Posts

Showing posts with the label define

Featured Post

Shut Your Mouth Until Your Feet Hit Dry Ground

Image
  Shut Your Mouth Until Your Feet Hit Dry Ground We have developed a fatal habit of mistaking loud agitation for actual liberation. We get three strokes out into deep water, catch a whiff of momentum, and immediately start barking threats at the predator whose belly we are swimming across. The Zambian and Somali elders laid down a non-negotiable rule of survival: “Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river.” Yet every single day, our people take to timelines and street corners, screaming declarations of war against a predatory apparatus that still owns the roof over our heads, the food in our refrigerators, and the water coming out of our pipes. That is not revolution; that is suicidal arrogance. On this day of Ujamaa—steeped in the restorative, fluid force of water and draped in vibrant green—we must confront the reality that economics is not just buying Black. It is the ruthless, calculated conservation of your life-force energy. The river is the perilous passa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Collective Kujichagulia

Image
  Great Kujichagulia to all my Kuji born out their: "Umoja in motion (collective work and responsibility)" We are looking at Kujichagulia today through the marvelous principle of Ujima. For those new to the journey, and to remind the old heads Ujima means collective work and responsibility. We teach within Gye-Nyame that Ujima is Umoja in motion. Today let's look at the power of a collective, which is a group that pulls together to accomplish a goal. Now let's imagine that they collectively focus on defining their world, or bringing it close to home,redefining their world. What type of changes could this collective bring about? "Gye-Nyame Journey has already put this into motion , by redefining the day" Kujichagulia as we saw last week is strong on defining the world, and since we are in the week of Ujima I believe that it is appropriate for me to call on our collective to start to redefine the world that we are in. Using our collective thought power to resh...
Post a Comment
Read more

Defining Defining

Image
Great Kujichagulia; We are in a Kuji week and today is Kujichagulia day. I guess this means we need to take a deep look at defining. We have to take time and break down so that we can know exactly what we are doing when we exercise the power of Kujichagulia. When we define something we are stating or setting forth the meaning of a thing. We are also saying how something will be referred to or perceived in some context. We also determine what is important about an object and what is incidental, contingent, or unintended about it (1). Defining can be both difficult and easy depending on the situation you find yourself in. We are defining who we are and what we stand for. The dictionary definition of Kujichagulia would be: self determination. Most people believe that this is associated with the right to make decisions concerning one's own person or affairs. Some think of it as self-rule. There is no doubt that there is much debate on the real meaning of Kujichagulia (self-determinatio...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Key To Unity Is Defining What It Is

Image
Growing up, I remember hearing people talk about the importance of unity. Now, as an adult, I hear it more than ever before. But the thing is, I know that unity isn't achieved by talking about how important it is; it's achieved by actually being clear on what it looks like and then going out and creating it. What does unity look like to you? Have you taken the time to think about it? Does your tribe or collective have a clear mission statement that has been agreed upon by everyone? Or are you blindly following some vague idea of what “unity” should be? I'm not saying that we shouldn't have our own individual opinions and beliefs. What I am saying is that if we are trying to create change in our communities and in this world, we need to be clear on what those beliefs are so that we can actually work together toward a common goal. And if you've ever seen a group of people talking about how important having a single unified vision is, only to turn around and do somethi...
Post a Comment
Read more