Umoja: Unity!. Habari Gani? Umoja!
By: Culture Dream Lab
Tags: Creative, Umoja, Culture, Black, Kwanzaa

“Taking the Torch”

Habari Gani?! Umoja!

“Taking the Torch” is a creative campaign lead by myself and my peers (mostly millennials) to take the torch and keep this intergenerational tradition’s fire burning (controlled). I believe in the purpose our elders crafted for Kwanzaa decades ago, but like everything, it needs some collective love and evolution. This weeklong expression from Culture Dream Lab is the beginning stages of something beautiful and Powerful! The goal is to further politicize Kwanzaa, bring new cultural expressions, and build a stronger narrative that Kwanzaa principles are practiced all year. I hope this will inspire a generation of leaders to take the torch deeper into the tunnel and emerge transformed.

What does Umoja/Unity mean to me? What doesnt resonate? Below are some reflections:

What it is:

My brother Malik A. Willoughby reminded me of who I am a few years ago through his Kemetic Yoga practice and African philosophy of “ubuntu”. “I am” only because “we are.” “I love you because I am you.” This isn't your so called “Hotep” knowledge which is grounded in violent patriarchy or disillusioned black history. This is a practice to connect with one another, to connect with our ancestors, and most importantly, to connect deeper with ourselves.

Unity is more like a fractal. It is villages (rural and concrete jungles) adjecent to each other. Unity is the flock sharing the responsibility of leadership.

It is geograpic location hence the breakdown of the word community. commune — unity.

Pan African dream of a united liberated continent of Africa.

It is being that 1 of 2 black folks in the room and instantly have telepathic conversations and care for each other.

Unity is the red black and green. It is the liberation flag. Our people may interpret it differently like all symbols, but to me, this flag represents safety for our bodies. In a sea of Biden and Trump signs, confederate and union flags, the red/black/green liberation flag Is the green book. It is a home that I would feel like the underground railroad.

Organizations and movements like Black Lives Matter, Movement for Black Lives, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Cooperation Jackson, Southerners On New Ground, The Maroon Arts Group, bail funds across the country and the many other local and national organizations around world.

2. What it is not:

I struggled with this idea of racial unity because we are not a monolith or a hegemonic blackness where we share one identity. Our unity requires more imagination. It requires more connection that isn't just our common denominator of melanin, but a shared loved for all our people (not including those who consciously side with the ruling class oppressors).

Isolated movement moments and connecting around dead, black bodies. Yes, we unite to fight against US and world colonialism and imperialism, but our broken black bodies are not the unifier. It is our collective grief and struggle for a new world.

Unity has been used as a form of control in black communities, especially against women, poor/working class people, non binary and queer folks, the voices of children, and men who are committed to liberation for all peoples, not just for a few black men. This is not Umoja!

Unity is not infinite.

Bless,

Ekundayo Igeleke

#kwanzaa #kwanzaa2020 #Umoja #TakingTheTorch #CultureDreamLab