Breaking News

Kwanzaa

First International Virtual Celebration of Kwanzaa With Its Founder, Dr. Maulana Karenga
Dr. Maulana KarengaFamilyInternationalLifestyleNationalNews

First International Virtual Celebration of Kwanzaa With Its Founder, Dr. Maulana Karenga

Sentinel News ServiceDecember 24, 2020

This celebration of the 54th anniversary of Kwanzaa will include virtual, live and taped highlights of performances by internationally known artists from the 49th Annual International African Arts Festival, including the Asase Yaa African American Dance Theatre. At the center of the celebration will be Dr. Karenga’s Annual Founder’s Kwanzaa Message titled: “Kwanzaa and the Well-Being of the World: Living and Uplifting the Seven Principles.”

Concerning Kwanzaa, Race and Religion: Particular, Universal and Common Ground
Dr. Maulana Karenga

Concerning Kwanzaa, Race and Religion: Particular, Universal and Common Ground

Dr. Maulana KarengaDecember 17, 2020

This is a revisiting of an early and ongoing conversation about the shared meaning of Kwanzaa, its particular cultural message to African people, and its core values that speak to the best of what it means to be African and human in the world and for the world. It raises the constantly relevant issues of race and religion and how they relate, not only to Kwanzaa as a holiday, but also to us as a people.

Symbols and Insights of Kwanzaa: Deep Meanings and Expansive Message
Dr. Maulana Karenga

Symbols and Insights of Kwanzaa: Deep Meanings and Expansive Message

Dr. Maulana KarengaDecember 10, 2020

Kwanzaa was conceived as a special time and space for celebrating, discussing and meditating on the rich and varied ways of being and becoming African in the world. It invites us all to study continuously its origins, principles and practices and it teaches us, in all modesty, never to claim we know all that is to be known about it or that our explanations are only for those who do not know much about its message and meaning.

Being Ella Baker Even After the Election: Valuing Our Victory, Continuing Our Struggle
Dr. Maulana KarengaOpinion

Being Ella Baker Even After the Election: Valuing Our Victory, Continuing Our Struggle

Dr. Maulana KarengaNovember 12, 2020

In our rightful celebration and valuing of our victory in saving ourselves and America from its Trumpian self, we must remember and recommit ourselves to continuing our larger struggle. For although we removed Trump, the monster side of America from office, the millions of people who support, enable and voted for him for a second term offer ample evidence the system itself is deeply flawed and in need of radical reconception and reconstruction. And so, at the outset, we must not harbor any Americana illusions of “we’re better than this or that,” as if “we” was all of us, doing wrong.

International Conference Celebrating the 55th Anniversary of The Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles)
EducationInternationalNationalNews

International Conference Celebrating the 55th Anniversary of The Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles)

Special to the SentinelOctober 8, 2020

A wide range of Black scholars, activists, teachers, students and community members from the national and global African community will join in discussions of critical issues confronting Black people nationally and internationally which begins this Sunday, October 11, 3:00pm at the virtual International Nguzo Saba 2020 Conference and will continue over the month. The conference marks the 55th Anniversary of The Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles), the Organization Us and the African American Cultural Center. Focus will be especially on the Nguzo Saba and their use by thousands of organizations and institutions in this country and throughout the world African community for value orientation, cultural grounding and programmatic initiatives.   

Reconcieving Our New Year Resolution: Remembering Our Work in the World
Dr. Maulana KarengaOpinion

Reconcieving Our New Year Resolution: Remembering Our Work in the World

Dr. Maulana KarengaDecember 26, 2019

This coming New Year will be the year 6260 on our oldest cal­endar, the ancient Egyp­tian calendar, the oldest calendar in the world. And we are the oldest people in the world, the elders of humanity. In­deed, we are builders of a Nile Valley civi­lization named Kemet that was once called the Light of the World, the Navel of the World and the Temple of the world. Therefore, be­fore we lose ourselves in the established order ritual of new-year-lite resolution-making on everything from loss of weight to giving less to the lotto, we might want to pause, remember and think deeply, and then make resolutions worthy of our weight and work in the history of the world. And this requires that in the midst of the diminished and distort­ed portrait of ourselves painted by the dominant society, we remember and rightly conceive of ourselves in more truth­ful, dignity-affirming and expansive ways.

Celebrating Kwanzaa in the City: Highlighting Some Major Activities
Crenshaw & AroundFamilyLifestyleLocalNewsNews (Family)

Celebrating Kwanzaa in the City: Highlighting Some Major Activities

Sentinel News ServiceDecember 19, 2019

This marks the 53rd annual celebration of the self-determined, culturally-grounded and family and community focused holiday, Kwanzaa. Celebrated by millions of people throughout the world African community, Kwanzaa is a seven-day (December 26-January 1) pan-African and African American holiday created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chair of the Department of Africana Studies, Cal State University, Long Beach and executive director of the African American Cultural Center (Us).

Annual Founder’s Kwanzaa Message – 2019 ‘Living Kwanzaa and the Seven Principles: An All-Seasons Celebration and Practice of the Good’
Dr. Maulana KarengaOpinion

Annual Founder’s Kwanzaa Message – 2019 ‘Living Kwanzaa and the Seven Principles: An All-Seasons Celebration and Practice of the Good’

Dr. Maulana KarengaDecember 19, 2019

Each year Kwanzaa provides us with a special and unique time to see and celebrate ourselves as African people in beautiful, uplifting and liberating ways. But it also offers us a set of principles which, if practiced throughout the year, ensure that Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles, are not only subjects and references for a season, but also a lived and living tradition. Indeed, making Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba what Seba Malcolm called “a living reality” is made more compelling by their origins in a history and culture of righteous and relentless struggle by our people to bring and sustain good in the world.

Righteous Reflection On Being African: A Kwanzaa Meditation
Dr. Maulana KarengaOpinion

Righteous Reflection On Being African: A Kwanzaa Meditation

Dr. Maulana KarengaDecember 12, 2019

Kwanzaa is a time of celebration, remembrance, reflection and recommitment. It requires these practices throughout the holiday. But the last day of Kwanzaa is dedicated to deep reflection, meditation on the meaning and measure of being African and how this is understood and asserted for good in the world in essential, uplifting and transformative ways.

Symbols and Insights of Kwanzaa: Deep Meanings and Expansive Message
Dr. Maulana KarengaOpinion

Symbols and Insights of Kwanzaa: Deep Meanings and Expansive Message

Dr. Maulana KarengaDecember 5, 2019

Kwanzaa was conceived as a special time and space for celebrating, discussing and meditating on the rich and varied ways of being and becoming African in the world. It invites us all to study continuously its origins, principles and practices and it teaches us, in all modesty, never to claim we know all that is to be known about it or that our explanations are only for those who do not know much about its message and meaning. For each year each of us should read and reread the literature, reflect on the views and values of Kwanzaa and share conversations about how it reaffirms our rootedness in African culture and brings us together all over the world in a unique and special way to celebrate ourselves as African people. One focus for such culturally-grounded conversation is on the deep meanings and message embedded in the symbols of Kwanzaa which are rooted in Kawaida philosophy out of which Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba were created. Indeed, each symbol is a source and point of departure for a serious conversation on African views and values and the practices that are rooted in and reflect them.