Kwanzaa 2015 booklet

26th Annual

Colorado Springs Citywide

Kwanzaa Celebration

December 26, 2015

Hillside Community Center | 925 South Institute St. | Colorado Springs, CO 80903 Ph: (719) 385-7900

Welcome All! Kwanzaa 2015 2 26th Anniversary

It’s A Celebration!

There is no need to romanticize our history for there are abundant reasons to be proud! Our journey has taken us literally from “pyramids, to projects”, and….back to power with the election of the first African American President of the United States of America!

We must simply know, honor, and “pass on” the true story of our history in order to ignite the Light that will inspire our youth, and generations yet unborn to reach for a better future. It is that Light that inspired our ancient African ancestors to raise the First Wonder of the World – The Great Pyramid from the dessert sands of Kemet (Egypt), to create writing, mathematics, astronomy, anatomy, medical sciences, architecture, civil engineering, literature, spirituality, religion, and to establish the first and longest civilization in the world.

us from developing personal strength, resilience, and psychological armor from a deep understanding, respect, and appreciation of our great history and culture.

It is essential that we (individually and collectively) regularly and very deliberately reinforce these values in order to not only honor our past and current challenges, but to also create hope for a better future. As a people, African Americans have overcome the worst of times and conditions, and yet we strive, achieve, and continue to stand because we stand upon the shoulders of giants!

Dr. Anthony P. Young, Founder Annual Colorado Springs Citywide Kwanzaa Celebration

It is that same Light that inspired great thinkers such as George W. Carver, Elijah McCoy, Drs. Daniel Hale Williams, Shirley A. Jackson, Cheikh Anta Diop, Asa G. Hilliard III, Ivan Van Sertima, George G.M. James, Marimba Ani, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and countless others whose lives, accomplishments, and contributions to modern civilization continue to positively impact our lives (whether we know it or not)! In this day and age, it is much too easy to get regularly “caught up” in an abundance of distractions that deter

Dr. Young is Chief Executive Officer of Achieving Healthier Lifestyles, LLC and a Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is a Past National President of the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) (2000-2001), and a Founding Member (1977) and current President of the DenverRocky Mountain Association of Black Psychologists.

2015 - 26th Annual Colorado Springs Citywide Kwanzaa Celebration Committee

Elizabeth Young • Jerome Ajavon • Leona Allen –Abdullah • Sheila Scott • Stephanie Hall Belinda Gardner • Stephen Maddox, Sr. • P.K. Patterson • Regina Guy-English

Art Direction, design and layout by Dwayne Glapion. GrafxMD.com

Special Thanks to Dr. Andre Spencer, Hillside Community Center staff and Willie Breasell

Affirmation Statement We will honor the Creator by the life that we live.

We will remember the humanity, the glory, and the suffering of our ancestors.

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We will honor the struggles of our elders, who will strive to reclaim, reconstruct, and restore our traditional values as an African people.

Colorado Springs

We are an African people.

We will bring new light to our people.

We will be loving, caring, and creative.

We will work study, and listen.

Listen so we may learn.

Learn so we may teach.

We will cultivate our character and our minds.

We will struggle to resurrect and unify our community.

We will raise strong children for our nation.

We will have DISCIPLINE, PATIENCE, & COURAGE.

We will live as positive role models to provide new directions for our people.

We will be free and self-determining.

We are an African people.

And we will win!

And we will win!!

And we WIL L WIN!

The liberation of our minds and spirits, The reclamation of our history,

The economic freedom of our community

For the Redemption of African people in America and elsewhere.

Ashe’!

Colorado

We will have peace and harmony among us.

Roots & Branches Kwanzaa 2015

The Continental African Roots

4 26th Anniversary

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture. Celebrated from 26 December thru 1 January, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name.

The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language.

The first-fruits celebrations are recorded in African history as far back as ancient Egypt and Nubia and appear in ancient and modern times in other classical African civilizations such as Ashantiland and Yorubaland. These celebrations are also found in ancient and modern times among societies as large as empires (the Zulu or kingdoms (Swaziland) or smaller societies and groups like the Matabele, Thonga and Lovedu, all of southeastern Africa. Kwanzaa builds on the five fundamental activities of Continental African “first fruit” celebrations: ingathering;

reverence; commemoration; recommitment; and celebration. Kwanzaa, then, is: a time of ingathering of the people to reaffirm the bonds between them; a time of special reverence for the creator and creation in thanks and respect for the blessings, bountifulness and beauty of creation; a time for commemoration of the past in pursuit of its lessons and in honor of its models of human excellence, our ancestors; a time of recommitment to our highest cultural ideals in our ongoing effort to always bring forth the best of African cultural thought and practice; and a time for celebration of the Good, the good of life and of existence itself, the good of family, community and culture, the good of the awesome and the ordinary, in a word the good of the divine, natural and social.

The African American Branch Rooted in this ancient history and culture, Kwanzaa develops as a flourishing branch of the African American life and struggle as a recreated and expanded ancient tradition. Thus, it bears special characteristics only an African American holiday but also a Pan-African one, For it draws from the cultures of various African peoples, and is celebrated by millions of Africans throughout the world African community. Moreover, these various African peoples celebrate Kwanzaa because it speaks not only to African Americans in a special way, but also to Africans as a whole, in its stress on history, values, family, community and culture.

Kwanzaa was established in 1966 in the midst of the Black Freedom Movement and thus reflects its

concern for cultural groundedness in thought and practice, and the unity and self-determination associated with this. It was conceived and established to serve several functions.

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Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor, Department of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, author and scholar-activist who stresses the indispensable need to preserve, continually revitalize and promote African American culture.

Finally, it is important to note Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday, not a religious one, thus available to and practiced by Africans of all religious faiths who come together based on the rich, ancient and varied common ground of their Africanness.

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By welcoming a student into your home, you make it possible for members of your community to meet, interact, and learn from someone from a different culture.

Imani (Faith). This stress on the Nguzo Saba was at the same time an emphasis on the importance of African communitarian values in general, which stress family, community and culture and speak to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense. And Kwanzaa was conceived as a fundamental and important way to introduce and reinforce these values and cultivate appreciation for them.

Colorado Springs

Reaffirming and Restoring Culture First, Kwanzaa was created to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture. It is, therefore, an expression of recovery and reconstruction of African culture which was being conducted in the general context of the Black Liberation Movement of the ‘60’s and in the specific context of The Organization Us, the founding organization of Kwanzaa and the authoritative keeper of its tradition. Secondly, Kwanzaa was created to serve as a regular communal celebration to reaffirm and reinforce the bonds between us as a people. It was designed to be an ingathering to strengthen community and reaffirm common identity, purpose and direction as a people and a world community. Thirdly, Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce the Nguzo Saba (the Seven Principles.) These seven communitarian African values are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and

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Kwanza Ad.jpg

Kwanzaa 2015 6 26th Anniversary https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/sburks%40burkscomm.com/1517ea911cc44daf?projector=1

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Colorado Springs

Kinara (The Candle Holder) This is symbolic of our roots, our parent people - continental Africans.

Mishumaa Saba (The Seven Candles) These are symbolic of the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles, the matrix and minimum set of values which African people are urged to live by in order to rescue and reconstruct their lives in their own image and according to their own needs.

Mkeka (The Mat) This is symbolic of our tradition and history and therefore, the foundation on which we build.

Mazao (The Crops) These are symbolic of African harvest celebrations and of the rewards of productive and collective labor.

Zawadi (The Gifts) These are symbolic of the labor and love of parents and the commitments made and kept by the children.

Kikombe cha Umoja (The Unity Cup) This is symbolic of the foundational principle and practice of unity which makes all else possible.

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The two supplemental symbols are:Bendera (The Flag) The colors of the Kwanzaa flag are the colors of the Organization Us, black, red and green; black for the people, red for their struggle, and green for the future and hope that comes from their struggle. It is based on the colors given by the Hon. Marcus Garvey as national colors for African people throughout the world. Nguzo Saba Poster (Poster of The Seven Principles)

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Friday June 3, 2016 Denver Marriot City Center

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Muhindi (The Corn) This is symbolic of our children and our future which they embody.

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Kwanzaa has seven basic symbols and two supplemental ones. Each represents values and concepts reflective of African culture and contributive to community building and reinforcement. The basic symbols in Swahili and then in English are:

Kwanzaa 2015

H A P P Y K WA N Z A A SERVING THE COLORADO

COMMUNITY SINCE 1977

DENVER-ROCKY MOUNTAIN ASSOCIATION O F B L ACK PSY CH OL O GIST S

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SAVE THE DATE 26th Anniversary

EMOTIONAL EMANCIPATION CIRLCLES (EECs) BEGINNING 2016 Follow us & Get More Information about the EECs facebook.com/Denver-Rocky-Mountain-Association-of-Black-Psychologists

12/16/2015

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Reclaiming

socialization

Segregation, Colonization and white supremacy ideology had a devastating impact upon us. The greatest impact of all of these evil forces was the assault on and damage to our core views, a loss of clarity about who we are, a loss of our family bonds and social fragmentation; mainly because of the loss of control over the socialization of our people. Nothing is more central to our existence and survival than that. Without control over our socialization, there will be no politics, economics, even spirituality or anything else that is vital for us as a people. We will become the ultimate individual dependents of those who do control their own community socialization. By socialization, I mean schooling, training, education, and above all the intergenerational transmission of our culture.

Even now, with fragmentation and disunity in our communities, we still have the power to reclaim control over our socialization of our children and re-socialization of ourselves. We can transform ourselves at any time of our own choosing. It merely takes a decision to do so. For that we must be awake, critical and informed about our context and ourselves. We must understand what has happened to us. We must know where to go for leadership that places our issues at the center of all efforts.

We have not yet failed the do what is required. We have not been trying to do what is required. We are busy “surviving,� accumulating, and wasting our precious time and resources. We have abandoned responsibility and activity. This condition must change immediately.

(Also see Asa G. Hilliard III, The Maroon Within Us: Lessons on African American Community Socialization. and Asa G. Hilliard III, SBA: The Reawakening of the African Mind.

Colorado

At one time we were whole. We knew ourselves and had a sense of our past, an appreciation of our culture and a sense of our common destiny. We assumed full responsibility for the socialization of our children and of our community in general.

That gave us a strong collective identity, bond and a shared direction.

Today, all over the African world, our children and we are being raised almost totally under the authority of and even hands on leadership of others.

Traditional spiritual and community leaders have been replaced by non-African leaders of thought and action. In the United States, it is hard to find anyplace where our children’s primary service leaders are within the African family. Forces outside our communities control virtually all socializing agencies and structures such as daycare, early schooling, public schools, higher education, mass media, entertainment, public policy, etc., ultimately. Many of those who control the agencies and leaders of our socialization have shown little or no support for us, for our potentiality or for our destiny. This condition came upon us gradually while we slept.

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African people everywhere are truly at a defining moment in our long history. We have the oldest and best-recorded history and culture in human history, which includes a deep spirituality, great creative genius, and a commitment to our collective well-being. We have ways of life that rival any tradition on earth. Much of this tradition remains within our communities at an unconscious level, or accessible to us with a little effort.

A Life or death matter Colorado Springs

The hardest writing for me is the short essay. No full explanation is possible and generalizations require explanation, elaboration and documentation.

Nevertheless, I write here about one of my passionate concerns. It is about nothing less than the survival of African people, and especially about self-determination.

By Dr. Asa G. Hilliard III-(Nana Baffour Amankwatia II)

Fine Art • Portraits • Prints & more...

The Art of

Kwanzaa 2015

Dwayne Glapion

David M. Webb, D.D.S. 1911 Lelaray Street. #1 Colorado Springs, CO 80909 (719)633-7774

www.DwayneGlapion.com

10 26th Anniversary

Mr. G’s Hair Design Studios

Address: 603 S El Paso St # C, Colorado Springs, CO 80903 (719) 632-0027

Barbara Shannon- Banister, Ph.D. President/CEO Congratulations to the city of Colorado Springs honoring the essential seven principals of Kwanzaa during its 26th Annual citywide Kwanzaa Celebration

George Goree, Chair John A. Reid, Secretary Nonetta Pierre, Treasurer

Board of Directors

Glenn Waller, Chair-Emeritus Jeannie Davis, Assistant Secretary Veronica O. White, Board Administrator

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