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Time To Celebrate African-American Roots
During this holiday, December 26 thru Junuary 1, tens o f millions of African-
Americans will honor those who have gone before, the living presence o f a people,
and those who will follow. Seven evenings o f beautiful, solemn or festive
celebrations will see nationwide gatherings o f Black people to honor their faith,
strength and determination to secure a viable future against all odds.
The Kwanzaa holiday was founded in 1966 by Dr. M ulana Ron Karenga, a
renowned African-American professor o f Black History. The structure, includ
ing homage, feasts, fashions, decorations, icons and an African M arket-place, is
in the fashion o f ancient and contemporary African agricultural celebrations o f
harvest and thanksgiving. These eons-old traditions antedate all other o f m an
kind’s recognition o f value systems and spirituality.
Given the steadily increasing participation o f community leaders and organi
zations, it is expected that this year’s Kwanzaa celebration will be the most suc
cessful and meaningful to date. There will be lectures and panel discussions which
will exam ine the many issues critical to the well being o f the com m unity and its
residents. And there will be speakers whose expertise and responsibilities will
As I stated earlier, this series was
form ulated in sort o f a national arena,
given that I solicited opinions from
across the country (by mail or fax) and
also sought a num ber o f local view
points. H ow ever, I have been most
influenced in the structural sense by the
opinion o f a man I m et many years ago
in W ashington, D.C. while he was re
cruiting students for the Atlanta U ni
versity “ Dual Degree Program ” (Sci
ence & Humanities).
Now president o f one o f the
“ Traditional Black C olleges,” he sug
gested that a short series o f this type
would be most useful as a report on the
general dynam ics and directions o f the
current lead ersh ip -th an would be an
attem pt to adequately analyze either
individual orgainzations or perform
ances within such a constricted fram e
work. “ If you plan on functioning in
your com m unity in any meaningful
lend credence to their analyses. The festival nature of Kwanzaa will reveal itself
in the incomparable panorama o f African food, music, dance and drumming,
when a magnificent African Bazzar will be set up for shoppers-and the day for
Karami, the Big Feast.
If one sees symbols and icons which might suggest that Dr. Karenga has
invented a religion, that is not the case at all. These who have read Professor
McKinley B urt’s column “ Perspectives” for the past four years will immediately
appreciate that W estern Civilization has-from the Greeks on w a rd -a l ways turned
toward Africa and the African for its spiritual sustenance, as well as the other
facets o f culture, and for its techology. But as the great cycle o f an eternal world
has been turning through its western phase o f wars, pestilence, slavery, racism,
atomic bombs and an alleged “ conquest o f space,” we note a parallel and trau
matic alienation o f mankind as he has been wrenched from his spiritual roots.
W ho can sing a spiritual, really?
This pitiful mindset has been best expressed this century through the voices
o f those who have been labeled the “ Existentialist Philosophers” (Sarte-Hei-
degger, et al) who, spiritually bankrupt, gave the cry, “ God is dead!” It is not
strange that this sad state o f affairs coincided with the arrogant revisionist program
to reject all things African in the historic literature and even the Bibles o f the
world. Under the aegis o f the new Neanderthals, the wooly-headed patriarches and
law-givers of the Judeo-Christian Bibles and literature have become pale, souless
narrators o f events now described as “ folklore.”
Ironically, at the very same tim e the most renown o f modem scientists ran into
an absolute dead end trying to follow Einstein into a universe o f relativity and
quantum theory. They now say that “ in the beginning” there was a Big Bank
wherein the universe was created instantaneously from a void which cannot be
comprehended by the human mind. This is exactly what the Africans said 6,000
years earlier: “ Spirit moved on the face of the primitive N u - “ I (God) created
m yself out of nothing. ’ ’ How fortunate we are that our forefathers wrote in stone
and upon papyrus-still to be found in Ethiopia, Nubiaa and Egypt and Egypt, and
displayed in Muslims throughout the world. There is still hope.
Leadership, Then And Now; Conclusion
manner other than a w
writer
[and I dol.
do],
riter land
you d o n ’t w ant to spend the next year
trying to respond to a angry, neglected
or suspicious co n stitu en cy .” W ell put,
my man.
Several weeks ago I cited several
early, quite successful black entrepre
neurs ( “ T hen” ), com m enting on how
much they were able to accom plish
without television-nationw ide organi
zation, marketing and distribution. Now,
there are number o f magazines pub
lished by African A m ericans that are
directed toward inspiring and support
ing black business. As valuable as the
how-to-do-it articles are, the documented
“ success” stories can have even more
o f an im pact (see “ Black Enterprise-
Emerge-Dollars A nd Sense” ). New
leaders in the field o f com m erce are
coming on strong.
From these journals we learn that
several black entrepreneurs seem to have
ï
Perspectives
Nostalgia: One
More Once!
■■
m astered n not
o t just
iu s t t the
h e large
la r a e scale
« r a le super
«m w .
m arket concept but also chain distribu
tion at the level o f several dozen stores.
This was to be expected som e years ago
except for the racist constraints o f fi
nancing and/or securing satisfactory lease
holds. For years (as in Portland), blacks
have held m anagerial jobs in this field
and others but have been restricted to
producing wealth for others-r/ie new
plantation!
O n the othe side o f the coin we see a
failure in leadership that is hard to ex
plain. From my clippings o f articles in
the black press around the country (and
as you’ve seen on television), in some
urban centers blacks are marching and
picketing against an “ in vasion o f Asian-
owned small stores.” Many blacks (fi
nally) are becom ing as incredulous as
“ Tony B row n” that in cities like New
York where African Americans have
BILLIONS in buying power, you would
a
News
I
Reebok Human Rights Award
Shines Light On Haitian
Refugees In South Florida And
Children Of War In Mozambique
by McKinley Burt
h
a lawyers
v and activists
e
____ __
have
black
scream-
ing on the sidewalk instead o f SETTING
UP A STORE A W EEK. How long
before their counterparts will be m arch
ing here. I do n ’t think more college edu
cation will help, do you?
O ther areas o f business are showing
the same escalation o f will and purpose.
In Iowa we havea black man who formed
a small group to purchase several hundred
miles o f railroad that the Union Pacific
was abandoning. Developing new con
cepts o f personal and innovative serv
ices for farmers and distributors he is
making quite a success o f the venture.
W omen are showing a significant in
crease in both professional and m er
chandising fields—this fact is extremely
im portant, considering the disintegra
tion o f the jo b m arket
W hile in Portland we have several
blacks now who have perceived the
opportunities and necessity for larger-
Page 2
___
•_ ■ housing
_____
scale
developm ent (within the
federal framework), there is nothing here
like the privately owned, African Ameri
can owned projects in the south (No one
seems to have noticed that even Russia
is giving up collectives and going for
the gold). W ithout capital in a capitalis
tic w orld—and the choices and opportu
nities that come with it-y o u will be
either a slave or a serf no matter w hat
the policiticans or activists tell you.
(Note that sixty years ago Portland blacks
were developing m ultiple housing).
A recurrent com m entary on leader
ship and organizations is about a failure
to issue timely and accurate financial
reports. This is com ing from all areas
and black citizens are asking “ are they
lazy, incompetent, or is it just C O N
TEM PT?” And again from the grass
roots people who write in to the black
newspapers; “ W hat is the use o f send-
Sports
Religion
Blazers Looking Forward
To 1992
An Antidote For ‘Church
Tasting’
by BUI Barber
by Michael Lindsey
P age 2
P age 2
Page3
EDITORIAL
NEWS
SPORTS
RELIGION
2
ENTERTAINMENT
2
2
3
4
• A
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blacks in the east and south are chal
lenging both industry and state envi
ronmental agencies over the trend of
dumping the nations trash (including
medical waste) in counties that are
predominately African American. The
African nations rebelled years ago against
the shipments from Europe and A m er
ica.
It is noted, too, that in many parts
o f the country blacks have brought a
new perspective to the problem of gangs
and unreachable youth. You may have
s en on “ PB S ” the innovative program
in Texas that recognizes ju st how ener
getic, intelligent and adventurous teen
agers are. There has been 5% recidi
vism in a program that puts 100 youths
on the road at the time in caravans of
mule-drawn w agons in the mode (and
uniforms) o f the fabled black cavalry.
They cook, horseshoe, repair, go to
class and earn a stipend. There is hope.
ear *
CLASSIFIEDS