Swahili

Practicing Sankofa: Seasons of Struggle and Change

We move through February and March to celebrate Black History Month I and II as naturally and necessarily as men and women meet and merge for joy and life, and seasons change and bring some new and needed good into the world. Our history is a self-conscious and sustained struggle for growth, transformation and transcendence to ever higher levels of human life in ever-expanding realms of human freedom and human flourishing.

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

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.   

Pursuing the Seven-Fold Path of Blackness: Practicing Principles of Life and Struggle

Now, at the heart of the pursuit of the Seven-Fold Path of Blackness, i.e., Think Black, Talk Black, Act Black, Create Black, Buy Black, Vote Black and Live Black is the overarching goal to bring good in our lives and the world. It is to remind us of the centrality of ourselves in our own lives, our own history and the ongoing ethical imperative to constantly repair, renew and remake ourselves, our communities, our people and the world, making them all more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited and encountered them.

Bringing Forth the Fire Within Us: Weathering the Worst of Winters

Reflecting on the challenge before us, I am drawn to the word for “challenge” in Swahili, changamoto. The word is a combination of two words—moto (fire) and changa which has several meanings, but is here interpreted as both to collect and to contribute. Thus, it literally means both to collect and contribute fire, a gathering and giving of fire, interpreting fire here as vital and transformative energy and focused and determined agency.

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

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.

Rightfully Linking Reparations and Liberation: Righteously Repairing Ourselves and the World

As a new and expanded round of reparations discussions and discourse take place in the public square and in the current political campaigns, seeking promised votes and progressive validation, it is vital for us to maintain control of how we define and pursue this world historical project. Indeed, it is important to look back, remember and reflect and not rush forward thinking it’s all over but the shouting. For ours is the most ancient of human histories with an endless library of lessons in life, work and struggle. And we know from this history, there is no easy walk or way to the victory in struggle we seek, not only to achieve reparations, but also a liberated life in which reparation is truly realized.

Brazil Museum Tallies Up African Antiquities Lost in Fire

The museum’s permanent African exhibit was named Kumbukumbu – a Swahili word for the memory of  people, objects and experiences. A throne from the Kingdom of Dahomey (current-day Benin) and ritual objects of Afro-Brazilian religion (Candomble) were some of the museum’s most prized possessions.