Happy Kwanzaa
from The Blackyard CollectiveUMOJA (unity) KUJICHAGULIA (self-determination) UJIMA (collective work and responsibility) UJAMAA (cooperative economics) NIA (purpose) KUUMBA (creativity)IMANI (faith)
Hello Subscriber! Today is the sixth day of Kwanzaa, dedicated to the principle of KUUMBA, which means to do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. Creativity is self-preservation for people living on the margins. Anyone who has lived beyond the accesses of power, privilege, and prosperity understands the importance of making a way out of no way by stretching a dollar far beyond its value, pushing our weight well past capacity, and making do with much less than needed. Much of mainstream American culture exists as a result of Black and queer people making a way out of no way. The ingenuity of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, William Dorsey Swann, and James Baldwin would be mere mediocrity were it not for the humble beginnings that birthed them. Sister Rosetta Tharpe became the “godmother of rock and roll” because women were not allowed to play the guitar in church. The drag ball scene exists because William Dorsey Swann provided an underground space for former male slaves to dance in dresses. The poverty of 1920s Harlem gave us James Baldwin, who used his queer and prophetic voice to liberate minds from the psychosis of white supremacy. These Black queer artistic ancestors exemplify what it means to always do as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. As Black queer people recovering from alcoholism and addiction, it’s easy to become disheartened, dispirited, and demoralized by the signs of the time. The current political milieu can easily entice us into abandoning our creativity by diving into the bottle or running back to the pipe. But KUUMBA calls us to embrace creativity as the antidote to suffering. On this sixth day of Kwanzaa, as we light the KUUMBA candle, let access the resources of our ordinary origins in order to create something beautiful and leave the world better than we found it. “All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up.” ― James Baldwin
Happy Kwanzaa!
Love & Light!
Damal
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