National

Kwanzaa – Lifting Spirits in a Pandemic

Curtis Knowles tions have caused many to take a WI Contributing Writer different approach to celebrating the holiday. doubt that he will do the same kind Regan previously spent a decade at

With the end of the year nigh, One of the core values of Kwanand a ravenous plague surging zaa is the celebration of commuthroughout the world, people nity. The disruption of this core have turned to their end of year element is readily felt by those that festivities to lift spirits. Kwanzaa celebrate the holiday. is a celebration that brings people Kelly Davidson, owner of Keltogether. ly Maven Media has celebrated

The observance of Kwanzaa this Kwanzaa for 18 years. She noryear will be disrupted due to the mally goes to Kwanzaa events held pandemic. Being a communi- in and around the DMV area. ty-based holiday, the social restric- This year however is not the case as restrictions prohibit large gatherings of people.

When asked what Kwanzaa meant to her, Davidson said the holiday is “a center to where people can base their lives in. Kwanzaa is the foundational principle that I want to live by and want to raise my family by.”

Organizations that attempt to host Kwanzaa celebrations have had to face a new set of challenges due to the pandemic.

Substantial Arts and Music, a multimedia organization was planning on hosting their 2nd annual Kwanzaa celebration, that had to be made virtual due to the pandemic. This had led to a damper on participation in the celebration.

Stan “Substantial” Robinson, a co-founder of Substantial Arts and Music said “doing things in that space (virtual) can be very different from doing things in person. Kwanzaa contains elements of call and response and involving people in the space. It is very much an interactive holiday.”

The organization however has pointed out ways in which they

President-Elect Biden Picks Black Man to

Head U.S. EPA president-elect selects him, I have no Stacy M. Brown of job for our country,” Cooper statWI Senior Writer ed. can still hold the celebration as

President-elect Joe Biden contin- the federal EPA, including managing ues to honor his campaign pledge for a national program for air-pollution a diverse staff and cabinet. issues.

On Thursday, Dec. 17, Biden He has served as an associate vice picked Michael Regan, a Black man, president for climate and energy isto lead the Environmental Protection sues at the Environmental Defense Agency. Fund advocacy group and as head of

If confirmed, the historically Black his own environmental and energy North Carolina Agricultural and consulting firm. Technical State University graduate According to his biography, Regan would be the first African American also founded M. Regan & Associates, to lead the EPA. LLC, a firm dedicated to helping

Regan, who currently heads North organizations find transformational Carolina’s environmental agency, also holds a master’s degree from George solutions to complex energy, environmental and economic challenges. 5 Michael Regan (Courtesy photo) Washington University. Regan has served on several boards A native of Goldsboro, N.C., Re-

“Boom,” exclaimed Deitra Mat- and commissions focused on pol- gan has a bachelor’s degree in Earth thews, who holds an MPA in Pub- lution control and environmental and Environmental Science from lic Policy. “An HBCU grad.” North protection. They include the UNC N.C. Agricultural & Technical State Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who School of Law Center for Climate, University and a master’s degree in hired Regan for the state job, told the Energy, Environment and Econom- Public Administration from George Associated Press on Wednesday that ics, Green 2.0, N.C. Commission on Washington University. Regan was “a consensus builder and a Global Climate Change, N.C. Ener- Regan and his wife, Melvina, and fierce protector of the environment.” gy Policy Council and the Executive their son, Matthew, live in Raleigh.

“He’s been part of a strong, diverse Steering Committee of Envision WI cabinet in North Carolina. And if the Charlotte. @StacyBrownMedia

5 Stan and Rachelle Robinson, co-founders of Substantial Arts and Music participate in Kwanzaa which begins Dec. 26. (Courtesy photo/Kelly Davidson Maven Media)

well to reach a larger audience.

“The great thing about this being a cultural program is that no event will be the same. Everybody brings in their own spice… their own vision” says Rachelle Etienne-Robinson. Mrs. Etienne-Robinson is also a co-founder of Substantial Arts and Music.

With everything being in a virtual space to coincide with pandemic restrictions, people are still finding ways to connect and celebrate the people and events they hold dear. The holiday of Kwanzaa still has its patrons that are willing to keep the tradition alive and spread it to others as well.

The holiday was created by Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga in 1966 to be the first pan-African holiday. The holiday pulls from African traditions of the harvest. The name stems from the Swahili phrase “Matunda ya Kwanza” which roughly translates to the “first fruits of harvest”. The holiday is celebrated between Dec. 26 through Jan 1.

The celebration is centered around Nguzo Saba, which means seven principles of African Heritage. Each value is celebrated on a different day. A Kinara (Swahili for candelabra) holds seven candles, three red, one black, and three green. The black candle in the center is burned first with a subsequent red or green candle burned each night until all seven are lit. The seven principles are; Umoja(Unity), Kujichagulia(Self-determination), Ujima(Collective Work), Ujamaa(Cooperative Economics), Nia(Purpose), Kuumba(Creativity), and Imani(Faith).

On the sixth night, the Karamu Ya Imani (Feast of Faith) is held. Dishes for Kwanzaa stems from the entire African diaspora. Some symbolic foods are the Mazoa, or the fruits and vegetables symbolizing the bounty of the harvest. The Muhindi or ears of corn which represent the number of children still present in the home. The Kikombe Cha Umoja is a special chalice used in the Tambiko ritual of honoring the ancestors.

The final night is an exchange of gifts. The gifts are usually based on the principles of the celebration.

The celebration originated in the 1960s and serves as a pathway for African Americans to reconnect with their origins and selves. The traditions still hold true as even a global pandemic as not stopped those that wish to celebrate with their community.

WI

NATIONAL

Push is On to Gain African-American Confidence in Vaccine

Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer

Former President Barack Obama has vowed to take the new COVID-19 vaccination on live television. Dr. Ebony Hilton, a physician in the critical care and anesthesiology department at the University of Virginia Health, is also publicly taking the vaccine and documenting how she’s coping on YouTube.

On day 1 of the availability of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, Queens, New York, critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay received the first dose of the two-shot vaccine at about 9:20 a.m. EST on Monday, Dec. 14.

What Obama, Dr. Hilton, and Lindsay have in common is that they are African American.

Intentional or not, the rollout has featured prominent Black people.

The mistrust in medicine and science in the Black community remains palpable for lots of well-founded reasons.

“Truth and transparency are going to start with me,” Dr. Hilton declared. “I want you to see me in real-time as I undergo this process, and as my body adapts as I have this medicine in my body.”

Former Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker, an African American, also urged Black people to get vaccinated.

Baker praised Meharry Medical College President Dr. James Hildreth, one of the world’s leading immunologists and an African American who sat on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s panel that approved the rollout of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.

“There was an African American doctor that was in charge of the vaccine,” Baker, who is currently manager for the Houston Astros, said during a video call.

“I felt more comfortable that he and other African Americans were on the boards to come up with the vaccine. And he guaranteed that it wouldn’t be another Tuskegee kind of experiment. And he urged Black Americans to use the vaccine.”

Because of the Tuskegee experiment, the notorious 40-year study that began in 1932, where U.S. Public Health officials misled African Americans about their health status, Black people have held a mistrust in medicine and medical science.

The study’s participants were infected with syphilis and health officials withheld treatment, such as antibiotics, leaving some to die.

“The Tuskegee Experiment ended ten years before I was born, and

PUSH Page 43

(Photo courtesy of Pexels) 5 Dusty Baker (Courtesy photo)

2021 Urban Journalism Workshop

Learn print, radio, television & digital

The Washington Association of Black Journalists encourages Washington, D.C.-area high school students to apply to its annual Urban Journalism Workshop (UJW). The winter/spring 2021 session celebrates 35 years. Longtime Chicago Tribune and St. Louis Times Dispatch reporter George Curry, former Washington Post reporter Athelia Knight and others started the program in 1986. UJW gives students the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of print, radio, TV and online news. Current and former journalists with The Washington Post, NPR, The Washington Informer and other outlets volunteer to teach and mentor participants. Seniors who enter the program’s essay contest compete for a scholarship.

Sessions are held for eight consecutive Saturdays 9am - 4pm from 27 February – 17 April, finishing with a closing ceremony in early June. High School students, grades 9-12, in the greater D.C.-area are eligible to apply. Scholarship criteria includes an essay, stories produced in the workshop, class attendance and participation in all eight sessions.

To download the application, learn more about the Urban Journalism Workshop and/or the essay contest and scholarship, visit www.ujwonline.org or contact UJW Coordinator Trina Williams at ujwdc@aol.com. Applications and required materials must be received by 30 January 2021.

ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LIFE AND HISTORY® VIRTUAL FESTIVAL THE 2021 BLACK HISTORY MONTH

CELEBRATING THE 95TH ANNUAL BLACK HISTORY THEME The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity

Monday, February 1, 2021 FREE COMMUNITY EVENT - OPEN TO PUBLIC

Announcement of the Black History theme and Introduction of ASALH’s Inaugural Virtual Black History Month Festival

Saturday, February 6, 2021 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST FREE COMMUNITY EVENT - OPEN TO PUBLIC

From the Continent to the Americas: Foodways, Culture and Traditions in the African American Family

Wednesday, February 10, 2021 FREE COMMUNITY EVENT - OPEN TO PUBLIC

Presentation of the Inaugural ASALH Book Prize

Wednesday, February 24, 2021 FREE COMMUNITY EVENT - OPEN TO PUBLIC

Diving with a Purpose

Sunday, February 28, 2021 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EST FREE COMMUNITY EVENT - OPEN TO PUBLIC

ASALH Prince George’s County Truth Branch Event Featuring a conversation with Dr. Bernice King

Sunday, February 28, 2021 7:00 p.m. EST FREE COMMUNITY EVENT - OPEN TO PUBLIC

ASALH and PBS Books Present: A Conversation with Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and Sundiata Cha-Jua

Marquee Event Saturday, February 20, 2021 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST (TICKETED EVENT: $50.00) Finding Our Roots in African American History

A Conversation with… Henry Louis Gates and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham Acclaimed for his scholarship, his documentary films about African, Afro-Latin, and African American History, and his popular television series, “Finding Your Roots,” Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has brought fascinating African American family stories to the wider public. The Black History Month Festival in 2021 is proud to feature a conversation between ASALH’s national president Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who will share his thoughts and motivations in popularizing Black History through the heritage of African American families and communities and their search for roots.

ASALH BRANCHES WILL HOST VIRTUAL PROGRAMS THROUGHOUT THE MONTH ASALH BRANCH EVENTS CAN BE FOUND AT ASALH.ORG/BRANCH-EVENTS

ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LIFE AND HISTORY THE FOUNDERS OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH WWW.ASALH.ORG | 202-238-5910 | #ASALH #ASALHFAMILY #ASALHFAM #ASALH2021