Does Obama Celebrate Kwanzaa? Day 1 of 7

This is the first day of Kwanzaa and the start of our 7 Part series on this African American holiday. Many AA's know about and enjoy this holiday, the question is, does the Obama family.(Video)



You will note that in this video the Obama children give the culturally healthy closing lines covering Christmas and the Holidays. This is an all inclusive point in their favor however, it does not answer the question.

This being December 26 the first day of Kwanzaa (Dec 26 - Jan 1) the call goes forth Habari Gani! what is your response _________________? and what is the Obama family response? How is their Cultural Literacy, do the parents make the call and do the children respond?

The reality is I do not have a direct answer to the question. Does Obama and family know about Kwanzaa? Do they, or have they participated in the holiday? I think the answer to both questions is yes. but it is odd that I have not heard a corporate media person ask these direct questions, nor does the net produce anything but hints for me so far.

Below is a hint.




This is a Calendar from Trinity Church, Obama's Church, you will note that there is a Kwanzaa service for each of the seven days. So it is clear that his local community, especially his spiritual community, embraced Kwanzaa and I believe so did he.

If Obama does or does not celebrate Kwanzaa there are two things we should understand about the historic year of 2008 (African year 12,008). One, America electing an African American President is causing Americans and people worldwide to want to improve their African American Cultural Literacy. Two, we have a Cultural Health opportunity to compare the Obama election to the Kwanzaa principles and see what we can learn about Kwanzaa and our community from that process.

So let's start with today's principle (1 of 7)

1. UMOJA (Unity) [oo-MO-jah]
To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and ethnic group.

I believe Obama's family is a good example of unity. His election demonstrated African American unity (90-95% pro-Obama) around someone they believed can help the community. His mission is to strive for national unity which includes all Americans. His election was followed by Black people worldwide and had a unifying effect on our Pan African ethnic group.

What do you think and take away as you meditate on Umoja, Obama and your own situation?

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