If you’re stressing about what gifts to get for your loved ones this holiday season, fear not. I’ve got you covered. Below is an extensive list of anything and everything the folk in your life need (and consciously or unconsciously want) for Christmas, Kwanzaa and beyond. Added bonus: items on this list won’t cost you an arm and a leg and will, in fact, and tremendous value to your life. I hope you enjoy reading and sharing this list with everyone in your circles and that you use this list as your official, primary 2023 holiday shopping guide. Doing so is guaranteed to bring joy to the “worlds” of the ones you love.
Consider this list my gift to you!
UMOJA (Unity)
Yes, at the top of Blackfolk’s Christmas list is that thing mentioned in every barbershop conversation about “What Blackfolk are missing” or “What Blackfolk need to do,” with the answer always being, “We need to unify. We need us some unity.” We’ve all heard it a million times. But we need more than some general, amorphous, non-descript “unity.” The late Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr., the father of Black Liberation Theology, said “Unity for unity’s sake” is useless and non-productive. We need what National Black United Front National Chairman Kofi Taharka calls “Operational Unity,” or unity without uniformity – groups and organizations being able to be themselves and believe what they believe while finding common ground upon which to work together toward a better world for our people.
KUJICHAGULIA (Self-Determination)
One of my mentors said Blackfolk, whether we know it or not, are engaged in two separate battles: one for our rights and the other for self-determination. As citizens of this nation, we’re supposed to enjoy all the rights that citizenship grants. However, we know that in every corner of this Babylon, we’re denied equal access to those. So, we have every right to protest and fight for every inch of those rights to be applied to us. The other battle, the one for self-determination, says that whether we ever access those citizenship rights (equal treatment under the law, etc.) or not, we owe it to ourselves to build the institutional power needed to feed, clothe, house, educate, and protect ourselves. That’s self-determination, recognizing that “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
UJIMA (Collective Work & Responsibility)
The sooner we recognize the futility of waiting on Superman, the “gubment” or anybody else to swoop in and do for us what the Creator gave us the power to do for ourselves, the sooner we’ll adopt the practice of “UJIMA” (Collective Work and Responsibility). This, however, requires a realization that “I am because we are; and because we are, therefore I am.” It’s adhering to the ancient African wisdom “We can do more together than we can apart.” When we roll like that, we realize your problems are my problems, and vice versa. So, sitting back and doing nothing while you go through it is literally self-sabotage. But together, where two or more are gathered… you know the rest. No weapon formed against us, etc., etc. Amen and Ashe!
UJAMAA (Cooperative Economics)
We’re getting better at this, but we’ve still got light years to go. I love the participation in Houston’s Buy Black efforts, like the Buy Black Marketplace, BLCK Market and others. But we’ve got to take our practice of “UJAMAA” up a notch or 12.
NIA (Purpose)
Our ancestors believed that we were each born with a divine purpose, a purpose given to us before we were even born by the “Uncreated Creator.” They also believed that it was the job and responsibility of the community in which a child was born, to facilitate that child discovering their divine purpose. If you were blessed with that kind of community and discovered your divine assignment, praise Jah! If you weren’t, that purpose is still within you, only waiting for you to recognize and release it upon the world through the wonderful works you perform.
KUUMBA (Creativity)
As the folk who gave the world the gifts of religion, art, science and civilization, we are mos def filled with an overabundance of creativity. And over the eons, we’ve used that creativity in numerous ways. We’re called right now to apply some creativity to enlighten our people to our incredible history that powers and principalities are seeking to block and ban. We need some creativity put into finding all those missing Black women and youth; financing the brilliance and the dreams of young folk who seek to start game-changing businesses, organizations and initiatives; building a viable FUBU economy; etc. A mentor shared with me that life is all about problem-solving. You solve one problem, and that gives you the confidence and know-how to take on and solve the next, bigger problem. And problem-solving demands we use the creativity we’ve been blessed with and open ourselves to receive even more.
IMANI (Faith)
Can we move away from operating with the kind of faith that damns everyone to hell who believes differently than us? Truth be told, all the world’s major religious systems trace their roots back to Africa, more specifically to the teachings of Ma’at out of ancient Kemet (Egypt). So why are we tripping if one person is Christian, another is Muslim, and another practices a more traditional African faith system? God is bigger than any one name any one group gives to God… and bigger than any one faith system. Malcolm X’s lawyer, Percy Sutton, said of El Hajj Malik el Shabazz, “He was the most Christian brother I ever met.” Think about that one for a minute
Giving and receiving these gifts this holiday season will have us stepping into the new year in power and righteousness.
