One holiday tradition my mom always wanted to do with us but never did is celebrate Kwanzaa. She did educate me on what it is and what everything means, but we never got around to ever doing it. But now that I’m starting my own family, I wanted to do celebrate this year (even if Baby won’t be remember it) That way we’ll be ready to celebrate it the way we should when Baby is bigger.
So, for 2023 I decided to celebrate Kwanzaa through literature again. I’ll be listing the principles for each day along with a book that matches the principles. If you can think of other titles that match the principles, tell me, I’d love to discuss.
Day 5 is Nia. It means Purpose. The process is much of the same, light the previous candles, and then light the green one that is next to the Black candle. The person who lights it then makes a statement about Purpose. I’ve read that this means to make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. For me this means a few things. I’m going to continue buying books just because there’s a Black person on the cover. I’m also going to continue to helping bring awareness to diverse books at my job through graphics and display ideas. I’m going to help restore my people and their greatness the way I know how. Make sure the kids grow up with things I didn’t so they never have to do without.
The book I thought about first when thinking of uplifting in the Black Community was:
The entire book is about a girl who grows up with her dad who models him self after the Black Panthers. Her dad does everything with the Black community in mind. He raised her to be the same. She does start to make her own decisions, but even still they have the same thought process behind it. I loved this book and I really loved being in her mind.
What about you? What books do you think of when you think of Nia or Purpose? Do you think of this one as well? Let me know in the comments!