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'Kwanzaa's relevance to be measured in daily efforts of people of African descent' says USAfrica's Founder Chido Nwangwu

The Houston chapter of Women in NAACP (WIN) held an evening of discussions and interaction regarding the relevance and place of the rapidly-growing pan-African festival Kwanzaa, on December 21, 2000.

USAfricaonline.com and USAfrica The Newspaper's founder Chido Nwangwu, the NAACP WIN 2000 guest speaker, pointed out that "the relevance of Kwanzaa can only be meaured in how we apply our lives daily to the major of the major objectives of Kwanzaa, especially self-reliance/determination, cooperative economics, faith, purpose, creativity, individual and communal responsibility."

He added that "Kwanzaa is more a practical matter than the commiting to memory of the theories and goals of the festival. If our folks fail to live up to the true meaning of the festival, it will be a sad and failing indicator."

The director of the prestigious African American studies department at the University of Houston, Prof. Linda Reed highlighted the need for more continental Africans and African-Americans to share knowledge about the heritage of people of African descent.

On the controversial issue of whether Kwanzaa is "truly" an African festival, USAfricaonline.com's Nwangwu who also serves as an adviser to the Mayor of Houston on Africa business/community and publisher of The Black Business Journal, noted that "although Kwanzaa is derived from Swahili, its essence and daily application can be found in the lives of millions of Africans. The argument about whether Kwanzaa is practised in every African village is a misleading and silly distinction aimed merely at creating unnecessary division among peoples of African descent. But I'm very happy to say that it has grown exponentially across all the major cities of the U.S., and Dr. Maulana Karenga must be commended for his foresight." "

The president of the Houston chapter of the Women in NAACP, Zona Jefferson thanked members of the community who attended the special evening of heritage discussion and interaction.
By Janet Samson.
Requests for Chido Nwangwu to speak on U.S. and Africa business, heritage issues , Martin Luther King celebrations, the Black History Month and information technology issues should be directed to Tigist Tilahun 713-270-5500; AND send an E-mail Publisher@USAfricaonline.com

The Seven Objectives of Kwanzaa

Umoja (Unity)
To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia (Purpose)
To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity)
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.

Imani (Faith)
To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. By Dr. Maulana Karenga.

The position stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of Texas, George Bush where he said that "Africa will not be an area of priority" in his presidency has

These views were stated during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and senior analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on Saturday November 18, 2000 during a special edition of 'Inside Politics 2000.'
Nwangwu, adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35 million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for Governor Bush's ill-advised position which removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be elected president.
By Alverna Johnson

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