What a year! Here on this December Sunday, for this last newsletter of 2019, I thought I’d send you a bouquet: Duke Ellington on piano with Mahalia Jackson singing his “Come Sunday”; first performed at Carnegie Hall in 1943.
World War II was raging abroad; segregation seething at home. Paying homage to his African American roots, Ellington composed his suite: Black, Brown, and Beige; each color (section) representing a period in our history. For its centerpiece—a prayer for Black people, downtrodden and dismissed— Ellington sought a real voice, a soulful voice, the voice of a people: Mahalia Jackson’s voice—gift across the ages. Happy Holidays! As Muslims we have recently renewed our spiritual selves with the feast of Eid. Blessed Eid. May every year find you in good health! As Christians we seek in Christmas a time to honor the miracle of birth and the potential for salvation. Merry Christmas As Jews we share the magic fuel of faith the lights of Chanukah represent. Happy Chanukah. Happy Kwanzaa, too. This week-long celebration was created in 1966 by Maulana Ron Karenga, then a Ph.D. candidate in political science. The Civil Rights War was raging. In daily battles, law officers unleashed dogs and fire hoses on unarmed columns of men, women and children protesting oppression; demanding human rights. Karenga mined African civilization to heal the wounds of those times. Envisioning Kwanzaa as a season to honor the “first fruits” (in Swahili, kwanza) of heritage, of life itself; he distilled ancient teachings into seven principles (in Swahili, the Nguzo Saba) to be celebrated over seven days. A symbolic kinara (candelabra) of seven candles is lit and small gifts shared; one for each principle and day.
Offering riches for the common good; the Seven Principles provide a roadmap to recovery in troubling times:
December 26: Umoja (Unity) — To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community and nation…
December 27: Kujichagulia (Self-determination) — To define ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves…
December 28: Ujima (Collective work and responsibility) — To build and maintain our community together, to make our sisters' and brothers' problems our problems and to solve them together…
December 29: Ujamaa (Cooperative economics) — To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together…
December 30: Nia (Purpose) — To make as our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness…
December 31: Kuumba (Creativity) — To do always as much as we can in whatever way we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it…
January 1: Imani (Faith) — To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
May this holiday season bring you peace, fulfillment, and joy.
Events
What a great time I had keynoting the Los Angeles County Women’s Leadership Conference and rallying the crowd of more than a thousand guests with a straight-up Civil Rights movement call-to-action: “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round.” My topic: “Roar and Soar! Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty.” Wow, do we need to think about this now! It's a theme I'll be speaking about for 2020. Look for dates and places in my next newsletter.
My thanks to the Conference for their wonderful welcome. Inspired by California’s former First Lady Maria Shriver, since 2010 @lacwomenleaders has changed LA’s public sector (with its more than 4,000 employees) and the lives of people throughout the county. This year’s theme: Making HERstory. That, they did!
December 7: Max Rodriguez—founder, QBR: The Black Book Review and the Harlem Book Fair. In time for holiday gift-giving, we’re talking books—wonderful African-American-centered books and authors!
December 14: To Be or Not To Be, A Fireside Chat with Ilyasah Shabazz. In a live Distinguished Speaker Series event billed as an "intergenerational Fireside Chat," Ilyasah Shabazz (author, activist, daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, and fellow SUNY New Paltz alum) and I riff on the theme, “To Be or Not To Be.” Our subplot: What does it mean to be oneself in times of challenge and change?
December 21: Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration. In 1992, in a project helmed by Quincy Jones, centuries of Black musical idioms and an all-star chorus and orchestra re-imagined The Messiah. Among the performers, our guest: singer-pianist-composer Darryl Tookes.
December 28: Omid Safi. What a perfect way to close out one year and start a new. Omid Safi PhD—Duke University Professor and Director of the Duke Islamic Studies Center; Author, and Tour Guide (really!)—brings us his brand of "Radical Love."
The Janus Adams Show airs and streams live Saturdays at 4:00 pm ET on public radio's WJFF. For more information about my shows and guests, visit JanusAdams.com. Subscribe to the podcast on SoundCloud.
Emmy Award-winning journalist, author, historian, keynote speaker, Dr. Janus Adams is publisher of BackPaxKids.com and host of public radio’s
“The Janus Adams Show” and podcast.
www.JanusAdams.com
www.BackPaxKids.com
