Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and we'll end the show today with a call-in for anyone celebrating Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa started yesterday. Each day has a specific theme, and so we'd like to invite you to call in and say, which of the seven principles of Kwanzaa has really made you think this year or anytime in the past? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
Again, for those of you who observe or celebrate Kwanzaa, which of the seven principles of Kwanzaa for the seven days of the holiday has really made you think this year or any time in the past? What's the influence on you of Kwanzaa in terms of any of the themes and principles? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. As your calls start to come in, by way of more background, for those who don't know, Kwanzaa is the seven-day, non-denominational celebration of African culture and heritage that started in 1966. The word Kwanzaa comes from a Swahili phrase, meaning first fruits, and each day is dedicated to a specific principle that is marked by lighting a candle on a kinara or candleholder with seven places.
Yesterday's principle for day one was Umoja, meaning unity. Anyone, how did you honor and celebrate Umoja, and what does it make you think about? 212-433-WNYC. Today's principle is Kujichagulia or self-determination. How does this principle show up in your life? How do you and your family celebrate it or live by it. Self-determination can mean so many things, of what kind? Is it individual, communitywide, international? Let us know. 212-433-WNYC.
Two of the principles, Ujima meaning collective work and responsibility or uplifting one's community. Ujamaa, meaning uplifting your community economically or about building up one's community, not just one's self. They all have community resonance in some way. How do you invest in your community, or how do those make you think differently about anything? Do you have conversations about any of the principles as family or friends gather for Kwanzaa this year or any year? 212-433-WNYC.
To complete the set, the last three principles are Nia, meaning purpose, Kuumba meaning creativity, and leaving one's community better than one found it, and Imani meaning faith. How do you plan to celebrate different days with the different principles? How have you in the past-- what do these ideas mean to you? Call in with some seven principles of Kwanzaa reflections and how observing the holiday, celebrating the holiday has made you think about anyone in particular of those principles or the group? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer. We'll take your calls right after this.
[music]
Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC ending our show today with a second day of Kwanzaa call in on how any of the seven principles of Kwanzaa for the seven-day holiday, there's a principle per day. How any of the seven have really made you think or all of them combined. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Donna in Albany, you're on WNYC. Hi Donna. Thanks for calling in.
Donna: Good morning. Thanks for having me. I just wanted to say that first of all, the principles all complement each other. However, the point I'm trying to make is that I named my daughter Nia, the fifth principle of Kwanzaa meaning purpose, 26 years ago when I was doing my master's degree on so-called minority, there's nothing minor about them at all, African American women [sound cut]. I felt that it was appropriate for her in a lot of ways, and mostly because of this notion that the children of her-- children, they're adults now of her generation, are going to have a collective responsibility and try to restore some of that creativity, some of that impulse to society, so that we can work together better. Thanks so much, and we love what you do, Brian. Take care.
Brian Lehrer: Donna. Thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Edmond in Mt. Vernon, you're on WNYC. Hi Edmond.
Edmond: Hi Brian. Good morning. I should say habari gani, which is the traditional greeting for Kwanzaa, and the answer is the principle for today, which would be Kujichagulia. I'm calling as a avid listener, and I want to give a shout-out to my father, William Mickens, who's a avid listener as well.
Brian Lehrer: Hi, dad.
Edmond: Yes. He's about to be 100 years old.
Brian Lehrer: Wow.
Edmond: I'm very [crosstalk]
Brian Lehrer: He's been living by some good principles?
Edmond: Yes, he has. My company's seven principles 365, we were blessed to be on your shop listener episode, so obviously Kwanzaa is very important to me and not so much Kwanzaa, but the seven principles themselves. Kujichagulia is one of my favorite principles because it's about remaking yourself or determining yourself to be who you want to be and to work as a community together to be able to name ourselves and create for ourselves. That's one of the things that I did with our company, and to make sure that, not just that the principles are upheld during Kwanzaa, but it's also to be upheld all year round, 365 days a year.
One of the ways that we do that is by breaking, taking each principle for seven weeks during the year and just focusing on that principle to really elevate and study that principle and bring it into our lives in either in ourselves, in our natal families, our partners, our larger community, our organizations, our nation, and throughout the diaspora of African people.
Brian Lehrer: What's an example of how you implement Kujichagulia? One of the great things about Kwanzaa is that you just get to say Kujichagulia there are not many words that come off the tongue as beautifully as that, but the principle of self-determination. How do you express it? Is it an individual thing? Is it community somehow getting to determine its fate, even within the context of the United States and all the other pressures from outside the Black community in this particular case? You know what I mean? What do you think of when you think of Kujichagulia?
Edmond: One of the things, so last night when my family and I we lit our candle for Umoja, we had a family discussion about Umoja, and the last thing that we talked about was, "Okay, start thinking about tomorrow Kujichagulia." What is it that you want to determine for yourself in 2023? How do you want to be, how do you want to be within our family? What is it that you want to be in your job? What is it that you want to be, as my daughter is getting ready to graduate from Howard University in May,in engineering, what is it that she wants to be? My son, he's just got a promotion. How do you want to lead your life in 2023? How do we want our relationships to be different in 2023 or in the upcoming year. Of course, Kwanzaa falls right at that nexus point where we're doing, doing a lot of visioning for the next year.
Brian Lehrer: Self-determination in that respect.
Edmond: In that respect. That's it.
Brian Lehrer: Thank you so much. Thanks for calling in. Carolyn in the Bronx, you are on WNYC. Hi Carolyn.
Carolyn: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. I appreciate your centering Kwanzaa today. I have been celebrating Kwanzaa since 1985 when Dr. Maulana Karenga, the founder, came to my small liberal arts university and introduced us to the value of unity as underrepresented people of color, students of color on a majority white campus. It was a high time for us, the seven days following Christmas where we could lift up one another and support one another. It was because of that annual celebration that so many of us were able to survive and thrive in what was a very challenging undergraduate experience. I will say that Umoja, Unity, the primary principle is-- really, the holiday was founded to help people of African descent in the diaspora to value one another and to unify and work together to self-determine the outcomes of our own lives under historical duress, which is what I value so much about Kwanzaa.
I'm now the parent of three young adults who are also celebrating Kwanzaa in their respective lives. We are having a family book club. We're all going to be reading All About Love by bell hooks in January as a way of continuing to allow our historical wounds to heal and to learn to love better. That's how we are recognizing or pursuing self-determination in all of our relationships.
Brian Lehrer: That is great, Carolyn. Thank you so much, so well put. That could be an introduction to all of Kwanzaa, for people not so familiar. We have time for one more. Diane in Harlem, we've got about 45 seconds for you. Hi, Diane.
Diane: Hello, I was able, with a small group, to put the principle Ujamaa, of cooperative economics, into practice. Concerned about the fact that Black dollars don't flow enough into the Black com munity. We formed the Cash Mob, and we've found a Black-owned gift shop. We took about 15 or more people to this small, Black-owned business, and we circulated our dollars and that's how cooperative economics I think is a principle that needs to be embraced.
Brian Lehrer: Diane, thank you so much, and thanks to all of you who called in on this segment. Habari gani to all of you celebrating Kwanzaa today. That's the Brian Lehrer show for today. Produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, Esperanza Rosenbaum, plus Emily Lowinger and Shweta Watwe. Today, Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our daily politics podcast. Our interns this term are Trinity Lopez and Brianna Brady, and that was Matt Marando today at the audio controls.

Copyright © 2022 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.
New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.