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Conservatism, Reaction, and the Elder's Responsibility: A Message to My Age Grade

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Conservatism, Reaction, and the Elder's Responsibility: A Message to My Age Grade Great Day, Fam. This one right here? It’s not for everyone. If you’re not at or approaching Eldership—defined in our tribe as about 55 years old and up—you might not feel all of this. But if you’re curious, or if you’re one of those younger souls already walking with wisdom, you’re welcome to keep reading. This message is for the Elders. For those of us who should know better. And yes—I’m including myself. Let’s Start With the Mirror I’ve got to confess something. I’ve been guilty. Guilty of being reactionary. Guilty of falling into the trap of conservatism. Guilty of romanticizing the past. Guilty of looking at our young people and calling them “soft”—as if we were born warriors, as if we didn’t have to become who we are through fire, failure, and guidance. Many of us Elders are stuck in a loop. We remember only the highlights of our youth—the toughest times we survived, the boldest moments ...
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Economic Determination: The Key to Empowering Our Tribe and Nurturing the Next Generation

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Economic Determination: The Key to Empowering Our Tribe and Nurturing the Next Generation Hello, esteemed tribe members and extended family! As we embrace and celebrate the potent principles of Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) and Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), we find ourselves at a significant juncture, a moment where we can influence not just our own economic trajectory but also that of our tribe and broader community. Today, we'll delve into the profound intersection of economic determination and youth development, guided by the age-old wisdom, "If the young are not initiated into the village, they will burn it down just to feel its warmth." Inculcating Economic Determination: A Collective Responsibility A thriving economy isn't created in isolation. It's a communal endeavor that demands the active participation of all, particularly our young ones. By immersing our youth in the dynamics of economics, we're empowering them to become catalysts for economic...
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A True Sucker Move

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  A True Sucker Move This is a tale of enslavement, and as sad as it is I have to make sure that my readers get the point. Please realize that this horse was a slave long before he took the man as his partner. The horse fell prey to the Unbalanced passions that we often talk about in Gye-nyame long before the bit was placed in his mouth. He led himself toward destruction and sacrificed everything because he was not seeing clearly. The most unfortunate thing about this whole story is that I witness this behavior on a daily basis. We have people willing to slow dance with destruction rather than take a moment to really think about the ramifications of their actions. I have seen people destroy and attempt to destroy organizations that serve the community for something as petty as the horse’s grievance in this tale. Just like the horse, these people don’t realize until it is too late that they have sold their souls. Man it is like watching a car crash in slow motion. You know the resul...
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Control Your Kuumba, Or Your Kuumba Will Control Your Life

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Control Your Kuumba, Or Your Kuumba Will Control Your Life Great Kujichagulia: Today we will look at controlling our Kuumba. Kuumba is a powerful tool, but we have to exercise our Kujichagulia in dealing with it. Our ancestors' first rule upon entering a temple as a disciple was control of thought, but for us it is control of our imagination. Time and time again I have witnessed people creating their own hell that spills out to everyone around them. These people have plenty of Kuumba but lack the kujichagulia to control their creation. This comes from the luxury that our ancestors labor, blood, sweat and tears have created for us, more free time. We have people wasting this powerful resource to play mind games with themselves. They sit at home, offices, coffee shops, etcConcocting fuckery that usually takes a hold and causes confusion.   “Kuumba is a powerful energy that lets each of us create. But we need to use our kujichagulia to control it.” Our Imagination is like a horse...
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Collective Kujichagulia

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  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...
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On The Other Side Of Kuumba

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  Great Imani: "Let us look at Imani through the lens of Kujichagulia" Yesterday we spoke about the power of Kuumba and how it was unleashed when we were able to define our purpose. Now we are going to continue that conversation by traveling to the other side of Kuumba. Ladies and Gentlemen a present to you the principle of Imani. For us in Gye-Nyame Imani is the basis of the Nguzo Saba, which means that if we want to unleash the power of our principles we have to start with Imani. "Imani means faith in self, family, community, and our people" For today's post, I want to look at Imani through the lens of Kujichagulia, and ask what Imani is. Imani means faith, and in the Kwanzaa tradition it means to believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. Faith in general means a strong belief or trust. In the context of Kwanzaa, it means the belief that we can be self-determined, self-authored and s...
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Creator Speak

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Great Kuumba: We have made it through week two of this cycle's challenge and I want to salute all of you that are participating and hanging in there. I know that it can be hard dealing with these questions, getting up for the Toast Ritual, writing and moving more than usual, but believe me (My fault), don't believe me believe the process. The process that you are going through now was created over a long period of trial and error, but we got it together. As a matter of fact this process is a living testament to Kuumba. It was through following the process that this system even emerged. Realize that where you are I was... I will just leave it at that, I was struggling trying to figure out what my Ancestors were trying to tell me through their "crystalized wisdom" (write this term down because it will continue to pop up throughout the process). One proverb always stood out, I must admit that it was not my favorite but it was the one that held the secret I needed. The qu...
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Courageously Bearing Nia

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Great Nia: I was out yesterday with the Gye-Nyame girls, because Gina wanted to take a walk in the woods ( I will attach pics). She actually wanted us to go out after dark, and go for a hike. I personally was not with that yet. I have noticed more and more tents around some wooded areas and I don't want to get caught in the dark with my little ones and it end up bad either way. To make a long story short I was walking, observing the environment, and listening to a book and the author quoted Brother Cornel West. Dr. Cornel West was giving a talk about the blues and his statement set me off on this article for the FAM. Brother Cornell described the blues as "courageously bearing witness before the worms get your body". For me that is a perfect definition for living Nia. Can you stand up and say that you are courageously bearing witness to your Nia? "Once we know the truth of each principle (Umoja, Kuji, Ujima, Ujamaa) we can bear witness to our Nia" Bear witness r...
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Defining Your Ownership

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Before I go down the road of the title I want to reflect on what we discussed yesterday and bring it in line with today's idea. We focused on defining responsibilty. We stated that "taking responsibilty gives you power", but now brother ha2tim wants to to take it one step farther. When we take responsibility it puts us in the seat toward ownership, or it should. Ownership of a thing gives you control. There are many things in life that we cannot control; but, there is something that all men have some level of control over, and that is their own physical body - your mind and spirit too. See, I can't make the sun shine, but I can put on my shades. I can't make it rain, but I can get an umbrella or simply stay indoors. "Taking responsibility gives you power" When you think about your life, your career and all the things that are apart of your world, who owns them? Who do you give ownership to? If you think about your job, who owns it? Is it your company, o...
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Kujichagulia - It's Time To Talk About The Responsibility Part Of Ujima

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Great Ujima: It is time to discuss Ujima from the standpoint of Kujichagulia, and today I want to look at the responsibility part of this principle. We Know (at least those who have been listening) that Ujima in Gye-Nyame is Umoja in action. Ujima works because responsibility is exercised, but let's take this day to look into the idea of responsibility. Responsibility is the ability to be in control of our actions and words, it is a state of being accountable for one's actions and words. There is a deep level of self-respect and self-love that comes with responsibility. A responsible person knows who they are, they know who they are, they know where they are going, they know what they want, they know why they want it, and they know how to get it...in other words responsibility gives us power. Many of us do not want to take responsibility, but the reality is that we are responsible for our actions and non-actions. The lack of responsibility breeds anger, frustration, confusion, ...
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Defining Defining

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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...
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Breaking Umoja Down To Its Very Last Compound

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Great Umoja: We are in the week of kujichagulia and now we have to figure out how to see these powerful, life changing principles through the lense of Kujichagulia. To get things started let's look at what the principle Kujichagulia is: Kujichagulia speaks of us defining ourselves, naming ourselves, creating for ourselves and speaking for ourselves. This principle is about creating reality. Using the power of words to shape the world we exist in. Now to apply that concept to the other principles will be a joy. Today we are on the principle of unity, and kujichagulia demands that we take the time to define what this principle is. "We need to break it down to it's very last compound." Let's be clear we can't do anything until we have a clear definition of what this principle is. Unity is being or existing together as one; undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting; harmonious cooperation; agreement; unification; uniformity; consistency; ...
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The Key To Unity Is Defining What It Is

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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...
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Daring To Define Our Imani (Sample)

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Imani is the foundation of so many other principles. We can't discuss Umoja without Imani—and we can't celebrate Kujichagulia without Imani, either. Yesterday, we touched on the importance of Imani when it comes to Umoja, and today I want to jump into this discussion with Kujichagulia. Self Determination is a powerhouse in itself but like the other principles it leans on Imani. In order to exercise the power of Kujichagulia we have to have faith in ourselves. This is why it is important to really take the walk through Imani and gain all the lessons that accompany this principle. Once we have worked on the Imani in ourselves we can now leverage its power and move to the next level. We can extend our Kujichagulia from us to things around us. For those new to Gye-Nyame, kujichagulia is much deeper than the words self determination. Kujichagulia is about the ability to define. Once we have established Kujichaguilia within we can now start focusing this power out into the world. Joi...
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Kujichagulia: Creativity And Determination

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The power of determination and the creativity that drives it goes back to our childhood. As kids, we played games during recess and organized our blocks into towers or towers into castles. Our parents told us to stop playing but we didn't listen because we loved to play. As adults, we can apply this power of creativity and determination to any area of life. One reason why Kujichagulia has become so popular is that it provides an opportunity for us to embody these qualities in a profound way. We have all faced difficulties in our lives. These struggles may be big or they may be small but no matter how big or small, they are always there. We can get stuck at times. We may feel overwhelmed by certain problems or situations. However, no matter what the problem is, Kujichagulia provides the tools for us to empower ourselves through determination and creativity when faced with any challenge. Practicing Kujichagulia means being willing to work through difficult things in life that we enco...
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