Friday, December 29, 2006

Habari gani -Ujamaa/Kwanzaa reflection

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

Millions of dollars leave our community because it so easy for us to be consumers of instant gratification. It is so easy to jump in a vehicle and seek out a bargain. So we think, but leaving our neighborhoods cost us time and other incidental expenditures that we fail to include in the purchase of a product. It is important for us to prevent a ghost town from happening in our community, by supporting those businesses that support our community. And it is important that we address our community's needs by crafting products based on those needs.

When I was a little girl, I went door to door delivering out-of -state newspapers, such as Pittsburgh Courier, Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Indianapolis Recorder, and the Grits. Not only did I earn money for delivering the newspapers, but was able to read these newspapers. From the majority of these newspapers, I learned that African-Americans spoke their lives in newspapers, music and later magazines. These written resources were created from a people who earlier was forbidden to read or write. I was proud, peddling papers from a people, who not only could read and write, but dared to discuss issues that was impacting the African-American way of life in America !!! But, I got something else from selling those newspapers filled with diverse opinions, entrepreneurial skills. By the time I was 13 I was collecting my uncles' rent from apartments they owned.

James Clingman Read one of his articles.


Vendors celebrating Kwanzaa




Monte Patterson/filmmaker-Ghost Town


Vendors celebrating Kwanzaa




#1 Roots of Wellness/Kellie D. Hicks/#2 Urban Update


Sankofa Gallery, LLC/ Glynn Hines/Pam Peterson-Hines


Much Scents, Inc./Elizabeth

Reeta's Fragrance/African Paradise/Camille/L'Elegance Fine Jewelry/Inez Collin/no photos



Libation for Maria W. Stewart, Ida B. Wells, Zora Neale Hurston, Leanita McClain and Frank Burton.

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