Monday, December 31, 2012

Scenes from the 12 29 2012 FFF Kwanzaa Celebration


Scenes from the 12 29 2012 Father's First Fruits Kwanzaa Celebration.
Prepared for approximately 75 guests. Hit 90 guests when it was all said and done! Enjoyed Soul Line Dancing, AfroZumba with Sparkle, Che-Che Cule African dance, Food, Umoja-Bingo, The Ujima-Puzzle Game, Chess, Checkers, The Kuumba Wall, Photographer Hot-Rod, Sister Sharon teaching new line dances (The Patty-Patti and The Broken Stones), Hanging out and socializing, The Music of DJ B.WIN, The Mishumu Saba Ritual, and an all out party with an over-arching sense of faith. Began with prayer and Libation, ended with a prayer and the party !
 Sparkle from Dance with Sparkle showed her AfroZumba styles !
 Sparkle from Dance with Sparkle showed her AfroZumba styles !
 Sparkle from Dance with Sparkle showed her AfroZumba styles !
 1/3 (#1)of the crowd before we ran out of chairs and walking space !
  1/3 (#2)of the crowd before we ran out of chairs and walking space !
 Young DJ B.WIN worked the dance and party music with his musical Kuumba !
 Here is the Kuumba wall before the crowd arrived !
 Folding the programs for the guests !
 The Kuumba Wall after the event !
  The Kuumba Wall after the event !

 From the Royal Sisters, one of our exhibitors.
  The Kuumba Wall after the event !
  The Kuumba Wall after the event !
  The Kuumba Wall's final customer  !
 Just getting ready to tear down the Kuumba Wall !



 Hot Rod the Photographer releasing his photos on 01/10/2013 - R2Z Entertainment (757-870-6692)
 Brother Seko & Sister Diana (She is one of the 1st in Hampton Roads, Va. to promote Kwanzaa events).
 Some of the Liberation Beads that the guests made, handled by Sister Hope V.
 The Puzzle Game - Guests won prizes by three guests competing against each other to arrange the pieces of a puzzle that showed the two youngsters embracing in Ujima !
 The Umoja (Bingo) playing card ! Uhuru to the three winners of the Umoja-bingo game !

Does Race Matter ? Activism Web-Show


Does Race Matter? (activism show) Topic: Is Affirmative Action Still Necessary?

The Webcast: http://youtu.be/rQ4g6YFhNo4

Does Race Matter (www.doesracematter.com) is an online talk show dealing with race related topics impacting African Americans in the new millennium. Today's topic: Is Affirmative Action Still Necessary? Guests: Diane Schachterle; Vice President, American Civil Rights Institute and George B. Washington; Attorney, BAMN debate the topic.

Sign Petition For Affirmative Action:

https://www.change.org/petitions/united-states-supreme-court-uphold-race-and-gender-preferences-in-education


Sign Petition Against Affirmative Action:

https://www.change.org/petitions/united-states-supreme-court-repeal-race-and-gender-preferences-in-higher-education

12 27 2012 Newspaper Article on Kwanzaa

Visit the link for the full photo:
12 27 2012 Newspaper Article on Kwanzaa
Here is a copy of the Virginia Pilot's article on the Essence Book Club's 12 27 2012 Kwanzaa event in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

MsAfropolitan - A year of African feminism

From: MsAfropolitan <msafropolitan@gmail.com>


MsAfropolitan

MsAfropolitan


Posted: 28 Dec 2012 10:11 AM PST
detalle del palacio real de fez A year of African feminism
I'd like to end the year here with a short recap.  I posted 72 blogs in 2012. They featured original content about race relations, pop culture, African affairs and psychology which are four of the five key themes of MsAfropolitan. The list below consists of the most popular blogs from the fifth major theme – African Feminism.
Here they are, my 7 most popular blogs about African feminism in 2012 

1. Feminism has always existed in Africa

2. There were no matriarchies in precolonial Africa

3. 7 key issues in African feminist thought

4. Discovering African feminism

5. White Women, Black Men & African Feminists

6. The real reason African patriarchs have a problem with African feminism

7. The multiple jeopardy of being an African woman

Elsewhere too, the African feminist cause was highlighted. For instance, The Guardian African Network was launched including African feminist blogs like this one and Black Looks. MsMagazine ran a series featuring interviews with African feminist bloggers and the remarkable South Africa based Agenda Feminist Media celebrated 25 years. African feminist sites continued to increase in number, I'd especially highlight Our Africa on Open Democracy, a platform profiling fresh thinking, critical analysis and activist initiatives by African women. Racialicious hosted an African feminist tweet-up with myself, Yaba Blay and Nana Darkoa-Sekyiamah, who also edited a book called Women Leading Africa: Politics, the Arts and Feminist Spaces. Nneka became the cultural ambassador for African feminist organisation, AWDF. African feminist and founder of Make Every Woman Count, Rainatou Sow, was listed as one of the 20 youngest African power women in Forbes. The Southbank Centre hosted a rare African feminist panel and there was the Central African Young feminists forum 2012 among other developments. There were exciting news from the arts sector and much more which we will continue to highlight in the new year.

It goes without saying that the inauguration of Joyce Banda as president of Malawi and for the election of Nkosazana Zuma-Dlamini, as AU chair were important African feminist milestones in 2012.

Twenty-twelve has been a meaningful year for African feminism and also for MsAfropolitan. The blog was nominated for three "Blogger of the year Awards" including RED Magazine's "Red Hot Women Awards' and I was chosen as one of forty under forty African changemakers by Applause Africa Magazine. I spoke about African feminism at several events in the UK, Europe and Africa as well as on TV programs and delivered a keynote speech at University of Northampton. (More details in Resume.)

Most of all, I continued to do what I love doing the most – writing and sharing content with you all. As the 3rd anniversary of the site approaches, I'm beyond excited to keep bringing you (hopefully) thought-provoking posts about African feminist news, popular culture as well as cultural and  philosophical opinion.

 Join me here and on Facebook and Twitter in 2013 and you contact me on these three platforms as well as via email if you have blog suggestions or would like to write a guest blog.

That's it for 2012. Thanks for your company! Wishing you a wonderful, dynamic, successful and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
 
 
 _______________________________
MsAfropolitan is the blog of Minna Salami, writer and commentator on Africa, African feminism, race, identity and founder of MsAfropolitan.com.
Subscribe to posts via email or RSS . Check out the MsAfropolitan TumblrFacebookTwitter and shop design by women of African heritage in the MsAfropolitan Boutique
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The Legend of Lincoln Unchained


The Legend of Lincoln Unchained
 
By EZRAH AHARONE
 
While Django Unchained is stirring controversy, Steven Spielberg's movie Lincoln, has unchained the Legend of Lincoln to new mythic heights, without due challenge. Just as organizations like the NAACP denounced conservative-revisionist textbooks in Texas in 2010, they should denounce liberal-bent historical accounts that either ignorantly or deliberately fail to concede that "Abraham Lincoln did the right thing for the wrong reasons." Or as Lerone Bennett aptly conveyed in the title of his book, Lincoln was in effect - Forced Into Glory.

            Nevertheless, the fictions of Lincoln enrich the commercial and moral value of Americana more than the facts of Lincoln. As Bennett writes, Lincoln "is a national industry involving hundreds of millions of dollars a year . . . and the thousands of people who profit materially and the millions who profit psychologically and culturally are not going to stop."

So what really happened with Lincoln and the Civil War? Considering the racism that abounds today, it's inconceivable that 3 million Whites would fight gung-ho and 600,000 would unselfishly die for a "Black cause" way-back 150 years ago. And if Lincoln factually wrote the Emancipation Proclamation to genuinely "free Africans" after 2 and a half centuries, its contents would seemingly be more etched into African-American minds. But if you ask around, it would be a near-miracle to find anyone (Black academics and leaders included) who can even paraphrase any portion of it, much less clarify its contents. Isn't that strange?

      An unlikely but well-accredited vetting source of the Legend of Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation is President Obama himself, who will take his second Oath of Office 150 years to the date.  As a senator in a 2005 Time interview he remarked
: "I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as 'The Great Emancipator' . . . I am fully aware of his limited views on race. Anyone who actually reads the Emancipation Proclamation knows it was more a 'Military Document' than a clarion call for justice. Scholars tell us too that Lincoln wasn't immune from political considerations and that his temperament could be indecisive and morose."

Neither due justice nor the ambiguousness of the real Lincoln can be condensed here, but his "racism" or "limited views on race" as Obama diplomatically cites, is evidenced in a 1858 speech when he candidly said he was not "in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races . . . and I just as much as any other man am in favor of the superior position assigned to the white race."

Examples of his "crudity" or not being "immune from political considerations" as Obama intimates, is found in his letter to New York Tribune editor, Horace Greely in August 1862 stating: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union."

The following month, the real Lincoln proposed a shrewd Preliminary Proclamation to emancipate Africans in Confederate areas. The caveat though was that Confederate states could retain slavery, providing they complied to return to the Union by January 1, 1863. However, should the war have ended beforehand, the deal would be rescinded and Confederates would lose both the war and slavery.

In terms of the Emancipation Proclamation being a "military document," Obama is corroborating Lincoln's strategy to employ the document as a war measure to disrupt the South's stability and slave-economy ($4 billion in human capital alone in 1860's dollars) and offset the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (which federally mandated that fugitive Africans be returned or abettors faced treason). It only "theoretically" freed Africans in Confederate states where he lacked enforcement.

Lastly, the moral notion that Lincoln waged the Civil War "to end slavery" is negated by his swift removal of General John Fremont for "freeing Africans" in Missouri in 1861, expressing: "We didn't go into the war to put down slavery, but to put the flag back . . . for I never should have had votes enough to send me here if the people had supposed I should try to use my power to upset slavery."

In this microwave society with 10-second attention spans, fictional characters like Django are short-lived. But here to stay is the Legend of Lincoln, who like many of his predecessors was gigantic in ambition but miniature in morality. Obama was diplomatic, but the open masquerading of Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation that he insinuates, reflects a need for concerned Black people and institutions to converge and confront such distortions and profiteering that are unchained at our historical and ancestral expense.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ezrah Aharone is an adjunct associate professor at Delaware State University, and author of two acclaimed political books: Sovereign Evolution: Manifest Destiny from Civil Rights to Sovereign Rights (2009) and Pawned Sovereignty: Sharpened Black Perspectives on Americanization, Africa, War and Reparations (2003). He can be reached at Ezrah@EzrahSpeaks.com.


Today: Sat. 12/29/2012 @ 4:00 - 6:00 pm Kwanzaa Celebration in Virginia Beach

Here is the website for the event:
http://happilyeverafter.be/ fathers1stfruits.html
Celebrating America's African Heritage !
With a little Soul & Gospel Flava' !

Since 1970 the Varner family has continued their celebration of God's greatest gift to the world with a celebration of Mother Africa's gift to the Americas ! Join the Varner family for their annual Gospel and Soulfully flavored Kwanzaa celebration Sat. December 29th, 2012 from 4:00 - 6:00 pm in the fellowship hall of Christian Church Uniting, 6049 Indian River Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The event is FREE ! A canned good or $2 donation will benefit the residents and programming of The Dwelling Place homeless shelter. Enjoy family games, snacks, Cultural fun, join the Afro-Carib-Latin "KwanZumba" moves of Dance with Sparkle, hang out with some great friends, get your Same-Ol-2step, Cupid Shuffle, and WOBBLE on with Line Dancers with Purpose, party with DJ B.WIN, and enjoy the Kwanzaa candle lighting ceremony. ALL ARE WELCOME !


Saturday Dec. 29th, 2012
Entrance fee:  FREE
$1 donation per person benefits
The Dwelling Place Homeless Shelter

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
The Christian Church Uniting

6049 Indian River Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23464
757-420-1422

The church is next to the Hardees on Indian River Road.


Peace & prosperity,
DJ Seko & Wifey Rhonda VArner
Fun ! Family ! Financial FREEdom !
Cell/Office: 757-248-3820 Fax: 866-400-0201
http://www.happilyeverafter.be




Friday, December 28, 2012

757 Virginia Kwanzaa events 12/28 & 12/29 & 1/1/13

12/28/12 - Old Hampton Community Center, Hampton, Virginia @ 6:00 pm
Old Hampton Community Center
201 Lincoln Street
Hampton, Virginia 23669
757-727-1125
 

12/29/12 - Father 1st Fruits Kwanzaa, Virginia Beach
4:00 - 6:30 pm
                 www.positivevibes.net/fathers1stfruits.html
Get your WOBBLE ON ! Soul Line Dance and Celebrate Africa
                     4:00 PM - 6:30 PM
                     The Christian Church Uniting
                            6049 Indian River Road 
                     Virginia Beach, VA 23464

               


  01/01/13 - Imani Day Kwanzaa Celebration
CELEBRATE KWANZAA 2013 IN
THE NAT TURNER LIBRARY BUILDING
Annual Open House at The Nat Turner Library's
3rd Children's Kwanzaa Imani Day Celebration
January 1, 2012 12 Noon to 6 P.M. Come and Stay Awhile
Good Books, Good Food, Including the Original Bean Pie, Good Music
Good Melanin Mates and Single Melanin Men and Women
RSVP REQUESTED … SCHEDULE OF EVENTS ALSO INCLUDE:
Nat Turner Living History Tour 11 am to 1 pm
434-378-2140  -   434-378-2140 khalifah23844@yahoo.com
26070 Barhams Hills Road  -  Drewryville, VA 23844

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Holidays With Reparations In Mind


THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS WITHIN
THE MOST AWESOME, WHOLESOME TIME OF THE YEAR
The ¾ Progression of The Sun Through the Equinoxes Beginning Winter;
Seasonal Analysis  With Reparations on My Mind         By H. Khalif Khalifah
[if the Reader cares not, or haven't  sufficient interest in reading the essay that follows: know for sure: The Holiday Season is resplendent with energy, Joy, and happiness. But is also the time for reflection on the success of our Spiritual Journey: the weighing of our heart with the Proverbial Feather will help to determine opportunities missed during 2012; and opportunities we will have again in 2013]

DECEMBER, KUJICHAGULIA, 2012
NAT TURNER LIBRARY, DREWRYVILLE, VA    The Holiday Season back in olden days, as it is today, is centered around holiday celebrations and commercial exploitation, in midst of more than a few individual, wholesome humans who signify the fact that, in December our Sun has traversed the Cosmos, some 3/4th  of the three hundred and sixty degrees of it annual Solar Cycle Journey.

There is much joy in knowing we have made it through 3 parts. The joy of a celebration at the beginning of the last ¼, the Winter Solstice is mixed with apprehension by us who have strove to be mindful of the opportunity to empower ourselves during the journey.

AS IT WAS PROCLAIMED
As it happens, so-called Western Men and women proclaimed the partial journey to be the end of the year. As with many Natural happens in Creation, they called it completely wrong. But though many know the Western calendar wrong and is NOTthe the end of the sun's progression, The Holiday Season is a genuine, cheerful, joyous time from several perspectives., namely they include,
CHRISTMAS, KWANZAA, HANUKAH, FINAL JUDGMENT

As I hope you know, all entities in the Creation are going around in circles. As the sun take its journey around and through a prescribe course in the Cosmos, the earth going a around the sun. So in actuality we humans are also on a journey.

Each step on the journey we meet things that earned during previous journeys. If they are challenges, the meeting affords an opportunity to overcome and master the challenge.
Mastering the challenges allows for growth to become the best of the potential that is within us. The apprehension, some feel, is because amid all the joy and cheer of the season, this is also the time of the year when the Final Judgment will be rendered. Judgment is rendered after determining how successful we were in overcoming the challenges in our lives during the past year.
 
STICK OUT THINGS OCCUR EACH YEAR
 
There are two remarkable things that stick out from all others every Holiday Season, to me. 1. The fact that the Final Judgment we speak of will be decided by our own self examination 2. Whether or not you receive a 100% passing grade will be the balancing of the content of your heart to the weight of a feather.
If you pass at 100% you have reached the pinnacle in actualizing the potential that is in the Human Being.

Us who have dedicated ourselves to the realization of our potential understand our potential to be that of a divine being. As such all we need say is be and it becomes.
Since it is unlikely anyone will reach that pinnacle during this Solar Cycle Journey, the judgment will be the source to determine the challenges that you have the opportunity to overcome during the next Solar Cycle Journey.

REPARATIONS ON THE MIND OF NCOBRA PEOPLE
The actual beginning of the New Year by cosmic reckoning is at the completion of the Solar Cycle Journey. It will then be Spring time. There we plant the seeds that we harvested and saved during the Winter Solstice.

What Did We Harvest. What Are We Reaping during The 2012 Holiday Season. In example, The ONE overriding thing Black people are not harvesting this season is Reparations.
This means we will once again face the challenge to collect the debt owed and begin the healing for the malady that has haunted The Race for, as one writer called it, 4,000 Seasons. Will we master the LAWS that will allow us to overcome the challenge in the year 2013…Time will Tell.
 
H. Khalif Khalifah is Founder, of Publishing company, UBUS Communications Systems, Organizer and Senior Tour Guide of The Nat Turner Trail, Author of 15 books, publisher of more than 600, Founder of the Nat Turner Library in Southampton County, VA. He was one of the principle leaders and builders of the infrastructure of NCOBRA, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America during the 1990s. He was NCOBRA Liaison to the Million Man March, making a mighty contribution to the success of the March (42 buses), he presently lives In Khalifah Kujichagulia Village Virginia, KKVV, on a Farm with his Daughter, Journalist Nadirah and Grandson Heru. Presently he is writing his Memoirs and doing all possible to assist and support the work of deserving, committed Black Youth who can utilize some of his considerable material wealth. He can be reached 10am to 3pm daily at 434-378-2140 or publish@khabooks.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 CELEBRATE KWANZAA 2012 @ THE NAT TURNER LIBRARY 26070 Barhams Hills Road, Drewryville, Virginia 23844: Imani Day, January 1, 2013. Open house 12 noon to 6 p.m. Dedicated to Correcting, Preserving and Propagating Black History. Call 434-378-2140 or 434-378-5536 for more info: go to ww.black-e-books.com  khalifah@khabooks.com
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Lion meat - It's not fit to eat !


From: Cheryl Semcer via Change.org [mailto:mail@change.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2012 12:43 PM
To: dcl@cox.net
Subject: Lion meat
 
Change.org
 
Diana -
I never imagined the impact I would have when I started my first petition on Change.org asking a restaurant in Kansas to stop serving lion meat. But I won with the help of other Change.org users!
I still wondered if the sale of lion meat was happening in other places, and who was letting this happen.
It turns out there are a lot of problems with lion meat: it's not only bad for lions, but also humans. The origins of lion meat are nearly untraceable, with some of it coming from farms where they're raised for circus entertainment, their hides, and slaughter. Killing lions for human consumption also falls between the cracks of federal agency responsibility, and therefore the meat is rarely inspected. Since the processing goes unregulated, lions aren't even protected by humane slaughter laws.
It's unbelievable to me that any restaurant would be allowed to sell lion meat -- especially when the meat is potentially unsafe. Thats why I started a new petition on Change.org, this time calling on the United States Department of Agriculture to ban the sale of all lion meat. Click here to sign!
Lion meat isn't regulated by the USDA or the Food and Drug Administration -- even though it's often deceitfully marketed this way. This lack of clear oversight makes it nearly impossible to trace the origin of lion meat and how it's processed. 
And to make matters worse, experts say that serving lion meat at restaurants in the U.S. could further drive the dwindling wild population into extinction. 
Restaurants market lion meat because it's shocking -- but the government shouldn't be allowing a gimmick like this that could decimate the lion population and make people sick. My petition asking a local restaurant to stop serving lion meat won -- and was widely covered in the media. By showing popular support for a ban on all lion meat, I believe the USDA will be forced to listen. 
Thank you for your support. 
Cheryl Semcer
Hoboken, New Jersey
This email was sent by Change.org to dcl@cox.net   |   Start a petition
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Umoja, Unity - We Are One in Splendor by Seko Varner

Umoja, Unity - We Are One in Splendor

We are one in splendor:
We stayed in the house today (12/26/2012). We watched BET's marathon of Alex Haley movies and explained aspects of America's history of Improvement with our children. In the midst of the marathon I smiled thinking how far my family has come based upon the stories my grandmothers told me of our history. I also grimaced, considering the difficult Christmas time my family has had this year. On New Years Eve I consoled a tearful and shaking woman who wondered aloud "I fought to stay alive for this ? I didn't stay alive for this life." Her words were like a cold drink on a bad tooth. I struggled to remain calm and whisper "I glad... We're glad that you decided to fight. We're glad you're alive Mom." Mom then shared her despair that the family seemed dis-jointed and her fears that wounds would never heal. "I just want us to be ONE." Forcing a smile I struggled to say "We Are One. We will remain one." I then prayed to the Almighty for Oneship' followed by talking in-my-mind to the memory of my Father and Mother-In-Law. "Dad, Mom (Mother-in-law) - a familiar presence is needed." I needed a sign.

The next morning I awoke and prayed "Yeshua (Jesus), As your followers celebrate your birth, allow my family to feel your splendor." Later that afternoon my revered Sister (Sister-in-law) became engaged. Later that afternoon the wounds that afflicted my family began healing. Later that afternoon I delivered a Christmas plate from a family get-together to my Mum who was finally sleeping soundly. It is truly beautiful and splendid for brethren to dwell together in Unity. I awoke this morning to a day that we dedicate to Building and Maintaining Unity in the family, community, nation and race. Habari Gani ? - Umoja (Unity). We are one in splendor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From December 26th, 2007:
http://daddyvarner.blogspot.com/2007/12/we-are-one.html
We are one.... Today we had a PJday. We remained in the home and the kids and the Wifey never left their pajamas. I left the home only to turn in some paperwork at one of my side hustles, and also to buy some food from Choice Pizza & Subs in Virginia Beach. We stayed in the whole day and played, watched t.v., ate together, and had family time. During dinner I turned off the television and picked up a newspaper article that asked the question "What do you know about Kwanzaa ?"

I've been celebrating Kwanzaa for over 30 years. While in Columbus, Ohio my pops/mum sponsored Dr. Karenga (The main creator of the American Kwanzaa celebration) and his equally radical wife to stay with us as he did a three day cultural event for my pops' church Advent United Church of Christ. My Father (aided by my Mum) built this church from a few follks in my parent's living room. We had been celebrating our Kwanzaa for about seven years when Karenga came. He was a bit much for me then, as I really wanted just to fit in and Columbus Ohio in the 1980's was still a little scared of Kwanzaa. Each day during Kwanzaa in the 80's a group of Afrika-loving folk would gather together in homes, community centers, churches and in parks (t'was really cold in the parks) and revel in our ancestral love. (Circa 1977 - 1986) I loved these celebrations as people got together and pot-lucked, listened to story tellers, danced to African Drums from Tony West and The Imani Dancers, partied with a D.J. who threw-down, and the ladies were so hot !
Today will be my children's 7th and 6th Kwanzaa respectively. Kwanzaa is just something our family does, my parents have a well attended family Kwanzaa celebration every year and my daughter previously danced with a group (http://www.suwabiafricanballet.com/) named Suwabi Afrikan Ballet. I have also coordinated a long standing Kwanzaa celebration for the Imani Foundation (http://www.imanifoundation.com/) for about nine yars (tomorrow will be the 19th annual event for Imani Foundation which is 12 years old...we were members of Uhuruu African American Cultural for seven years and ran our program under that moniker). This year I declined to coordinate the event, and I will resign my position as the President of The Imani Foundation on 12/27/2008.

Normally on 12/26 we are at somebodies public event. This year we stayed home, as Kwanzaa should stay at home, as it was intended. Karenga and the U.S. organization (Karenga did develop the celebration with other people) designed public Kwanzaa events as events to teach non-practitioners how to celebrate Kwanzaa. At the close of tonight's dinner I asked my kids (to innitiate our Kwanzaa celebration) "What do you know about Kwanzaa ?" My daughter stated "The Red is for STRUGGLE, the Black is for PEOPLE, the Green is for HOPE." That's not completely the descriptions that the U.S. organization provided, yet that is what I have chosen to teach my kids. I didn't diverge from the truth, I removed some terms that may separate us from our peers. My wife greeted them with "Habri Gani" and my son said "Que Paso" (a loose translation into soulful-spanish). Then he and my daughter both said Umoja. Umoja being the principle of today prompted the question "What is Unity ?" My Son-sun answered that Unity is everything being stuck together and becoming like one. He then explained how the entire world is connected by touching. He said "The chair is touching the floor that's touching the wall that's touching the piano, that's touching the wall that's touching the painting. Everything in the world is touching something and we are all connected. As I searched for the exception to his rule I couldn't find one on a non-sub-atomic level. We are all touching each other in some way. We are all touched and effected by tragedies, and we are all touched by the breath of life. We are all touched by STRUGGLES. We are all touched by other PEOPLE. We are all touched by seeing others operate in HOPE.

I don't celebrate Ramadan but I've been touched by the words and actions of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. I'm not Jewish, maybe I'm Hebrew (I'm sure some are not gonna' understand that), but I've been touched by my beloved friends of Temple Beth El who are Biblical Jews (Israelistes) as opposed to Rabbinical Jews. I'm constantly touched by Donnie D. who hosts "The Big Idea" on CNBC (One of my favorite shows and stations). As a child, every Chanukkah in New York (1968 - 1976) was spent with my parent's dear friends the Gluckmans (Rabbi Emeritus Donald N. Gluckman and family) who allowed me to get drunk on wine as a two year old at one of their celebrations when all the adults failed to notice that a little boy was drinking after everyone.

I'm a Conscious-Christian and I've been touched by Christian people and groups who terrorized my family/ancestors with "Accept Christ or die" and the Trail of Tears, and the Klu Klux Klan (yes, they were a Christian group) as well as being loved, touched by, and prayed for by Christian absolute strangers who saw a frown on my face as I struggled with something in life. I never could think of anything to debunk my son's theory. As I considered the origins of mankind I began singing a Frankie Beverly and Maze tune..... "We are one." My sons' simple observation was truly profound. We are one. May we remain one. May we exemplify oneness. One love yall'. Happy Ramadan, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year. Whatever you celebrate, I celebrate you !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Post script - I am well aware of Dr. Karenga's past and the environment that the Kwanzaa celebration was birthed into. The celebrants of Kwanzaa that I associate with view Karenga's past and movement towards Improvement as we view America's past and America's movement towards improvement. We also value that the last letter "A" in Kwanzaa is a tribute to "America" (The term Kwanza has one ending letter "A", the celebration Kwanzaa ends with "AA" which nods to Afro-America".) Also we embrace that Kwanzaa was a man-made creation similar to Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas, and all other Holy-Days and Holidays. Lastly we embrace that while Dr. Karenga and the U.S. Organization did not place the date to conflict with Christmas although in the 3rd century Christmas was changed from it's earlier various dates (notable January 6th as the Orthodox and Coptic Churches still celebrate Christmas on January 6th) as one of the many tactics the early church used to stamp out earlier religious and cultural celebrations that were on December 25th in order to force conversion to our beloved Christianity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seko Varner is from Positive Vibes Financial, a World Financial Group team of financial services agents. They specialize in debt reduction, investments, and insurances. Seko is in high demand as a special events DJ and owns an event marketing service. Seko has diverse background in real estate, personal finance, business, counseling and education. Seko is active with numerous Youth Mentorship programs and has a background in radio and television. Visit www.HappilyEverAfter.Be or call 757-248-3820 for more details.