By Paul Hill, Marquita Hill and Doris Willis
Habari Gani,
“History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly, what they must be.” — John Henrik Clarke
Cleveland has during contemporary times been in the forefront of struggles for freedom, justice and the liberation of Africans born in America. One such organization that captured the spirit of the African American Cleveland community in the quest for liberation through cultural determination and the principles of the Nguzo Saba was the Greater Cleveland Kwanzaa Alliance.
Kwanzaa was created out of the philosophy of Kawaida, a cultural nationalist philosophy that argues that the key challenge of black people’s life is the challenge of culture, and what descendants of Africans in America must do is discover and bring forth the best of their culture, both ancient and current and use it as a foundation to bring forth into being models of human excellence and possibilities to enrich and expand our lives.
Kwanzaa was created in the midst of our struggles for liberation in the 1960s and was part of Dr. Maulana Karenga’s organization’s efforts to create, recreate and circulate African culture as an aid to building community, enriching black consciousness, and reaffirming the value of cultural grounding for life and struggle.
Kwanzaa is celebrated by millions of people of African descent throughout the world African community. As a cultural celebration, it is practiced by Africans from all religious traditions, all classes, all ages, and generations and all political persuasions on the common ground of their African-ness in all historical and current diversity and unity.
Kwanzaa (1966) was created to introduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culture that contribute to building and reinforcing community among African American people as well as Africans throughout the world community. These values are called the Nguzo Saba or seven principles: Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, Faith. These principles stand at the heart of the origin and meaning of Kwanzaa, for it is these values which are not only the building blocks for the community but serve as the social glue; and have been used through a variety of pragmatic extensions of Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba to nurture and regenerate the community. Such practical extensions have been rites of passage, the arts, and other cultural-specific applications.
The ultimate focus of Kwanzaa as an in-gathering celebration has always primarily been within the home among families; and secondly among community within public gatherings. The first community Kwanzaa in Greater Cleveland area took place in 1982. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa was celebrated at a different neighborhood-based organization or institution throughout the community.
In 1983, The Greater Cleveland Kwanzaa Alliance was organized. Founders of the Greater Cleveland Kwanzaa Alliance alive and living in the Greater Cleveland area are Paul and Marquita Hill and Doris Willis.
The Greater Cleveland Kwanzaa Alliance over the years has evolved from sponsoring seven days of Kwanzaa to sponsoring only the first day of Kwanzaa to sponsoring no days and urging the practice of Kwanzaa within the home among families; and supporting as needed the Kwanzaa efforts of community organizations and individuals. Such support is reflected publishing an annual schedule of public Kwanzaa events, the creation of a Greater Cleveland Kwanzaa Alliance Facebook page and implementing Kwanzaa 2020 through social media — pre-recorded and featured as a publically accessed YouTube video.
Our Facebook page supports the mission statement of the Greater Cleveland Kwanzaa Alliance----"The Greater Cleveland Kwanzaa Alliance is dedicated to perpetuating the Nguzo Saba through constant practice. By so doing the Alliance serves the following primary goals: EDUCATE the community about Kwanzaa’s conceptual framework, history, fundamental activities and protocol; ORGANIZE as needed the African American community to ensure the success of family-centered and community-centered celebrations; SUPPORT others in the incorporation and practice of the Nguzo Saba as a way of life that transcends the seven day commemoration of the past and celebration of the good; supporting others in understanding that Kwanzaa is a time of recommitment to our highest ideals and how the Nguzo Saba (the seven principles) serve the central focus of Kwanzaa in thought and practice.
The Greater Cleveland Kwanzaa Alliance has evolved in the 21st Century as a clearinghouse and cultural resource center. We continue to support and promote Kwanza in the belief that Kwanzaa is, as James Baldwin says, “a key … to all that we later become.”
“We cannot escape our origins,
However, hard we might try,
those origins contain the key
--could we but find it—
To all that we later become.”
— James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son
“May the chain continue unbroken.”
Asante!
R E L A T E D:
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The authors are founding members of The Greater Cleveland Kwanzaa Alliance.
