hard and then of course to rejoice in our harvest.

- To eat what you sell - Exactly.

- Now Natalie, you actually have these kinds of celebrations throughout the area, is that right?

- [Natalie] Yes.

- So now when you have a Kwanza celebration, is it on a particular day or is it all the seven days?

How is it actually carried out?

- Okay, what I do is a Kwanzaa presentation and I show them how to set the table by putting each symbol on at a time and defining what the symbols mean.

- [Bennet] Okay.

Now do you, for example, if a family wanted to have a Kwanza celebration - Yes.

- [Bennet] What would they, how should they do it?

What should they do?

- Well, first of course we would have the table set.

We first give, we do libations.

We have the African drumming and dancing and libations are poured first because we honor our ancestors first.

And then you have the caramel, you have the feast, you have the Zawadi, the gift giving.

- [Bangwa] Everyday you come together and sit around the Kwanzaa table.

- [Bennet] right?

- [Bangwa] And you eat together, you eat a meal together every day, every evening.

And you talk about each principle each day that you do that.

And you talk about how is important to the children and how if they're good, they get certain gifts.

Gifts that are usually handcrafted in the home.

- So every day, every day of Kwanza, you'll.

- [Bangwa] Light a different candle.

- You'll, you'll come together, you'll have the table decorated appropriately.

You'll have a meal together, you'll light the candles and you'll have a discussion.

- Yes.

- On that day of that particular principle that relates to that day.

- Yes.

- Okay.

- [Natalie] And the kikombe cha umoja, which is the unity cup, is passed around to each member of the family for them to acknowledge the ancestors of that family.

- You call out the names of some of the ancestors who not passed on in your family.

- So would you suggest to people maybe that they find a book or is there somewhere that they can learn really how to go through the celebration so they can understand exactly what they're doing?

- Didn't I bring a book over over there?

I think I brought a book here.

- Yes Maulana Karenga has a book - Just to show them that - And they can also read up on it anyway, or you can read up on it on the internet and in any history.

- Or just ask somebody.

It's celebrated by over over 18 million people worldwide.

- Yeah.

You know, we have talked about and I've talked with you most of you about this, the materialism factor.

And you mentioned presents as a part of Kwanzaa, but we are not talking about the kind of presents that you go out to the mall and get.

- Presents that made in the home.

Gifts that are made in the home.

And intrinsic, intrinsic gifts.

Gifts that come from your heart.

Not commercial type things cuz a lot of other people are cashing in on Kwanzaa and making gifts, especially for Kwanzaa, which have nothing to do with us.

So we wanna keep the gifts handmade and things that are done in your own home and things that are intrinsic, that are deep in value, that have something to do with the inside.

- [Bennet] Yeah, that is really important because I was thinking about that.

I was saying, you know, in good old America, we know as soon as something becomes popular enough, someone's gonna go out there and mass manufacture something that has to Kwanzaa.

- Right, and that's the beauty with anything that's African is symbolic.

It's symbolic, it has a deeper meaning.

Any type of story that is told is a moral to the story.

And the story is not complete until the moral of the story is understood by the students or whoever you're speaking to, your audience.

So everything that you'll see on the table is symbolic of something that is, like you said, intrinsic to who we are.

We don't expect anybody, or everybody in the world to understand what we're doing.

But it's important for us to understand what this means because it's not about materialism.

It's not about going out there and using your credit cards and trying to afford something that you can't afford.

And the kids still not being appreciative of it.

So we have to go back to where we came from to appreciate our creativity by being creative, those creative energies that made us who we are.

- [Bangwa] Yeah.

And again, you're talking about Kuumba, creativity and also Nia, which is purpose.

It's a purpose for everything on that table.

- [Natalie] Also, the Zawadi are not just given as gifts, they're more like rewards for the children.

They have to make commitments.

That's another thing Kwanzaa is about, is commitment.

So the children make a commitment that they're going to make better grades or they're gonna be more in tune with helping the elders or doing their chores.

And if they could keep that commitment through the year, then they will be given Zawadi.

It's not like the other holiday.

Where regardless, they still get something.

And they understand that their parents worked hard to provide them with the Zawadi.

- [Bangwa] And all this is discussed at the dinner table.

- [Bennet] You know, you talk about the dinner table, and I was gonna bring that up again.

There was a study done about the fact that if a family comes together around the dinner table, how much more positive that family is, how much more stronger that family is.

And so again, Kwanza is is showing that that's indeed the case.

And I just really like the idea of families coming together for those seven days and really having conversation about something that's really important and involving the young people in that conversation.

How important that the young people really be involved, in the conversation?

- [Ivory] Well, it's everything.

Our children are our future.

And today, again, if we look at what's going on in the African American community it's just discussed - Goodness sake.

- I mean we're doing some great things, but the masses of our people are feeling depressed, are feeling frustrated, et cetera.

And that's because there's a void, there's an emptiness.

Because we are not being who we truly are, being true to ourselves, we're trying to fit into a society that is not of our making.

Okay, not saying that we can't coexist, but as long as our issues are not addressed, especially through our children, then our children end up committing suicide.

They end up on drugs and the crime, participating in crime, et cetera.

Because we are not giving our children what they're deserving and that is nothing but knowing who they are.

- [Bennet] And this is a question I was just sitting here thinking, does Kwanza have anything to do at all though with the church?

- No - Well the church has to do with Kwanza.

I'm sorry.

- Well it's not a religious holiday - Okay, but explain that.

I want you said the church has to do with Kwanza.

Explain that.

- [Ivory] I'm sorry sister - [Bennet] Go on.

- [Ivory] Church just means gathering of people.

Okay.

So we are the church.

I am the church just as much as she is, just as much as she is.

And you don't have to ask me what I believe in because Jesus never asked, are you a Baptist or are you anything else?

So you can get along so you can come along with me.

So we've started that.

That's something that man has started, especially a western concept.

So Kwanzaa again, it's not a religious holiday, it's not a political holiday, it's something to be celebrated throughout the year.

And it's not something just from December 26 To January 1st.

This is the based on the Nguzo Saba.

My saying is this is that Kwanzaa's for everybody, but the Nguzo Saba is for the African American.

Why?

Because we are the only planned people that went through a seasoning process of only planned minority group.

So we have to go about reversing all of that negative energy and turn into something positive so we can be a free, proud of productive people.

- [Bennet] Guys, thank you so much.

I've appreciated this conversation about Kwanzaa, it's opened my eyes and given me a lot more understanding about the celebration itself.

And if you've enjoyed this conversation, let us know.

Let us know what's on your mind.

Write us or send us an email.

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That's our show.

Thanks so much for joining us.

And remember, stay connected.

I'm PA Bennett.

Happy Kwanza, and I'll see you next time right here on Connections.

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