Ujima Greetings — Collective Work and Responsibility

Dear Beloveds,

In the spirit of UJIMA I greet you with HABARI GANI — UJIMA! In the Name of GOD, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Peace be with each of you as you seek and declare Collective Work and Responsibility in this Kwanzaa and holiday season.

As I recite the Declaration of the International Black Summit, I think on today’s Kwanzaa principle and how aligned I am with it. “I embrace ALL aspects of myself” is the 2015-2016 Summit declaration.

In 2010, Dr. Maulana Karenga (founder of Kwanzaa) wrote:

The third principle, Ujima calls on us, the text* says, “to build and maintain our community together and to make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.”

This principle teaches us the shared responsibility to work and build the good family, community, society and world we all want and deserve to live in, to be actively concerned with the well-being of the world and those in it, and to see the cooperative creation and sharing of good as justice and appreciate it as joy. [emphasis added]

*Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture

In case you missed it, Dr. Karenga also said…

The second principle, Kujichagulia (self-determination), the text says, is a call “to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.” It teaches us to define and understand ourselves by the good we do and bring in the world, and by the truth we speak, the justice we do, and the loving kindness, care and concern we show towards each other, others and the world. [emphasis added]