Kwanzaa celebrations this year served as a reprieve for Black District residents who weathered the storms of violent crime, weakened government safety nets, police-involved shooting deaths, and a young Black council member’s legal troubles. However, as District residents prepare for a second Trump presidency and, possibly, further congressional infringement on Home Rule, Dr. Maulana Karenga, the elder who’s credited with Kwanzaa’s creation, continued to herald its seven principles: Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective works and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (faith), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith) — as essential for strengthening Black families, communities, and the Black nation. “We are celebrating Kwanzaa in difficult, dangerous and demanding times [so] we must have a radical refusal to be defeated,” Karenga told 300 celebrants who converged on Union Temple Baptist Church in Southeast on Dec. 27 in celebration of Kujichagulia.
After a 30-minute delay, Karenga tuned into the program virtually. He accentuated commentary made by the Rev. Willie Wilson, pastor emeritus of Union Temple Baptist Church; Melvin Foote, founder and president of Constituency for Africa; Eurica Huggins, co-founder of African Diaspora Ancestral Commemoration Institute; and photographer Chester Higgins Jr., formerly of The New York Times.Young people participate in activities during the Kwanzaa Children’s Party at the Panorama Room in Southeast D.C. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)In 1966, Karenga, then a founding member of the Black nationalist organization known as US, counted among those who used African first fruit traditions to conceptualize and practice Kwanzaa. To this day, the weeklong African-American holiday is one of the world’s most well-known examples of Pan-African self-determination. Kwanzaa, intended to exist independently of the more commercialized seasonal celebrations, counted among various efforts throughout the 20th century to affirm Black people’s connection to Africa. During this season, children receive books and other enriching materials at daily gatherings that Black families and community members hold in observance of each Kwanzaa principle.Collectively, the seven Kwanzaa principles are known as the Nguzo Saba. On each day of Kwanzaa, celebrants, speaking the Kiswahili language of east Africa, ask each other “Habari gani?” (What’s the news?) and respond with the Kwanzaa principle of the day. The main part of any Kwanzaa celebration involves the lighting of candles — three red, one black, and three green — that stand on a kinara. The kinara exists at the center of a colorful, Afrocentric arrangement that includes a mat, ears of corn, a bowl of fruit, and photos of ancestors.
During Kwanzaa gatherings, celebrants pour libation, recognize ancestors, drum, dance, sing traditional songs, and light candles in accordance with the principle being observed, along with any principles preceding it that week. In recent decades, as Kwanzaa gained more mainstream interest, and ridicule from detractors, large community gatherings, educational workshops, museum exhibits, and panel discussions have grown in number. As institutions sponsor Kwanzaa events, Karenga remains adamant about embracing what he calls the holiday’s foundational message: Black people defining themselves and asserting their independence. “If our ancestors could speak to us today, they would say continue the struggle and keep the faith,” Karenga said on Dec. 27. The holiday’s founder offered advice in moving forward in 2025 and beyond.“We should learn…history lessons. We should never forget where we came from. Education, mobilization, organization and confrontation leads to transformation,” Karenga continued in his brief remarks as he issued a call to a segment of the Black population. “Middle-class people should not seek to be comfortable in oppression.”
The Dancing Diplomat Honors Her Mother on Ujima Throughout Kwanzaa, people attended events and took part in discussions as they reflected on the unique meaning of each Kwanzaa principle in their lives. It proved no different on Dec. 28 — the third day of Kwanzaa (Ujima/collective works and responsibilities) that marked the birth anniversary of Mary Whilemena Brown Ray. From 1966 until her death in 2002, Brown Ray, a pillar of Pittsburgh’s Black community, supported her daughter’s deep dive into Kwanzaa, participating in annual activities whether she was at home or on her travels across the U.S. and world. On Dec. 28, those who flocked to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Skylight Pavilion saw the fruits of that motherly love when Brown Ray’s daughter — Nana Malaya Rucker-Oparabea — culminated the ujima celebration with a dance performance.Rucker-Oparabea, a longtime performing artist, educator, and minister, told The Informer she was dancing in honor of her late mother.
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“My mother was…an educator, but a closet dancer. Whenever she was in the mood, she would do the lindy hop,” Rucker-Oparabea said, later recounting her Kwanzaas as a child. “Before Kwanzaa became national, it was a community and family celebration. My mom was always there. She was very much a part of the community.”
For more than 50 years, Rucker-Oparabea, known to many as the Dancing Diplomat, has represented people of African descent in her travels across the U.S. and the world. Her recent appearance at the Kennedy Center’s Ujima celebration comes months after she participated in the 2023 World Culture Festival, a three-day celebration of peace on the National Mall. As Rucker-Oparabea noted, this year’s Ujima celebration took place amid the Kennedy Center’s efforts to engage Black Washingtonians and provide cultural programming in the post-pandemic era. The day before the Ujima celebration, on Dec. 27, Dr. Omekongo Dibinga of the OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center, located in Boston, continued her decades-long commemoration of Kujichagulia (self-determination) at the globally renowned performing arts center. For Rucker-Oparabea, the Ujima event served its purpose in conveying the importance of Black people working together, and to some extent with others to establish a common understanding. “It’s nice how now it can be celebrated by a lot of people, and not necessarily people of African descent,” Rucker-Oparabea told The Informer. “Like with other festivals in D.C., there are so many opportunities for people to come together and share the similarities and differences in their culture.”
She emphasized that the lessons of Kwanzaa encourage togetherness across cultures. “The principles of Kwanzaa were designed to bring people together and have them work toward positive things in the community,” Rucker-Oparabea continued. “They are important to exemplify and should be celebrated.” Oparabea-Rucker, a lifelong dancer and D.C. resident of more than 40 years, counts playwright August Wilson, dancer Katherine Dunham, actor-activist Harry Belefonte, singer Phyllis Hyman, and educator Barbara Sizemore among her contemporaries. Throughout the year, as Black D.C. residents practice the Nguzo Saba in their daily customs and traditions, she can be found performing with the Malcolm X Drummers and Dancers and teaching dance classes in local recreation centers. In speaking about her daily work, Oparabea-Rucker said that the arts can serve as an effective tool in promoting the Nguzo Saba and combating several of the negative messages that dominate young people’s consciousness. “It’s easy to have thoughts, feelings, memories and even proverbs and slogans passed along through dance, music and song,” Rucker-Oparabea said. “Even if young people don’t know the meaning of the words, they can do the movements.”Oparabea-Rucker, a mother, grandmother and community leader, offered a call to action, using the Ngozo Saba as a guiding light toward unity and positive change.“This is a time for artists to come together and convene with each other,” she said. “There’s a similarity in our movements and rhythm. Just seeing it is a good education.” The Kwanzaa Children’s Party Returns to the Panorama Room On the afternoon of Dec. 28, students from some of the District’s public, private, homeschool communities and independent African-centered schools danced, sang, frolicked, and most importantly, learned about the Nguzo Saba during the 55th annual Kwanzaa Children’s Party. Festivities, which took place at the Panorama Room at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church on Morris Road in Southeast, culminated months of planning and coordination between committee members and several organizations, including: African Freedom Fund, D.C. Kwanzaa Planning Committee, Black Seeds, UNITEES, Black Classic Press, APPEAL, Inc, and Blue Lotus Cultural Institute. The program, which celebrated Ujima (collective work and responsibility), opened with arts and crafts and a drum call by youths DeLa and Olu Armah. After that, certified breathologist Mama Ayo Handy-Kendi poured libation for ancestors and educator Mama Nia Onyenolachi walked children through the lighting of the kinara. The elementary and middle school-aged youth, most of whom wore bright, green commemorative Kwanzaa Children’s Party shirts from UNITEES, gathered in the middle of the room during activities conducted by musician-educator Baba Bomani Armah, African dance company Farafina Kan, independent African-centered school Nationhouse, and Ile Imole youth group, among others. Nkechi Taifa, a longtime Kwanzaa Children’s Party committee member, read from her children’s book, “Shining Legacy,” while vendors sold popcorn, shea butter, jewelry, African fabrics, and popular urban wear. In the spirit of Kuumba (creativity), children also gravitated toward the face painting and coloring stations while a dozen volunteers prepared a spread that included fruits, chips and salsa, roti and chickpeas, and cake. Throughout the entire party, Teresa Price, executive director of the Kwanzaa Children’s Party, ensured that all activities ran smoothly. She even practiced Ujima as and helped serve food to families at the end. As Price explained, her goal centered on preserving traditions that will stay with the youth in the new year and beyond. “We want children and families to take the principles and live them [so they can] connect with ourselves and Black and brown people around the world,” said Price, who organized the Kwanzaa Children’s Party alongside Taifa, Rasafik Weusi, and Yao Enun. “There’s so much they’re seeing that’s not so positive and we need every opportunity to uplift our children and remind them of who they are.” Price, an early childhood educator and mother of three young adult sons who served in D.C.’s African-centered homeschool community, told The Informer that she first started attending the Kwanzaa Children’s Party in the 1990s and 2000s with her family before working behind the scenes.After 25 years of service, Price said she continues to be inspired by the children, telling The Informer that her goal centers on continuing the Kwanzaa tradition for generations to come. “I could feel the work and love involved and I could see there was help needed. I just got up and became more formally involved,” Price said, stressing that Black youth are in a state of emergency. “Children are having to navigate much more than I did as a child and the village is more imperative than ever before… Our children [need] a strong cultural foundation and the Kwanzaa principles from Dr. Maulana Karenga are a strong part of that.” Najwa Womack, a native Washingtonian and compost educator, expressed a similar sense of urgency about climate change. “Our salvation lies with practicing Umoja [unity] with our planet,” Womack told The Informer. During the Kwanzaa Children’s Party, Womack and her family led youth conducted a presentation and passed out water bottles bearing the likeness of Nannette Adella Abena Walker. Walker, who died in February, founded Bethune-Woodson African Model School, the District’s only African-centered public school that operated between 1993 and 1998. She also co-founded four other institutions and wrote a book, “Beyond Theory: A Blueprint To Implement African-Centered Education,” outlining her process. As the one-year anniversary of Walker’s death approaches, Womack, a native Washingtonian and lifelong Kwanzaa celebrant, is spending her Kwanzaa in reflection about her upbringing and matriculation to an African-centered institution. “Being African is pro-human rights. It’s about understanding yourself to live your purpose in peace,” said Womack, a student at Bethune Woodson African Model School between 1993 and 1998. “Kwanzaa promotes the core of family and community. You get off track in life but the principles teach us to bounce back. Community is a massive anchor — the community within yourself, knowing the facets of yourself.” Womack, a compost educator, likened the process of self-discovery to tilling soil. As she expressed a desire for young people to explore careers in environmental sustainability, Womack drew parallels between the Kwanzaa principles and techniques she executes to create compost. “Our planet needs indigenous Black people to lead the way,” Womack said. “We are burdened with our problems but they are connected. That’s why composting can reset our values and priorities in these times. These babies will suffer under the work we don’t do or they will prevail if we can lead them in climate change mitigation work. For Ujamaa, Young Artists Explain How to Maintain Values While Making Money The youngest adult members of D.C.’s African-centered community often face the challenge of staying rooted in the Nguzo Saba while making a name for themselves in their career field. However, the Gen Zers who spoke before hundreds of Kwanzaa celebrants at HoodSmart’s Ujamaa celebration explained their formula for raising African consciousness in fashion and the arts. Jalaw Benjamin, an award-winning filmmaker and music producer with credits on Apple TV and Amazon Prime, told the multigenerational audience at Busboys & Poets in Northeast said that, in an industry oversaturated with the trap aesthetic, he’s carved out a niche with a bit of of inspiration from Black pioneers of the past. “It took me doing research about the community that came before me to see jazz communities bringing the music of their struggle to the forefront to heal people,” Benjamin said, later paying homage to a veteran filmmaker who’s based in D.C. “The L.A. Rebellion shifted the genre of Black filmmaking. Seeing our elders like Haile Gerima gave me a lot of hope that anything’s possible.” On the evening of Dec. 29, Benjamin sat on a panel alongside dancer-fashion designer Leilani Gill and a multi-hyphenate music artist known as Jabulani. Their discussion, moderated by teacher and media professional Zakiyah Lewis, focused on how to maintain integrity in the arts as a young person while practicing Ujamaa (cooperative economics). Before Lewis engaged the trio in conversation, Kwanzaa celebrants saw African dancing and drumming, and a performance by Ayanna Gregory. They also gave several rounds of applause for Benjamin, Morgan State University freshman Dennis Jones-Sharpe, Eleanor Roosevelt High School student Dylan Ford, and School Without Walls student Kwabena Tyus, all of whom won the 2024 Illuminate Your Black Brilliance Award earlier this year. The program ended with a fashion show featuring clothes from Gill’s catalog. During the panel discussion, Gill, who wore a light blue African dress and light brown headwrap, said she uses African fabrics as an expression of her African-centered upbringing. She called her work in the fashion industry part of her ongoing efforts to set herself apart as she navigates mainstream society. “I’m showing children and the general community that it’s okay to look different and wear your Africanity,” Gill said during the panel discussion. “I wear African clothes and show them the African mindset to shift them toward our community and thoughts they need as they grow into African men and women.” Jabulani, speaking about his upbringing in the District, defined Ujamaa as the establishment of Black-owned institutions — like banks, hospitals and schools — that meet Black people’s daily needs. He noted that creating wholesome art takes intentionality, especially as the powers that be promote destructive messages with similar tact. “As artists, we should be mindful of what we are feeding with the art,” Jabulani said. “If you look at the landscape of D.C., we are competing against a lot of junk food, so to speak. Making vegetables palatable to youth is hard, but if not us, then who? I want to leave a legacy that it’s cool to be you and stand on who you are. That’s the most important part.”
Source: Washington Informer
