Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fifteen, You're facing with the Most Submissive the Carl Nelson Show, You're.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Fucking with the most.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
And grand Rising family. And welcome to Wednesday on w
L watching the DC. Thanks for waking up with us. Later,
Quansa creator, doctor Malana Kreger will turn to our classroom.
Doctor Krengo will share how he conceived the idea of
Quansa and why the celebration is much more than an
alternative to Christmas. Doctor Krengo will also reveal how he
developed the seven guiding principles, the canar and the candlelighting ceremony.
(00:59):
But before we hear from doctor Kerengo, Gavia I brother
Singha by A will introduce us to some inspiring guests
who will share some of their quans of plans and traditions.
But here's what's making us this Thursday morning, Christmas Eve
for someone this twenty fourth day of December, the US
Supreme Court is blocking the Trump administration's plans to deploy
not the National Guard in Chicago. Newly released Epstein documents
(01:22):
indicate the President traveled on Epstein's playing more than first
and reported They say travel eight times, and Donald Trump
says the new York Times is a is a detriment
to the national security, a threat to national security, I
should say. Anyway, let's get started by here Gavi sing
by Grand rising, brother Saint God.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
And rise and call in to the listeners. How are
you this morning?
Speaker 3 (01:48):
I'm still learning, brother sing God. I'm still learning to
get into this classroom here. I know you've got a
bunch of folks that you you want to introduce to
us on this day before Christmas for some and some
of us are celebrating Quanta.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Certainly do, but let me first wish everybody hope everybody's
had or it's having a prosperous winter solstice, which is
an extremely important time of the year. Of course, tomorrow
the new sun, the renewed son, will come in, and
then of course on the twenty six through the first,
(02:21):
we'll be celebrating Kwanza that has been created over since
nineteen sixty six. But it's very important for us to
understand Kuansa principles relevant year round. So what we have today,
I've brought some guests on well, not to guests to
you call, but guests to some of your listeners. And
(02:43):
maybe I am, but I've been on before I got
brother Obion I don't know what he's called in yet,
and his daughters, the Holly Girls. And I have sister
Tilla Paul Lacy, who is a very very powerful sister
in the DC community doing a lot with young brothers
and sisters. But also both of them grew up in
(03:07):
the community, the United Black Community or the cultural community
of Banca City, Washington, d C. And she represents a
group that's doing a lot of work called head smart Heads,
smart hood sparked and hood sparked very very important.
Speaker 5 (03:25):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
And a lot of our young people are doing great work.
Sometimes we hear so much in the news about things
that are not going so well with young people, but
the reality is most of our young people are on
course and trying to move forward and trying to navigate
through all of this confusion and diversion away from real
cultural identity. So I don't know who's on the line yet,
(03:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
We're both underline.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
So it will go withlves and then we'll get right
into it. So if we want to start with sister Atia,
good morning, Uh, my sister, how are you tease?
Speaker 6 (04:04):
Good morning? Good morning baba, and teach you all the
listeners and tc you too, our hosts, thank you so
much for having us.
Speaker 7 (04:14):
Yeah, brother Obi, good morning, Baba sing Gore, Good morning
Baba Carl Nelson, his brother Obi here on the phone.
And I'm with the illustrious.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
A'mminica chef suits.
Speaker 7 (04:30):
My partner and wife.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
Peace and blessings, Atiya. How are you? Sisters? Hey, how
are you?
Speaker 8 (04:37):
How are you?
Speaker 5 (04:38):
In peace and blessings, babak Baba thing Gore.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
It's a pleasure, my dear sister. It's a pleasure having
y'all on a lot to share.
Speaker 7 (04:48):
Of course, I'm sorry, well, I don't want to cut
you off. But also we have and I guess we
can get into it a little bit later. But we
have our daughters, the Holly Girls on the line, who
going to be helping to make clients of pop heavy
this year. Are they on the line right now?
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Let them introduce control.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
I don't see them yet on the line, so I
guess they'll join us later. You guys going from the
West coast, go ahead, sing.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Quite a few people were trying to call in because
this is a it's not about a meet things that
we think, and so we got families on that are
going to share. So I just want to start by saying,
you know, this is a very very very important time
for us. I know it's a lot of things going on,
but we need to stay focused on the real deal,
(05:36):
which is Pan African universal African nationalism and doing our
best to pass on the positive information and knowledge the
generations that follow us. So this is a legacy and
attribute always to our ancestors, because if we're not for
our ancestors, we would not be. In fact, there's many
more ancestors than us, so we are just honored. So
(05:58):
I'm not going to do a lot of talk in
this segment. I want to hear a lot from a
tear about the Quansa that's coming up on Niah Knight.
And I also want to hear about the Ujama joint
which Obi and I'm an America could also share in
until we get the Holly Girls and some other guests
that we call them at seven. So let's let's start
(06:21):
off by talking a little bit about the first day Moja.
That's the time when we all unify and come together.
And you know the good thing about the DMV call,
we have many many Quanta programs going on. We have
the United Black community that has a whole litany of organizations.
(06:41):
But then we have Union Temple. We have so many
other Union Temple is doing something every day. We have
so many different things going on, even in Baltimore, even
in Virginia and all over. And this is encouraging because
we set the stage for the world because Quans is
celebrated now world, why even in Africa. Uh So, anyway,
(07:02):
without any further ado, let's start with uh jam joint
since that comes up before mea knight.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Who's going to discuss that one? I just mentioned your
name because we we we don't know who this is radio,
so when you speak just French. First, just mentioned your name,
so we'll know who's speaking. Okay, who's speaking?
Speaker 7 (07:26):
Absolutely, So Barba san gord uh you want to talk
about the Ujima Joint or did you say the Moja.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
General Obi Quanji in general? But you know because you
were one of the founding members of the you and
uh uh, my dear Empress were part of the founding
uh that. So give a little bit of background on
that and then we're gonna segue into my dear sister
a tea and then I'm gonna talk a little bit
about the the awards that we're giving again this year
(07:59):
that we do and to a lot of brothers and
sisters the many know, So go ahead to Obi.
Speaker 7 (08:06):
All right, well, well, thank you, thank you, and I'm
also aware that the girls are on the call and
we'll bring them on in just one one second as
we carry on in the discussion peace and love. Thank
you for this opportunity, Baba Carl Nelson, for allowing us
to come on here and speak and talk about this.
You know, my name is Obie Holly Washington, d C. Natives,
(08:29):
and we actually as young people, my my wife and
I and uh, just about the name of Ie. It's
just about the name of Malkiakia Lydia, even Juwanza Zulu
and a whole bunch of others, whole whole host of others,
Kimbolydia and family. We were actually raised in the Pan
(08:56):
African community and we had parents and grandparentsant that were
always you know, around us, inviting us and encouraging us
to kind of to represent and help to carry the
torch forward just in the you know, uplifting the African
people in whatever way that we could. And of course
Kwansa being a very important time of the year, we
(09:20):
were influenced heavy with that, and so early on we
were kind of giving the mantle to to take over
a night of Kwansa and do an event. And with
that back in the day. Right now, I'm not going
to get into how old I am too much, but
I'm a little bit older than I used to be.
But back in the day, we started, I mean in
(09:42):
our late teens hosting Kwanza events on Ujima Knights, and
then by the time we became in our twenties, I
can't remember if it was you, Barber Senor or somebody
called us twenty something collective, only something collected and before
that just a favor.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Oh behold on a second, give us a favorite, Oh
be given you know, because you we want to find
out when you when did you come into Quanta. When
did you first understand Quansa, Because there's a gap.
Speaker 7 (10:16):
Here, Listen, I understood Kwanta as an individual one. I
think when I when I first uh, I started going
to Nation House where I told the Nation House Positive
Access Center back when I was like ten years old.
Speaker 9 (10:32):
My I was going.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Remember returning to people all across the country. Now, so
people don't know you know you made. I know you're
in l A and you speaking DC, but people don't
know these names. I just remember that twice telephone. Everybody
knows everything we don't. But go ahead, now you're.
Speaker 7 (10:47):
Right, you're right, Well, thank you so much. Yes, absolutely, well,
there's you know, in the country, there are you know,
Pan African independent schools for Black children and African children.
And then Nashley and d C is very hisork when
it comes to that. You have Ujama Shoele which was
founded by Baba Zulu, his wife and family, which is
(11:08):
considered either the first or the second independent Pan African
school in history in the United States. And then I
think around the I think it would be considered the third.
You have Nation House Positive Action Center or Watoto School
or Watoto Shoela, which is another independent Pan African school,
(11:30):
you know, which tore African history, mathematics, everything in.
Speaker 9 (11:33):
A very.
Speaker 7 (11:36):
Strong way that was ideologically based on African history and
the idea that black people can do for self kuji
chakuala self determination. And these schools were started in the
late sixties early seventies all over the country actually, but
here in DC you had Howard University right down the street.
So you had a lot of people coming out of
(11:57):
the Howard University experience, a lot of people coming out
of the Malcolm X's experience, the Martin Luther King experience,
the Black Power experience, the Black Panther experience, the Republican
New Africa experience, and they was starting schools that they
wanted to have this for their children because they understood that,
you know, the public school system in their minds, was
(12:18):
not fulfilling the needs of black children. And because of that,
they became exposed to all of these concepts and ideas,
one of them obviously being you know, Quansa. And so
by the time I came to the school, and I
think ninth I don't even want to say a yeah,
But about nineteen eighty, Kwanza had already been a tradition.
(12:40):
I remember before I came to Watoto Nation House Positive
Action Center, I remember coming to a Quanzi event. I
think was my first time actually even hearing about natan
House because my kid, my parents at the time, had
had me and they had put me in a white
school because I was selling in academics, spelling and reading,
(13:01):
and so they took me out of the inner city
school and put me in a white school for a
few years, but the white school put me back a
few grades, and so then they before they took me
out of the white school and put me in a
Nation house, they took me to a Quaniti event to see,
I guess if I liked it, And to be honest,
I was intimidated and a little fraid because all the
(13:22):
kids in there were in front of the podium giving
speeches and reading so sophisticated and reciting so much stuff.
I couldn't believe that these kids were so much more
advanced than I was at that age, and they were
younger than me. And I remember Baba A j who
was one of the male founders of that school, and
(13:42):
he was just this very strong, like fiery young man
teaching that was helping to organize the school. And I
remember thinking, man, I hope I never have to go
to this school because this is intimidating. But the next thing,
you know, my parents nasked me out that white through
put me in Nate out and from that point on,
(14:03):
I don't know, I was ten years old. We were
doing Kwanza in my family, in my household ever since,
and we've been doing it ever since. All the way
to this day.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
But it was your grandmother's decision. Mama Mama, the late
Mama alma Ayatoo Assante, who was a community activist school
put him in that school. You know who put him in.
It was her decision to put you into Ujamshoele. And
I mean I'm into into Wao.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yes, all right, fan, fourteen minutes after the top of
the hold on the second, fellows how on a second
fourteen minutes after the top of there, just check it
in just waking up on this Christmas Eve for some
of you, this twenty fourth day of December. We have
a brother Seango is a similar panel of folks to
talk about Kwanza. And if you're sharing the voice of
brother Obi, So Brother Obi, I'm let you continue. Is
(14:56):
Brother Obi? There have we lost him?
Speaker 9 (14:58):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (14:58):
Yes, we're right here.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Oh go ahead, okay.
Speaker 7 (15:03):
And so you know it was from going to schools
like Watoto Nation House.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (15:10):
And I also I went to a school that was
old Sarah set operated a school called Osabama Soup back
in those days. And you know I was I bounced
around a couple of times and that you know these institutions, Uh,
every holiday we weren't doing Christmas. We were doing Kwanza,
and so early on, the students at these schools had
(15:32):
to learn how to recite the principals. They had to
learn each principle they had to learn. We even took
swy Hilly. You know that the principals are in Swahili hill.
We had to learn twy hilly. We had to be
able to say moja and billy tattoo in a kind
of seata siby. Oh my god, I can't remember, I
can remember all the numbers. And we had to do
this every every every year, and so we we it
(15:55):
became ingrained in us. As a matter of fact, a
lot of the people now all the people, but a
lot of the people who helped launch the Quansa that
we launched. We went to independent Pan African schools, whether
it was Swatoka, whether it was Ujamaishuele, whether it was Roots.
We all a lot of us went to those schools.
(16:15):
And the ones that didn't go through those schools, the
ones that kind of came in, we kind of influenced
them and got them on board. So by the time
we were in the organization that our parents helped establish
for the African Youth Council. Years later in high school,
right before we all went to college. It was around
that time that we made a commitment that we need
(16:36):
to help carry on the tradition, and the adults at
the time saw to it that we would help carry
the Manthu and you know, encourage us to take a
day and be responsible for it. And that's been going
on ever since.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
All right, hold, that's all right, then we've got to
step aside for a few minutes. Talk our family. Just
checking in, brothers saying God's assemble a panel of young
folks who are celebrating Quanta. They tell us how they
started recognizing Quanta and how did they celebrate it first.
You got questions for them, you would like to talk
to them, reach out to us at eight hundred four
five zero seventy eight seventy six and we'll take your
(17:15):
phone calls next.
Speaker 10 (17:53):
Now back to the Carl Nelson Show.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
And Grand Rising family. Thanks for waking up with us
on this twenty fourth day of December. We're discussing quansa
brother Saint Gore's a symbol of panel of youngsters, the
young folks, I should say younger than us. At least
to discuss Quansa when they first came into Quansa before
we go back there. Love, if you're traveling today, please
take us along. We need to just download the app
and you can take us along and listen to us
all day long and all of the next few days
(18:37):
as well. Doctor Karreng will be here today and tomorrow
clink of psychologist doctor Johnny Fox will will join us
as well. And let me just shout out our la
peeps out there because the range storms on the way
and when they're expecting two or three inches of rain
now out there. When it rains, you know, they never
ranged in southern Californa. When it does, it's bad news,
especially for those ears that was scarred by the fires
(18:58):
early last year in January. So if you guys have that,
be careful. Eight and four five zero seventy eight seventy six.
You have questions to the panel, lesson, I'm going to
call the use let's go back to brother Obi. So,
Brother Obi, I'll let you finish your thoughts.
Speaker 7 (19:11):
Hey, I appreciate it, thank you so much. And so
in the UH when we were about twenty a group
of us continue and really started developing our quadra tradition
and this was what we wh when was this aminica?
Speaker 5 (19:31):
This was because we were this was in we were
about twenty nineteen ninety, around nineteen nineteen ninety. We were
approached by the elders and acts if we could. But
we were approached by you know, Baba ka Umba, Barbara
Rossa Sikh and Baba La Mumba.
Speaker 7 (19:50):
These are dc of Pan African.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Icons, elders and the Pan africanis leaders who told us, hey,
you know, we need you all to you know, step
up to the plate and continue with this tradition and said,
you know, we would like for you all to take
you know, ujima night and.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
What you mean and asked both of you, let me
ask both of you this. Did any of you ever
celebrate Christmas? Or was this or how did you see
this in comparison to Christmas?
Speaker 9 (20:20):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Most certainly I grew up celebrating Christmas. And it was
so Quansa was very very very new to me, you know.
But as you know, so it was my my husband
Obi who introduced kwanza to me, to my person and
so uh it was it was it was interesting that
(20:41):
that was my perception at the time. Oh, this is interesting.
You know, how does this work? Oh it's seven days. Wow,
that's even more interesting. Oh answer isn't a part of it?
Speaker 9 (20:53):
How?
Speaker 8 (20:53):
So?
Speaker 11 (20:55):
You know?
Speaker 5 (20:56):
So that was my Western mindset, you know, waiting for
you know, the Christmas tree. Where's the Christmas tree? What
do you mean there's no Christmas tree? Oh oh oh
oh there are these other implements. Okay, so I have
to get candles, Okay, I have to get a map, okay,
(21:17):
the unity cup. Okay, this is this is getting kind
of interesting and good. Okay, I kind of I like it. Okay,
but even more so the principles so on this from
the first statement of each day represents the principle. I said, Okay,
this is okay you this this is this is serious,
like you've got me now. I love this. And I
(21:39):
have to say, my first gift, my first quanza gift
was from my and it was my first coins of
gift was from my husband. It was from the Browder
foul Boba, Anthony Browder's you know, pivotal book. So shout
out to Anthony Browner for that.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Let me jump in here again. Let me share this
with you. What you I'm glad you shared the transformation
because you know, every year people go through what you did,
but you you've done it way back then. Uh myself included,
because we just all grew up at Christmas, whatever our parents, uh,
the celebrator or the politics, that's what we just fell
in line. We just thought that was it. And that's
why I asked you that question because I know some
(22:22):
people are struggling with it because they think and Donta
Kringle will come on and explain that, you know, Quansa
is not an alternative for Christmas, so you can still
celebrate Christmas and still also commemorate Quanza. So I'm glad
you shared that with us because some people probably sitting
there figuring out is it one or the other? Am
I going to miss that? You know, all the Christmas
trappings and many of them don't know they don't know
(22:46):
that many of those traditions are Satanic and all that,
and you don't want to get rained on anybody's parades.
I'm gonna I'm not gonna go deep into that. Those
of you've heard Brother Ashua Quation already know the story.
If you're not, just google his last podcast when he
was here. You'll get you get story you understand what
it is, but that shouldn't give you if and I
can tell that people in religion, if it works for you,
(23:06):
if Islam works for you, Christianity works, you stay with it.
If that makes you float your butt.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
God, go ahead, brother, If I may call, I'd like
to cut in here for a second, because this is
a very important topic. Kwansa is not an alternative to Christmas.
Kwansa actually goes back to our ancient African traditions of
first fruits and the harvest, and the research that was
done by doctor Karinga and others came up with the
(23:33):
concept to help bring us closer to our roots and culture. However,
it falls at a very serious time. I mentioned about
the winter solstice. A lot of times people don't understand
how important that is, which is from the twenty first
through the twenty fourth, and to us, the twenty fifth
historically is the renewing of the sun, not the human son,
(23:57):
but the Sun's son that gives us life radiance. So
I just want to clarify the people that because you know,
I came into Quansa and I was still celebrating Christmas, Okay,
So I want people to understand clearly that this is
not an alternative to Christmas, but it comes at a
critical time period where African people have to return back
to their culture. So those people that celebrate Christmas can
(24:20):
also celebrate Kwanza. I just want to clarify that. And
that's how many of us came more over and closer
to celebrating Quansa. And I go all the way back
to the nineteen sixties with Kwansa, and I raised my
children celebrating Kwansa and the first year they still celebrated
Christmas until I learned more about what Christmas was really
all about, and then I kind of wean them off
(24:42):
of that and got them more involved in the Quanja.
So I just wanted to clarify that to the people
that are out there that you know, people celebrate Christmas
and still celebrate Kuwansa also, gotcha.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
So at some point, though you do, you still continue
to celebrate Christmas or you're just so just quanta this
time of year.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
Well, let let me let me be very clear. Let
me be very clear. For me, I did not celebrate
both for me what I in my in terms of me,
my my my own person. I made it clear to
my step my very large family that you know, I'm
(25:22):
celebrating Quantita now I'm no longer celebrating Christmas because of.
Speaker 12 (25:26):
X, Y and Z.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
And I also gave them the history of Christmas and
why they you know, should you know, take a look,
you know, at themselves and what they truly claim to
be their value system and acts themselves, like are you
sure you still want to celebrate Christmas? You know, and.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
To what they say. It's intriguing because you know, I'm
never really confronted or trying to convert anybody to celebrate
quants I just did it. But I know what was
how did they respond when you when you when you went.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
To would go to my fa you know, I would
go to my families and friends. Uh, they're they're you know,
it's ingrained in your spirits, right, you know, traditions are
ingrained in your spirits. And so that's that's slow work
to to to get people to be receptive to something else.
(26:21):
And so I would make it clear like, hey, I'm
celebrating Quansa. I'm here to you know, at the Christmas celebration.
You know, yes, but you know I would inject a
bit of Quansa, you know, knowledge into every event, because
how else would anyone know unless you tell them, right,
And so now I can I can say that right now,
(26:43):
I have nieces who grew up watching me do that,
who are telling me that they are celebrating Quansa. Now
they're implementing Kuanza for their children. They're not celebrating Christmas,
they're celebrating Quansas, you know, and they.
Speaker 9 (27:01):
Started doing Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
But my question to you, though, my question is when
you told when you told your family members that you
were celebrating course or you were not going to celebrate course,
what was their reaction?
Speaker 5 (27:11):
Well, their first reaction was why not? Why would you
like really, okay, that's this is strange, okay, you know,
but they respected it, you know, because you when you are,
when you marry yourself to what you say you're convicted to,
people respect it.
Speaker 12 (27:32):
You know.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
And and with time they began to respect it more
because over time they you know, they would I would
get them to come to the Quaniti events also, and
they would say, oh, this is this is fun. You
know you are actually I don't know, Quanza could be
late to be like this, you know, like what like
what is this? You don't get you don't get that.
You know, with Christmas you get the exact same program
(27:59):
every year, you know, and surrounding the Nativity, and so
you know, not to put that down, but you get
the same programming every year surrounding the same thing. When
we know, you know, those who know anything about the
socists know that the true, the true Nativity, right, the
(28:21):
true Nativity is about you know, coming through those days
the twenty fourth, the twenties first through the twenty fourth, right,
you are shedding that which no longer serves you, and
the light on the twenty fourth, the light is rising
within you. You are who is being reborn.
Speaker 8 (28:44):
You are.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Let me let me jump in here and ask brother
Saint God question too, because you know, brother Saint God,
what about the children? Because I hear this from folks
who celebrate Quanta and but they always celebrate Christmas as well.
They say, oh, it's just for the children. It's for
the children because the children expected because the peer pressure
it with their friends, so they expect the Christmas tree
and all that kind of stuff. So they acquiesced to
(29:05):
the chill. They wanted the chilling to fe be happy
and don't really want to push quans on them call.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
I had no problem. When you when you return to
your African tradition, some things start to happen. I had
no problem finding out the truth about so called Christmas.
When I did find the truth out, I began to
tell the truth to my children. And one of the
things my children said, you know, because my old oldest
daughter Nadira went to Toto Nation House, and one of
(29:34):
the things that they always shared with me, I like
Kuonsa because it's seven days, not one day, and so
that's that's a big plus. But not only that, all
those seven days were were were relicated around basic principles
and family. So as they got used to that, they
(29:54):
preferred Kwanza over the holiday Christmas. And then they learned learned,
like I learned what that is all about. And so
I actually told them that the twenty fifth career was
born on the twenty fifth, not necessarily who you've been told.
So I told them the truth. And when they learned
the truth, they moved on. So consequently they've grown now
(30:14):
and they passed that on to their children. But it
took renewing ourselves as African people, because everybody likes to
come together with family and have a good time. But
these so called holidays that Arugu or the European world
had put on us, we found out all false holidays
and they represent something different than what it appears they represent.
(30:37):
And so you mentioned about ashra kways and the history
is out there. But the point about it is Kwansa
was a longer time period. It was a more African
cultural celebration and a good time to come together. And
you learn from it and got to you got to party,
(30:57):
to dance, and you know, you had to wean the
young youth father thinking they're supposed to get gifts from
some some fantasy spot. You know, I told my children
straight up when I when I when I raised them
when they were celebrating Christmas, your gifts are coming from
our labor, from what we're doing. But once they started
celebrating Kwanza, we used to figure out a way how
(31:18):
to give them gifts that are more important, like books.
And I heard of medical say how important it was
with her getting the gift of Tony Browner. These are
gifts to help renew your spirit. So I don't want
to take too much more time because I know me
here for a couple of hours, but it's a lot
more than I'd like us to cover in terms of
the actual specifics around uh celebrations and renewing of Quansa,
(31:42):
because the reality is now, I've been dealing with Kwansa
for a long time, and once you learn the energy
about the winter solstice and then Kwansa, why would you
celebrate a pagan or false holiday. But some of our people,
you have to bring them around, and they'll come around
on their own when they see the light, just like
(32:03):
you do when you're raising your consciousness and getting back
to your aflicanity.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
All right, hold that thought right there at twenty six
minutes away from the top of the family A brother
Saint God's got a panel here discussing Quanta. What are
your thoughts? Eight hundred four five zero seventy eight seventy six.
Sister Atilla has not said anything so far, being quiet,
Sister a Ta, let's go to you your thoughts so far?
Speaker 6 (32:23):
With the conversation you've heard, I'm sure good morning, good morning,
good morning, And I would like to take just a
quick moment to introduce myself. I too, am a DC native.
I currently serve as an assistant principle in a very
highness middle school I'm also the creator of hood Smart.
At Bobiston Gore shared thank you, and also the creator
(32:45):
of the Illuminates Your Black Brilliance Awards, which is an
extension of the Hood Smart initiative that celebrates the brilliance
and resilience of our youth and so our And when
I say our, I've partnered with my sister Awa and
some know her as Rohnda and she'll join us hopefully
a little bit later in Boba Jua. And there's so
(33:07):
many connecting threats here. We too came together as a
result of Nation House, which Boba spoke about. Our children
attended Nation House, which again is an African independent school
here in the district of Columbia, and so our institutions,
whether it's Nation House, the u n I, a Adosti
(33:30):
conquerrand there's so many of our grassroots organizations here that
really grounded us. And so I really want to share
that now we see generations of African people here who
have this level of clarity and who continues to carry
the torch. And so when we hear from the Holly
Girls a little bit later, that's the next generation who
(33:52):
are are going to pick up the mansho and do
the work. My daughter Nia Lacy the next generation who's
going to do the work. And so I'm really proud
of what we have been able to produce here in
the DMD because we had who are now our elders
who really did that work to raise the consciousness of
(34:12):
their children and now their children's children, and so I'm
really really proud about that. And so we come together
and this year we are celebrating Nia, which means purpose.
And so our Kuonza program is a little interesting because
we tend to attract young people and families who are
being introduced.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
To Kwanta for the first time.
Speaker 6 (34:34):
And what we've learned is that is that experience that
it ignites their awareness and cultural consciousness, which is the
whole point, right, and so we are super excited. Our
Quanza program will happen on Nia Nights, which is December thirtieth,
at the Highestville here for those of their local bus
boys and poets, and it's a celebration. We have a
(34:57):
really good time, and it's also partly an extension of
our Illuminates Your Black Brilliance Award ceremony, which brings together
hundreds of young people every year and we celebrate the
brilliance and resilience of young people. Because it's African people,
we understand the importance of our ancestors, and so we
(35:18):
offer awards, but that are in the spirit of an
ancestor and interesting enough, going back to it's just the.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Hold that thought right now, I let you finish in
the moment because we are to step aside and get
caught up with the latest news. Family just waking up
is twenty three minutes away from the top of that that.
It's just the two of the brother semo Baia is
a similar panel of the celebrating folks. So celebrating quansa.
Whant they find out in your when you started celebrating quansa?
If you do celebrate quansa. If you don't, let us know.
Reach out to us at eight hundred four or five
(35:47):
zero seventy eighth seventy six and we take your phone
calls after the news.
Speaker 13 (35:51):
It's next.
Speaker 14 (36:21):
Fourteen fifty wol.
Speaker 11 (36:24):
Good morning, folks. I'm Earl Kirk. Here's the latest from
newswe dot com. The National Environmental Education Foundation says the
cost of Christmas is bigger than retail.
Speaker 15 (36:34):
The holiday generates about twenty five million tons of garbage
in the US and that is clogging our landfills. It's
packaging boxes, wrapping paper, about thirty eight thousand miles of
discarded ribbon along with fifteen million trees. There are programs
to help. The tree can be mulched as long as
you strip it of decorations. If you can scrunch wrapping paper,
(36:55):
it can be recycled, and food waste should be tossed
in the green bin. I'm Bretan.
Speaker 11 (37:00):
Police are trying to figure out what happened to a
man found dead on the Fairfax County Parkway. Someone spatted
the man's body in the median near Old Plains Road
around nine to forty five Tuesday. Warring coups found signs
of trauma on the man's body, but they don't know
if he was hit by a vehicle. They're asking anyone
with info to give them a call. The man arrested
for shooting two West Virginia National Guard members in DC
(37:22):
is now facing federal charges. The twenty nine year old
is accused of killing specialist Sarah Beckstrom and badly wounding
staff Sergeant Andrew Wolf the day before Thanksgiving. The suspect
pleaded not guilty to local murder, assault and weapons charges
earlier this month, but now he's facing two federal charges
of transporting firearms between states. The suspect is next to
(37:43):
in court in January. Students in Montgomery County schools are
having their lunch debts erased thanks to a big donation.
Dark Cars has donated two hundred thirty thousand dollars to
pay down the lunch debt of families who receive reduced
price meals. Santo will be gliding into Old Town, Alexandria
today on a pair of water skis. The fortieth annual
(38:03):
Waterskiing Santa Show is today at one at the Old
Town Waterfront. The event raises money for the Lake of
the Woods Adaptive Water Sports Foundation, a group that helps veterans,
adults and kids with disabilities. Hornets Down the Wizards one
twenty six, one o nine. I'm Earl Kirk. When you're
looking for news for Black America, go to newswe dot
com dot com.
Speaker 10 (38:30):
Now back to the Carl Nelson Show.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
And Grand Rising Family. Thanks for starting your Thursday with us.
This is Wednesday. Actually all the days of mixed up
that happens on the holiday. You guys don't understand that
sixteen minutes away from the top of the are though,
brother as Sango by As assembled a panel to discuss
Kwansa and how they celebrate Quanta and what are they
doing this year for Kwansa. You want to join us
and tell us what you're doing for Kwanta when you
(39:15):
first found out about Quansa and why you celebrate Quanja.
You can reach us at eight hundred four or five
zero seventy eight seventy six before we go back to them, though,
let me just remind you. Coming up later this morning,
you're going to speak with Kwanza creator Dotr Milana Krenga,
and tomorrow clinical psychologist doctor Jeremy Fox is going to
be here as well. So if you are in the DMV,
make sure you keep you ready a lot to fourteen
fifty w L if you're in Baltimore or on ten
(39:37):
ten WLB. For we left were speaking with Sister Ataa.
So Sister Atayl, I'll let you finish your thought, then
let's talk to the young ladies.
Speaker 6 (39:46):
Yes, so I think I kind of paused where I
was showing the thread between what Boba Olbi is Sister
Dominica has been doing in their foundation where we are today,
and so I would speaking to the different experiences that
folks who join us will have, and one of those
(40:06):
experiences is that they will meet our student Award recipients
for the fifth annual Elimination of Black Brilliance Award. And
what's really unique about our awards program is that each
award is presented in the spirit of an ancestor, and
along with the Youth Awardy, we also have a living legend.
(40:28):
And I wanted to speak to the Excellence and Education Award,
which was presented in the spirits of Baba Ajay, who
was a co founder of a Nation House African independent school,
which has been spoke about a lot so far. This morning,
my daughter attending Nation House O bespoke to attending Nation House,
and so it's just a full circle. And I'm really
(40:50):
excited again that we get to now pass down this
information and for those who come to and join our
excuse me quanta program, who is really learning this information
for the first time right to the next generation. But
I want to go back to the Holly Girls because
I want to make a really important point, because the
(41:11):
whole point of Hood's marked, the whole point of the
Illumination Black Brilliance Awards. The whole point of us celebrating
Kwansa in this way is to really raise the consciousness
of our young people. And so I really want the
listeners to understand what happens when we as African people
make a conscious decision, when we're very deliberate around how
(41:34):
we raise our children and what they are supposed to,
especially when it comes to African culture. Just being really
clear around who we are as African people, because the
entire point is to raise the consciousness right of our children.
But when you have an opportunity to interact with the
Holly Girls, you are going to understand why.
Speaker 4 (41:54):
This is important.
Speaker 6 (41:55):
You're going to through the conversations here, the gracefulness, right repect,
the cultural groundedness that they had, and the fact that
as young people they are producing which I know their
parents are want to speak more to, but this is
really important to me. They are producing music, our creativity
that uplifts our people in our community extensies. They're positive,
(42:18):
high vibrational messages and that is the entire point. And
that is the entire point, And so I really want
us as we move into quantities and as we're moving
through the winsor sosis to really keep that in mind,
because there is an absolute force that has I'm not
even going to say trying, that has taken over the
(42:39):
spirit and the soul of our children. And so those
of us who have been fortunate enough to be raised
in conscious communities or who weren't introduced to the conscious
community until we became adults, it doesn't matter. We have
a responsibility to do this work, and we have a
greater responsibility to make sure that our young people right
(43:01):
are interacting with us in the community and the culture
in a way that raises their vibrations. And so I
can say definitively that that is the work that we
are all doing that are here on this call. We
are working for the next generation because it's really really important.
In Kwanza it's a great.
Speaker 5 (43:18):
Time to do that.
Speaker 6 (43:19):
And no, it's not an alternative to Christmas or any
other religious holiday, because it's not a religious holiday. It's
Williams in the.
Speaker 10 (43:27):
Lissence of times.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
Just tell you, let's let's bring these young ladies grand
rising sisters, and please introduce yourself when you speak, and
tell us when you first heard about Kwanta. Who's wont
to speak first.
Speaker 5 (43:42):
Hello, can you will hear me?
Speaker 3 (43:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (43:44):
Your name, Hi, my name is Kaya Holly.
Speaker 6 (43:51):
Hello, my name is Holly. Hello, my name is Arianna Holly.
And my name is Suna for Holly.
Speaker 3 (44:00):
Oh wow, you got four other there. I didn't know
he had so many young ladies on their brother, but
you did something magnificent here produced for four young ladies.
Speaker 7 (44:12):
I give all the credit to my wife.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
That's amazing because you know what they say that the
sons will always go to the wife, but the daughters
always stay with with the fathers. So I just I
know you know that already women rule, but let me
let me so young ladies. Let me talk to you
for these young ladies. So when you speak, just mentioned
your names. And because because I thought it was too
(44:39):
on the see on the line, it's more of you.
But that's great.
Speaker 12 (44:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
When did you guys first hear about quantat and how
did how did we and each one of you can tell,
you know, take a turn and explain. How did you
know deal with Quanta? And how did you explain to
your friends who were still celebrating Christmas? You know that
you celebrate Quanta. How did you guys stay with that?
Who wants to go first.
Speaker 5 (45:01):
I don't mind going first.
Speaker 12 (45:02):
Ti.
Speaker 5 (45:03):
My name is Taya Okay, so first hearing about Kwanda,
I don't think I can honestly say a definitive date
because growing up in my household, we never celebrated Christmas,
so it was just Kwanza from the beginning period. And
(45:25):
in our family growing up, we were the only family
amongst any other immediate family that celebrated Quanta period. So
I was aware of Christmas in the facts that the
rest of my cousins and you know, aunts and uncles
and everyone else and grandparents all celebrated Christmas. But I
(45:45):
just also think the way we were so entrenched in it,
in the fact that our parents, you know, they did
Quanta events, and they brought us to all the events.
We were at Emojaite, we were at Oujaman night, we
were at Kuchishaka Leia and night, we were at all
all of the events. I did not believe there was
a holiday better than Kwanza, honestly. And I have to
(46:08):
agree with Baba Singor Bay earlier when he said that
his children said, well Quanta has seven days. You know,
I felt the same way. I was like, I was
like Christmas is only one day, like it comes and
it's gone and then it's over and that's it, you know.
But I get to go to events every night. I
(46:28):
was like my parents, they and them, and like my godmoms,
my god fathers, they all they throw a Kwanza event,
you know, and it's music and it's dancing and you know,
and it's it's lively, you know, and it made me
feel proud and excited, like I couldn't wait for the
holidays every year, and I just I felt like it
(46:48):
was better, you know, I said, this is more fun,
this is more interactive, and even in terms of the
gifting process, because yes, it's not the same in terms
of Christmas, where you know, the parents are they're just
buying any and everything that the children want. Its purely
just for making sure they're satisfied with some material item.
(47:10):
And it's not to say that my parents didn't buy
us gifts. They they would they would get us gifts.
But one of the main things that no matter what,
every year, it was made very very clear that it's
important to also give something from the heart. So we
looked forward to doing that. We would make things with
our own two hands, whether that was here, I'm going
(47:32):
to go create an art piece for you, you know, or
I'm going to write this poem down or letter to you,
or I'm going to make you some jewelry or you
know anything. It's just you had to do something from
the heart. You know, you had to do something from
the heart. One one of the gifts always had.
Speaker 7 (47:52):
To be.
Speaker 3 (47:58):
Somebody Okay, I'm sorry, go ahead, it's just no problem.
Speaker 5 (48:06):
But yeah, you had to do something from the heart.
You also had to give something that, yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:13):
Somebody please if you're not speaking, because we're getting the
feedback here, so go ahead, okay.
Speaker 5 (48:22):
Yeah, so you had to give something from the heart,
and you also had to give something that was knowledge
based always, you know. And for us, we looked forward
to those gifts just as much as we were looking
forward to anything else. And a lot of the times,
the things my parents got us something that when they
did give us gifts, it was like something that had
to do with our true interests for our lives. Like
(48:45):
we're artists from music artists, so they always made sure
they got us something that would like in terms of
like regular material items, it would be something that also
with enriched the things that we really wanted to do
with our lives. You know this question though that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (48:59):
Yeah, let me ask you. There's a question six minutes
away from the top of the are did your friends,
your peer groups, and your families who don't celebrate quantity?
They kind of look at you like you was like
you kind of strange, like the kind of strange they
almost celebrate Christmas? So how do you deal with that?
Speaker 5 (49:15):
Of course, I well, I mean I grew up in
a very tight knit a Pan African community. So a
lot of my friends that I went to school with
were also going to Pan African school grew up in
Pan Afcan schools, so they knew like the people that
I really grew up with. But as me and my
older sister especially started going to like public schools like
all of those friends, they thought we were weird.
Speaker 6 (49:38):
They were like, y'all don't celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 5 (49:40):
And but again, I think I just also was raised
with such a I don't want to say it was almost.
Speaker 3 (49:50):
Okay, somebody's got their phone over a game. So because
we're getting feedback, you guys, you gotta gotta be at
your phone because it's not it's not gonna work out
well to each other.
Speaker 4 (50:02):
Yeah, well, yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:07):
We're gonna may have to drop some lives because it's
it's not coming over well on the air. Five away
from the top there, I'll tell you what can we
step away go to the commercials there earlier and then
we can figure this out. Eight hundred four five zero
seventy eight seventy six. We've got to check the traffic
and weather not different cities. Family, We got a panel,
got a bunch of folks on us, and we're getting
(50:27):
some feedback here with the phones where everybody being so
close together giving us this stories about Quanta. Have they
started celebrate Kwansa, what it was like for them, how
their family dealt with it, and what are they doing
for Kwansa twenty twenty five. You two can join this
conversation if you can get in it. Eight hundred four
five zero seventy eight seventy six. We'll take your phone
calls after the trafficking weather update that's next.
Speaker 16 (51:00):
M Good morning to you on this Christmas Eve, and
(51:59):
of looks like we've got a couple of situations outside.
We start off in Northern Va and a messy accident
that we actually watching here on sixty six eastbound between
Prince William Parkway and looks like Sutley Road. The two
right lanes are actually blocked out there. Traffic is a mess.
Also another accident here are sixty six express lanes here eastbound.
Speaker 17 (52:19):
Moving over toward Sutley Road.
Speaker 16 (52:20):
Looks like the left lane is blocked here and traffic
is a little slow as you approach out in Maryland.
Looks like the Ottle Loop of the belt Where is the
scene of an accident here on the Capitol Beltway. And
this is just after Georgia Avenue. Moved to the right.
Show that traffic is actually back there from University Boulevard.
Speaker 17 (52:36):
There's debris across.
Speaker 16 (52:37):
All lanes and so please be careful as you move
around this morning. Taking a look at your forecast for
this Christmas Eve, and looks like sunny today and huis
in the little fifties for tonight mostly cloudy and a
slight chance of rain after midnight and Lowe's in the
mid thirties. Dray Johnson on News Talk fourteen fifty AM
WOL where information is power fourteen to fifty WOL.
Speaker 14 (53:00):
Teen fifty w O L Washington d C ninety five
point nine W two four zero d.
Speaker 10 (53:06):
J W m m j HD three, w d c
j F m HD three.
Speaker 14 (53:12):
At worldwide at w o l DC news dot com.
Speaker 18 (53:16):
The Houston opinions expressed in this program are those of
the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the
views of Urban One Incorporated, Radio One or any of
its subsidiary companies.
Speaker 1 (53:33):
You've fucking with the most submission, the Carl Nelson Show, You've.
Speaker 2 (53:38):
Fucking with the most submission.
Speaker 3 (54:02):
And Grand Rising Family, thanks for staying in with us
on this Wednesday morning when it's come my days mixed
up again. This is the twenty fourth day of December.
Brother Saying Goo by a Gavia. Do you've heard Brother
Saying Go on this program several times? Well, he's assembled
a panel here to talk about Quanta and getting their
responses when they first started recognizing Kwansa having to go,
(54:24):
their friends and their families react because some folks, you know,
most of us, I would dare to say, did not
start out. Many of us, the young people did, but
some of us hold the cats. We you know, observe Christmas.
Many of us still do. And as we've indicated from
the panel that there's nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas. You
can celebrate Christmas and also Quanta as well. And for
(54:46):
the folks who are traveling now, I always gotta tell
folks are traveling today, please download one of our apps
from one of our stations and then take us with
you for the ride. And if you can get in,
just give us a call and want to hear from
you how you celebrate Quanta. What are you doing for quansa?
A telephone numbers told Free Source of Worldwide. It's eight
hundred and four five zero seventy eight seventy six. So
let's go back to one of the Holly sisters now,
(55:07):
were telling us about her thoughts. So when her friends, well,
they thought about her. They thought it a little strangely
she celebrated Kwanza, well, they were celebrating Christmas.
Speaker 5 (55:18):
Yes again, my name is Taya Maati kumb Holly of
the Holly Girls.
Speaker 9 (55:23):
And yeah, as I was.
Speaker 5 (55:25):
Well, I left off my friend once I started going
to once I started going to public school, my friends
that I made there, they definitely thought me and my
older sister at the time, they thought it was strange.
They thought it was very strange. It was unheard of.
It was not the norm for anyone that we went
that we knew because we were going to Susar Chavez,
(55:48):
their Parkside campus off Minnesota Avenue, off Kenilworth Avenue. So
they over on that side, they didn't know nothing about
Kwanza and they thought it was strange that we didn't
celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 9 (55:59):
Well, they were like, no regular.
Speaker 5 (56:00):
Christmas gifts, no tree, you know, none of those classic things,
you know. We weren't going to church, you know, or
any of those things.
Speaker 3 (56:13):
You know, And that's interesting. I'll tell you what. In
the instance of time, though, let's move on to one
of the other sisters, because you mentioned something interesting. You
just mentioned we weren't going to church. So let's talk
to another one of your sisters. Just mentioned your name
and respond to the question that I'm going to post
to you right now, because still say, say, if you
guys didn't go to church, so obviously some of your
friends who look like, oh that you know, they're kind
(56:34):
of strange. How long did did you internalize that or
did you did you wish to celebrate Christmas? Because you know,
they told you all this stuff about Christmas. So let's
let's talk to another sister.
Speaker 6 (56:46):
Hello, my name is Statistic. You Samowi Holly the Holly Girls,
And honestly, I did not personally feel weird, orn't bad
about the fact that we didn't celebrate Christmas or that
(57:08):
we you know, we were doing something different, and as
time went on, our friends became interested. It was something
that we did every year. It was something that it
wasn't just me and my family. As you Washington, DC
has a very strong Pan African community, right, So the
(57:30):
friends who I made in high school and middle school
who are not a part of that community, we brought
the men. We said, hey, this is what we're doing
over here. And as time went along they became a
part of that community as well. They enjoyed it.
Speaker 5 (57:45):
They wanted to be engaged in the in the Quanta.
Speaker 6 (57:50):
Programs or attend in that way. So yes, I hope
I answered that properly.
Speaker 3 (57:56):
Yeah, let's speak to another one Holly Girls as well.
Now what do you like? This runs some questions for you.
What do you like most about Quanta?
Speaker 6 (58:09):
Okay, my name is Arianna Strings of the Holly Girls.
Oh Man to two is what I like most about Quanta?
Would be probably, oh, a very difficult question to answer,
but let me just try. Well, for starters, growing up also,
just like my other sisters, I've been doing this my
entire life, so spinning it with family, you know what,
(58:31):
I would just gonna sound cliche, but sitting it with
family is my favorite part of Quanta. I mean, you know,
we had all the seven days of going out to
different events and seeing other friends in the community, you know,
learning a lot about history, and it was wonderful, you know,
just like implementing the values. But honestly that I think
it's the very it's the very last day of Quanta
(58:53):
that you're supposed to spend with family exchange gifts or whatever.
Growing up, that was my favorite day because well I've
always been very close with my family, but that always
felt was so nice because us will meet. Growing up,
me my sisters would spend that day making our handmade gifts.
We would draw photos, or I would create things out
of legos, or or I would make things out of
(59:14):
like you know, construction paper or whatever. I would do
those types of things, and it was always really fun
when I would then exchange those handmade gifts with my family.
That last day of quantas like, was always my favorite part.
Speaker 3 (59:27):
Got you six after the top of our family, we
guessed that some of the Holly girls, my brother Saning
Goo Baya's assemblar panel of talk to us about Quanta,
how they celebrate Quansa when they first heard about Quansa.
Let's speak to another one of the Holly systems again.
A question for you is the uh do you think
because you guys seem like a very tight knit family,
do you think you could say you'd have the same
(59:48):
zest for Quanta if you fire will your same energy
for Kwansa if your family was not a tight ni
because not all families are tight nameing you guys have
something special. Let me just tell you right now. We
got fami. These people not even speaking to each other,
you know what I'm talking about, and the order you
only see each other. You know that at funerals or holidays.
So do you think if you, if you guys were
(01:00:11):
not so closely, you could still appreciate Quansa.
Speaker 6 (01:00:15):
Yes, Hi, it's just me speaking my assasim blest and
after me laing Holly, I just go by Sene for Holly.
Speaker 5 (01:00:22):
Usually, but honestly, it's specifically.
Speaker 6 (01:00:26):
Growing up in the community that we grew up in,
but also with my family. If we weren't as tight
knit I really don't think we would kwans would be
what it is in our family because of the fact
that I feel like the whole, you know, foundation of
Quanta is genuinely bringing community and bringing people together as
a whole, and I feel like if that piece was missing,
(01:00:50):
it would be hard. I mean, especially, you know, growing
up in DC and having that community and then coming
to California and moving to California first three years.
Speaker 5 (01:01:01):
Were a little hard because of.
Speaker 6 (01:01:03):
The fact that we weren't in DC anymore, and you know,
it's Quansa is everywhere in DC and in California. It's
a Durrassic difference, you know, and especially meeting people and
then meeting friends and and a lot of them one
weren't even as connected with their families as I am
(01:01:24):
with mine, and tow they celebrated Christmas, so they were
looking at me sideways, you know. But I also, I
don't know, I think my I was fortunate enough to
be raised and and such a with such a strong
foundation within our family, and it's it's continuously enlightening and
(01:01:47):
continuously uplifting, and we honestly kind of hold each other
in a way, and I think that it would be
it would be harder, a lot harder to really be
in that as much as we are if that was missing.
But I will say for people that don't have such
(01:02:10):
a strong foundation within family or community or whatever, like,
we are always here and you know, and the community
is always here. And you know that's why I'm very
big on chosen family. Not every family is blood, you
know what I mean. And that's okay. And you know,
especially when you.
Speaker 19 (01:02:29):
Need to.
Speaker 6 (01:02:31):
Need that that that certain bond, it's so important. It's
so important, and that support system is so important and
it'll always be there in Kwanza. And I think that's
something that I'll always admire.
Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
Yeah, well said, I thank you for sharing that with us.
Speaker 4 (01:02:50):
Go ahead, by the single. I just want to chime
in here and just just share a little bit about
especially family. It's important.
Speaker 5 (01:02:58):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (01:02:59):
The U and I a ACL has been a host
in NIA and as you said, as I told you earlier,
that many NEA knights and I'll mention them, but I
just want to let people know before we go back
to Sister I Tia and talk a little more about
other events on NIA Nite. Your listeners are very familiar
with the BACH the coalition that we're in the Bethesda
(01:03:19):
African Cemetery Coalition. So this year again like last year,
we will be at Macedonia Baptist Church at fifty one
to nineteen River Road, Bethesda, Maryland on that side of
the d C on the thirtieth from six pm to
nine pm. And every year we honor ancestors, especially ancestors,
(01:03:40):
but we honor elders and these awards this year and
I'm just gonna be quick so we can move forward.
De Garvey twenty twenty five NEA Awards go to none
other than Brother Tiari Cousel And for those that don't
know Tiari causel they should know. He's one of the
major African centered martial artists worldwide to deal with Koopie,
(01:04:01):
Ghana and Gumi. And then we also have Sister Oza
Zinger who is a very very positive sister who's in
many many institutions, but particularly a Doossi the African Dosboro
Ancestral Commemoration. And then we also honoring Kenneth Carroll who
is one of the most powerful poet and spoken word
artists of the DC area. And then we also are
(01:04:23):
honoring a brother from the AA p r P who
goes all the way back with us no longer lives
in DC. Brother Bambozi, who's a very powerful brother, worked
with Kwame Terray. Then we also honoring sister Yuri Hudgens,
who is very very powerful sister, also one of the
founding sisters of Adossi and involved with Kacoran and a
whole litany of things. We're also honoring Evergreen Productions, which
(01:04:45):
is a poet a spoken word group. And then we're
also honoring brother Wayne Young, who does a magazine here
in the DC area. Many people may know of him.
And the last two Mary Gria, sister Maysa Gara, who
knows that lives in the DC area, but one of
the most creative artists of all time, did a lot
of images for Odossi and many many groups. We're honoring her.
(01:05:08):
And then last we're honoring brother Keith Easton, another powerful brother.
So I wanted to shout them out because every year
we've given about fifty to sixty seventy awards over the
last several years, and we like to honor people and
give them flowers while they're hear All of these people
are instrumental in the Pan African cultural community of Washington,
d C. So I want to let people know. Also
(01:05:30):
Reveini to Bayo and Sister Marsha out of Bayo, who
has been fighting to address the issue of the cemetery
in Bethesda that has been desecrated, and we don't play.
When you desecrate our ancestors, we don't play. You're desecrating
us little girls who are buried in that cemetery. So
call your listeners, are very familiar with them. That's where
we're hosting our Quansa this year. They'll be candle lighting,
(01:05:52):
they'll be a feast, they'll be Outstanding Community Service Awards.
Everygreen Production Group perform African drumming, sin the Marsha Gozi
Coleman out of Bayo and Reverend out of Bayo and
Baba Mosi the President. We will be doing that. So
I've made on give up information on how you can
contact us. But I'm gonna stop right there because I
(01:06:13):
love hearing from my young people. Because if we we're
not for our ancestors, not for our elders, staying the course,
focusing on returning to our traditional greatness, the youth who
are our not just our future, they are our president.
And Sister Atiya who hopefully we're going to go back
to now. Also had some other special guests coming on
and I want to get everybody opportunity because this is
(01:06:34):
a family affair, not just tight knit families, but extended
family because our things stretch all the way to sierle On, Kenya, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania,
a Zania, South Africa where they all will be doing Kwansa.
(01:06:54):
So Kwanza is not American holiday. It's an African holiday
for all Africans around the world. Up right there, call,
and let's listen to some of our young brothers.
Speaker 3 (01:07:05):
Yeah, brother brother saying fourteen After that time, do we
get all the Holly girls out first?
Speaker 4 (01:07:12):
I think you heard from all four of them. I'm
not sure. If not, you know, they can come on back.
Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
Then.
Speaker 6 (01:07:18):
Hello, Yes you did speak to all four of us.
But we will also have the opportunity to just talk
about do Jima joint when that time is appropriate.
Speaker 5 (01:07:28):
Please let us to know.
Speaker 4 (01:07:30):
Well you go ahead, now, go ahead now, and then
we'll go Tia and talk about Nea Knight that she's
hosting bringing in new people. See see call. You have
to understand it's a consistency. Also, there's a Nea program
being held in Baltimore at ever at Everyone's Place, where
Tony Browner will be there on NIA Knight. Also last
but not least, uh the Everlasting Life. We'll also host
(01:07:53):
the NIA program hosted by Ay. So there's plenty of
places for people to go to celebrate not only Nia Knight,
but every night there's a children party. Hopefully we'll get
into some of that. And I know you got doctor
Karinga coming on. He can address some of the critical
issues that we're talking about around christmasson Kwanza, et cetera.
But anyway, let's let's let's move forward. If we can
(01:08:14):
call to a tear all right in your thoughts.
Speaker 7 (01:08:19):
All we h Before the Holly Girls mentioned Ujima, I
just want to just give him a little back history
really quick of their event based on the event that
we've been doing. My wife and I a f a
Menekai pepsuit a Fee Soul and friends House of Ryan
(01:08:40):
friends have been doing and originally we called a twenty
something collective, have been doing a Quanzi event Ujima Knight
for thirty plus years every Ujima Knight, and as young people,
we wanted to do something that was a little different
initially than what other Quanzi events we're going on in
the city. We want to to offer music, you want
(01:09:01):
to offer poetry, you want to offer bands, you want
to offer hip hop, and that's who did we have
a little right.
Speaker 3 (01:09:11):
We're getting the feedback again, so so hold that thought
right there. Sixteen minutes at the top of the I'll
try and fix that feedback. This doesn't sound good on
the air we got if you're just checking in the
family on this Wednesday morning, Brother Saying, Go bay is
as semilar panel discussing Quanta, how they celebrate Quanta, what
they're doing for Quanta this year, how they started celebrating Quanta,
(01:09:31):
and what are your thoughts you took in getting on
this conversation. Reach out to us at eight hundred four
five zero seventy eight seventy six and we'll take your
phone calls. After the short break, we'll take all your calls.
Speaker 14 (01:09:41):
Next fourteen fifty w O L. Kils Now back to
(01:10:41):
the Karl Nelson Show.
Speaker 3 (01:11:03):
And Grand Rising Family. Thanks for starting your Wednesday with
us this Christmas Eve for some folks. Twenty minutes after
the top of the hour, brother Saying, Go Baye. Garvey
is a similar panel of folks who celebrate kuans and
they give them us some of the history how they
started celebrating Quanti, When did they recognize Kwanza? Well, their
thoughts about Quansa because all of a sudden, you know
some of us who's who celebrated Christmas and some still
(01:11:26):
sell us who celebrate Christmas. You can still celebrate Kwanza.
And that's the thought for the day. But before we left,
the sister Atia was going to join us. So it's
sister are tears. She's an educator by trade. Sister a
tea your thoughts.
Speaker 6 (01:11:38):
Yes, I'm here, Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (01:11:40):
Baba.
Speaker 6 (01:11:40):
So I would like to bring in Baba Jua, who
is one of my partners. If he's on the Callbajua,
are you here?
Speaker 3 (01:11:52):
Yeah, he's there, I'm not here and he's not responding.
Speaker 6 (01:11:58):
Okay, So well I'm not sure, but so I can
continue to move forward. And so, yes, we are celebrating
Nea Knight. And as I said before, we will be
introducing our youth awardies from our fifth annual Illuminature Black
Brilliance Awards. We will have a panel discussion which is
(01:12:19):
a staateful for our Quanta Knight and this year our
topic will be how do Black youth use their brilliance
and resilience to restore and uplift our communities? And so
this panel discussion is really important because we really want
to get our children thinking about how do they use
their talents to uplift their community. We know that unfortunately,
(01:12:43):
our music has been hijacked and so much of the
popular music, the music that we hear on the radio
or the music that unfortunately our children are attracted to,
it's very low vibrational and there are these messages that
really keep our children from elevator. And so that is
a conversation that we have while we have so many
(01:13:04):
young people and elders alike in the room and so
we really pushed them to stretch their thinking around. So
we recognize your brilliance and we recognize your resilience, but
how do you use those talents to then uplift your community?
And so we're really excited for this year's panel topic.
We have Koyaba Dance Theater who will be for their
(01:13:26):
children's company will be performing this year. We'll have a
fan fashion show where we are highlighting local African of
course designers and so we're really excited. We'll have vendors
and we're just really excited to bring people together to
really raise the vibrations of our community and to have
(01:13:49):
conversations and interactions where we just get to enjoy each
other as African people.
Speaker 3 (01:13:55):
All right, let's say brother Ju, I could get in here.
He's online six, Brother.
Speaker 12 (01:13:58):
Jua, good morning. Can I be hurt?
Speaker 3 (01:14:02):
You can be heard? Go ahead? Brother? Your thought?
Speaker 12 (01:14:04):
Perfect?
Speaker 7 (01:14:05):
Oh?
Speaker 12 (01:14:05):
Perfect? No, Mama Tea was speaking to it. You know
the Quanda event that we're putting on a bus boys
in Hyattsville on knee and night.
Speaker 3 (01:14:19):
Are you there? I think we may have lost three
minutes after the top of the hour.
Speaker 13 (01:14:24):
Brother.
Speaker 3 (01:14:24):
Oh, let's go to brother Obi. Brother Obi, Yeah, fill
us in and tell us what you know because you
said quantita. Like many of us adults, we came to
the quanza game later in life because we already we
already was observing Christmas because of our parents. What do
you think people who who celebrate Kwanza, what do you
think they missed the most for not celebrating and who
(01:14:48):
just celebrate quans exclusively and not Christmas anymore? What do
you think they missed the most about Christmas?
Speaker 7 (01:14:55):
That's a fantastic question for the crowd. Nelson, I really
appreciate it question, you know what, To be honest with you,
I think most of us, except for our children for example,
and other people's children, who were raised exclusively on Quansa.
If you weren't raised exclusively on Quansa, of course you
got amazing memories probably of being young, probably of being
(01:15:18):
around a tree, the anticipation of seeing gifts and all
that kind of thing. You know, lights in your house,
lights outside of your house. You know, warm moments that
you have at any family gathering, and Christmas in particular,
you know, there was a very powerful commercialization, commercials the
(01:15:39):
whole world outside your door things to be doing Christmas,
and you're doing quansas. So it takes you have to
be brave and bold to do Quansa. And so I
think the idea of not being a part of the
popular trend of the rest of the world, with that
excitement that you still might feel from your childhood going on,
(01:16:00):
that's probably the biggest thing that you missed. You miss
being detached from that reality, that excitement that everybody seems
to have. But with Kwanza, like my daughter said, you know,
there's seven days of excitement. There's new community, there's new ideas,
there's new concepts, there's you know that, there's these principles
and so we regnite and create that same warmth and
(01:16:23):
light and feeling in our in our own house, uh,
you know through QUANSA.
Speaker 3 (01:16:31):
Let me jump in and ask you this, brother, because
you mentioned commercialization, are you concerned that Quanta may soon
be commercialized, you know, having quants of these rappers are
having the kind of quands of parties of that that
when we see them doing now for King Day and
the stores having quants of sales, is that a concern
to you? And maybe it's a better question for doctor Korrenger,
but what are your thoughts.
Speaker 7 (01:16:52):
I do see people trying to take advantage of it
in that way. I haven't seen that kind of success
in a major way. I've definitely seen different, you know,
brands try to jump on the Quantita train to a degree,
I think they don't know what to do with it. Yet.
I'm not concerned because we on the grassroots level, you know,
(01:17:13):
we really champion this on a real way year after
year after year after year, and we really live it.
So I don't see it being commercialized right now in
that way, I would not mind. And there are things
that that we wanted that we're gonna do as far
as having different quantity events and different kinds of media
(01:17:36):
that popularize it more to specifically to black people. But
our whole aim is that that popularizing comes back to
the black community economically, and you know that kind of way,
you know, as you popular lies it because we want
We would love for more Black people in America and
more Black people in Africa, and more Black people everywhere
(01:17:58):
to celebrate and be a part of the Kwanza holiday.
That would be a fantastic thing. I mean, can you
imagine the whole world if the whole world was celebrating
and living seven principles of Kwanza every day, that would
be absolutely amazed, you know, and they'd be energized and
the courage to buy black that.
Speaker 3 (01:18:19):
Yeah, because we have that feedback after that. Top there.
Thank you, brother Obi, Brother ju Ju is back, Brother
ju are yes?
Speaker 12 (01:18:29):
Can I be hurt?
Speaker 3 (01:18:30):
You surely? Can?
Speaker 12 (01:18:32):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (01:18:32):
Perfect? All right?
Speaker 12 (01:18:33):
Thank you for having me back. Brother Carl. What question
am I responding to?
Speaker 4 (01:18:38):
Now?
Speaker 3 (01:18:41):
Beat me? I forgot I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 12 (01:18:44):
No, it's all good, so I'll jump in. So I
was talking with Sister Tia, and you know we are
we are doing that Quanta event at bus Boys in
Hyattsville on me and night, and as the other Bober
spoke to their many different things that are happening around
the DC area for Quanta, So it's a lot of
ways to plug in. I think for us, one of
the things that we're bringing to the table is an
(01:19:04):
opportunity for our young people between fifteen and like twenty
four to kind of offer their gifts and their talents
to the community, be recognized to that. It's intergenerational, so
as little kids, there's people in their twenties and thirty,
there's elders there, and it's an opportunity for those young
people who are are doing creative things to kind of
(01:19:25):
stay connected, stay connected to the elders, they connected to
their community, and be reminded of their responsibility to do
something to uplift African people.
Speaker 3 (01:19:34):
Gotcha sounds our great Dale twenty eight After the top
they up BILLI Saint Gore. You assemble this panel together?
What was the what's the premise? What do you think
listeners should get out of the conversation?
Speaker 4 (01:19:45):
This morning, longevity and consistency. And as I said earlier
and even way before kwans manifested, we were doing these
kind of celebrations around harvest and first fruits. And of
course doctor Karinga will will speak more specifically to that,
but I would say to you, Kaul that it's re
(01:20:05):
africanizing ourselves in the Western hemisphere and around the world
and reconnecting with Africa. The reason I assembled this group
together today is to demonstrate to the world that there's
a legacy going on. There's a tribute to our ancestors,
there's a tribute to the elders, and most of all,
there's a tribute of reaching to our youth so we
(01:20:27):
can redirect their energy under so that they understand with
their electricity that they do not have to listen to
negative music or negative vibrations coming into them. They can
accacuate positive and Quansa is not something that is just
celebrated at the end of the year. I want to
stress that again Quanza three sixty five. Every day, every
(01:20:50):
day all throughout the year, we should practice then guzahsaba.
And if we do that, as Obi said, we got
millions already around the world that celebrate Kwansa. But it's
not just about the celebration. It's about renewing your energy
around just like the winter solstice is a time to revive, renew, restore, meditate,
(01:21:12):
go in and check out internally what you're doing with yourself,
improve upon yourself and prepare for the new sun and
the new year. Well it's great time because that segues
right into Kwansa. And so doctor Karinga and others were
motivated by our ancestors to build something that would bring
us more back to our africanity and our African culture
(01:21:35):
and our unity. So the Nguza Saba, those seven principles
are principles that everybody should live by all the time.
So what you do when you say unity kuji chakaala, ujima, ujama, miya,
kumba and imani is you're renewing your spirit with the
(01:21:57):
tradition of our ancestors all the way back to ain't
you comment? So we are figning ourselves with the new
sun that comes in today, in fact or tomorrow when
the new sun comes in. We have restored ourselves. We
have looked back at our past. We have gotten rid
of some of our shortcomings and our negatives, dropped them
aside and become more conscious of building and going forward.
(01:22:19):
So that's why this panel today is together just to
show it's not just about the elders who are holding
the culture together, to you hold the culture together. And
you know, I've been practicing kwanta for a long time,
even long before I got into Unia. But if you
look at that, you are the purpose you in Ia.
(01:22:41):
So Garvey, and even before Garvey, they were practicing and
Gussar but they might not have called it Kwansa, but
they were practicing positive principles to bring us back together again.
So thanks to doctor Karinga and others, they have bought
that forward in nineteen sixty six and now we're continuing it.
So here's twenty twenty five. Look at what has happened
with sister Atia, look at what has happened with brother
(01:23:03):
Obie A Medica and the children of them. They are
practicing and carrying it forward. So I just want to
give hope to everybody. But I want everybody to understand
as we close today, the Winner Solstice is very important,
very very important to look to the sky and look
inside yourself and think about building something positive for the future.
(01:23:25):
I'm gonna stop right there, car because we've got a
lot of other people that.
Speaker 3 (01:23:28):
Have, yeah, twenty eight away from the top of the
half a family, and I want to speak to brother
Obie's better half, if you will, because I got to
ask her of the question, how do we maintain keeping
the seven principles alive throughout the year? I mean, we
talk about it, and we talk about for the seven
days of Quasla, but ideally, doctor Krank beleiast, we should
(01:23:48):
keep this the seven days in engaging the seven principles
throughout the entire year. How can we do that?
Speaker 5 (01:23:55):
Yes, yes, Baba again, my name is am in a
concept suit, Holly. The way that we do that is by,
just like Barba said, consistently practicing it in Guzu Sabas
throughout the year. One of the beautiful things about Kwanta
is the seven principles. You can take those seven principles
and apply them to yourself and practice them and apply
(01:24:18):
it to everything, apply it to your family. If everyone
practiced it in Guzuo Sabers throughout the year, we would
definitely be a better people. We'd be better off as
a as a nation, as a nation, because you'd be
consistently cultivating yourself. Everyone will be consistently cultivating themselves, you know,
(01:24:41):
throughout throughout the entire year. You know, Ujima you mean
you know Umoja, you know unity fujisakalia, you know, come on,
you can how.
Speaker 3 (01:24:53):
Would and ask you is you do you think? Because
you know, we've been trying to find a unifying issue here,
but all black people can celebrate and get get around
and you know, approve it. I think one of your
daughters or it might have been Obi brother Obie said
that he likes to everybody celebrate Quanta. But you know,
first I'd like to see all Black people celebrate Quanta
(01:25:13):
because we and this goes throughout the diaspora, because you know,
we've been colonized. Some of us speak French, some of
these speak Portuguese, Portuguese, some speak English, and some still
reside with their native dialects. So we looking for unified
force and since we can't do it through the language,
uh Kahili is what they're trying to push on most forces.
(01:25:35):
But a lot of the African nations are pushing back
on speaking Keswaili. But I think this is an issue
an era here Quanta with we all of us can celebrate, say.
Speaker 5 (01:25:44):
You exactly, we can all celebrate Kwanta and we can
all implement those principles into our personal lives in order
to cultivate ourselves as individuals so that we may come
together as a unified force. We have to come to
get as a as a unified force. That is what
African needs. That is what we here need here in
(01:26:05):
America and throughout the entire diaspora. We need to unite
as one people so that we can rise us and
be great. You know, we must do that.
Speaker 3 (01:26:19):
It's just that too. As an educated how much of
how much leeway do you have to pass on the
seven pins of Quanja to your students still if you're
still teaching.
Speaker 6 (01:26:31):
That's a phenomenal question. And I did want to mention
that our team, we are all educators, and so this
work is very dear and serious for us.
Speaker 9 (01:26:40):
We are all.
Speaker 6 (01:26:41):
Educators and and we are pretty much in places where
our children need the most help. And so I think
that I think the last administration with them being so
loose with so many things, and we won't go into that,
but it it opened a way for us to be
able to really speak clearly and freely about our culture,
(01:27:04):
and so absolutely we as much as we can, we
introduce the seven Principles, because again, like the sister said,
it's a lifestyle, right, these are principles that we can
all live by and stand on. And so as much
as possible, I speak to the principles being Guzusaba. Our
students are thirsty, they're open, they recognize that there's something missing,
(01:27:29):
and so what I'm experiencing now more so than ever,
is that our children are hungry and they want to
know this information. They they're thirsty for it because they
recognize that what they are being exposed to is not
making them them their best self, and so they're looking
for things.
Speaker 9 (01:27:47):
They're looking for, right, just.
Speaker 3 (01:27:48):
Hold that thought right there, I let you finish it.
On the other side, we gotta step aside and get
caught up in the ladies' news, trafficking weather in a
different cities. It's twenty three minutes away from the top
of our family. Just checking in a brother brother Saint
Gobaya is a similar panel discuss quansa what are your thoughts?
Hit us up at eight hundred four five zero seventy
eight seventy six and ticket phone calls after the news,
trafficking weather. That's next.
Speaker 10 (01:28:33):
Fourteen fifty wol.
Speaker 11 (01:28:36):
Good morning, folks on Earl Kirk. Here's the latest from
newswe dot com Norad. We'll be tracking Santa again this
Christmas Eve. Sarah Walters reports. The annual tradition started by accident.
Speaker 20 (01:28:47):
In nineteen fifty five. The folks at Norad and Colorado
were working a typical night shift when Air Force Colonel
Harry Shop received a phone call from a child. The
boy had called a number he saw in a newspaper ad,
promising he'd reach Sanna directly, but the number was wrong,
and instead he called the military. Shoop was no Scrooge
and entertained all calls from kids that night, beginning a
(01:29:09):
new tradition. I'm Sarah Walters.
Speaker 11 (01:29:12):
A DC cop is in the hospital after being hit
by a vehicle on I six ninety five near the
Third Street Tunnel. The officer was reportedly on foot when
he was hit in the eastbound lanes last night. The
driver involved did remain at the scene and also suffered
an injury. The MPD's Major Crash Unit is investigating. DC
police looking into a shooting at a home in Southeast
(01:29:32):
Officers responded to Savannah Terrace around two Tuesday afternoon and
found a wounded man who wasn't breathing when he was
taken to the hospital. No word diet on a possible
suspect or motive. A man is heading to prison for
a deadly twenty twenty three shooting in Dumfries. Twenty three
year old Kenyana Oglesby took a deal Monday where he
pleaded guilty to a second degree murder charge and was
(01:29:53):
sentenced to forty years in prison. Oglesby admitted to firing
shots and a group of teens during an argument at
a townhouse that killed three year old girl and injured
four others. The Washington Regional Alcohol Program is teaming with
Lyft to offer free rides home between ten pm and
four am now through New Year's Day. A special code
is posted on the program's website. The Commanders are hosting
(01:30:16):
the Cowboys at one tomorrow afternoon. It might be a
tough game for Washington. This is still unclear who's going
to start a quarterback. In other news, punter Trusway was
the team's only player chosen for the Pro Bowl. Hornets
down the Wizards one twenty six, one oh nine I'm
Earl Kirk. When you're looking for news for Black America,
go to newswe dot com.
Speaker 16 (01:30:36):
Yeah, good morning, It's brought to you by Tiny Big
Out the law officer Richid Klin. We're watching an accident
out in the BW Parkway north bound just after four
to ten. Looks like Faija and Eamassa on the scene.
Also looks like an accident on Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway.
This is right at Virginia Avenue northwest. Also an accident
that we watching and looks like sixty six eastbound and
(01:30:56):
the two right lanes remain blocked moving towards Prince.
Speaker 17 (01:30:59):
William park Way over in northern VA.
Speaker 16 (01:31:01):
Looks like two vehicles are involved and one has overturned.
Speaker 17 (01:31:05):
Were ended car wrecked.
Speaker 16 (01:31:06):
Insurance companies playing games call one eight hundred hurt one
two three big Al Fights to get you paid. Attorney
big Al is the law firm of Richard Klein. Taking
a look at your Christmas Eve forecasts, and it looks
like sunny today and his in the low fifties. Tonight,
mostly cloudy, a slight chance of rain after midnight, with
loads in the mid thirties. For Christmas Day, mostly cloudy
and the thirties percent chance of rain and hising the
(01:31:28):
fifties Dray Johnson for news Star fourteen fifty am WOL
Where Information Is Power.
Speaker 14 (01:31:40):
Now back to the Carl Nelson Show.
Speaker 3 (01:32:03):
And Grand Rising Family. Thanks for staying with us on
this Wednesday morning. We're sixteen minutes away from the top
of the hour with a panel assembled by Brother Singo
by It discussing Quanta tell us when they started celebrating Quansa,
how it changed their lives. What are your thoughts? Reach
out to us at eight hundred four five zero seventy
eight seventy six and join the conversation. Before we do
that there, let me just remind you. Coming up later
(01:32:25):
this morning, we're going speak with Quansa creator, doctor Milana Kurenga,
and tomorrow we're going to speak with clinical psychologist doctor
Jeromy Fox, and many of you know him from his
best selling workbook Addicted to White The Oppressed in League
with the Oppressor, a shame based alliance. So both these
scholars are going to be here over the next two days,
so make sure you tell all your friends tune in there.
If they're on the road again, tell them to download
(01:32:46):
the app from any of found stations and take that
with us so they can check us out today and
tomorrow and dry safely with you if you're on the
behind the wheel. This morning before we left, we speaking
with Sister A Tea in Washington, DC. So it Sister Tea,
I'm making let you finish your thoughts, thank you so.
Speaker 6 (01:33:03):
Much, and I'm going to pass the course to bout
the juwah baba juwas because we are all educators.
Speaker 12 (01:33:08):
And yeah, yeah, yeah, And I've been an educator for
about twenty five years and quantum practitioner in my whole life.
And the question you asked around like education, I think
a lot of it has to do with what your
positionality is in the school and what the underlying philosophy
is at the school. So you know, when I was
in Philadelphia, we used inkkuza saba every day, so there
(01:33:29):
was the principal every day that the kids were to
recite so that they knew the definition of the principle,
and then we talked about how we would practice that
principle every day. When I moved from Philadelphia to d C,
that that that philosophy is not embedded in the school,
because that's not like a norm, right, And so for me,
part of it was how do I bring that to
my students and in that environment was super oppressive and
(01:33:52):
so for me, it was more like putting up a
Quantita table in the corner of the room and having
the kids ask questions about it on what I and
now I do like Kwanza celebrations for the kids, just
to walk them through this is how you celebrate, this
is what you do, This is how you set up
the table, this is what these things mean. So it's
more about exposure, but I think it depends on the
(01:34:13):
school you're in, You're in the position that you have
within the school, and your ability to bring whatever you
can to just let people know what quantum is the
importance of it to African people. I think another thing
that was mentioned is that emphasizing it's not religious, because
a lot of times there's confusion around that and that
can be a block for some people if they if
they associate Kwanta with any particular religion and they're saying
(01:34:37):
I'm not that if they're Christian or Muslim or any
other religion, then it can be a block that I'm
practicing that. So that's a that's a point of emphasis too.
Speaker 3 (01:34:46):
All right, thirty away from the topic, Let's go back
to the hollyod girls again and when you speak, just
you know, just mention your name. What are your plans
for this year's at Kwanza?
Speaker 5 (01:34:58):
Hello, Hi, this is at Combe Holly again. All right. So,
like my parents said, this event was created by them
and our godmothers and fathers and it's been going for
over thirty years now, which is just amazing, and we're
excited to be well one having the torch passed to
(01:35:21):
us and to you know, carry this and take it
into its next stages. So basically, keeping in the spirit
of Ujima being collective work and responsibility, we also felt
to create a space for people this year to feel
(01:35:44):
free to tap into their joy and really engage in
community and activity and connect and support black businesses at
the same time. So while traditionally over the years the
event has been perferer formance focus the entirety of the event,
(01:36:05):
this year will be the first ever Ujima Joint Kwanda
Party immersive experience. So what you can expect is you'll
still get the traditional things like the candle lighting and everything,
but you'll also see you'll see some performances of like dance,
poetry as well as singers. But then we're also going
(01:36:25):
to have a moment after that where we open it
up and it turns into a full like and it's
a part of the immersive experience. It turns into a
full party. Because you always hear about, you know, Christmas parties,
that's like a very common idea is just basic Christmas parties. Right,
So we were like, Okay, how come we've never been
(01:36:46):
invited to a Kwanda party experience where you can enrich
your mind, learn about the seven principles, share knowledge as
well as let loose and really celebrate together as a community.
The fact that we survived and thrived through another year here,
(01:37:06):
you know, as we bring in the new year, we
really wanted to create that space. So that's what we'll
be doing this year. It will be DJ all Night
through local DJ Blacks and Jackson, so shout out to
him and it'll be Yeah, it'll just be a really
really beautiful, beautiful experience. I'm gonna have to pass it
(01:37:29):
over to my sister and Sarda so she can like
continue to speak about the event fort.
Speaker 3 (01:37:36):
And tell us if it's going to be live streamed
as well, so folks listening around the country can can
check it out.
Speaker 5 (01:37:43):
Yes, hell.
Speaker 6 (01:37:45):
Yeah, can you hear me?
Speaker 3 (01:37:47):
Sure?
Speaker 6 (01:37:49):
Okay, okay, wonderful Hi. Yes, this is Satamui Holly. As
my sister said, yes, we will be having the Ujima
Joint Quanta Party and Immersive Experience, and yes it will
be live streamed on Zoom. The information is online as
well as within the Quanta calendar. And just as my
(01:38:09):
sister said, I just wanted to reiterate that for so
many families, this has been a challenging year. So in
the spirit of Oujima, which is collective work and responsibility,
we felt responsible for creating a space that allowed people
to lean into their joy, their love for community and
celebrate not only what we persevered through this year, but
also celebrate the year ahead, but the principles of Quanta
(01:38:30):
at the center. So we just want to open the
doors to not only enjoy entertainment, but also support black businesses,
to the vendors that will be there, and connect with
conscious community and ultimately just this party. You know, have
a good time and I'm going to pass it along
to my sister Arianna his This is Arianna sharing, So
feel free to join us this Sunday, December twenty eighth,
(01:38:52):
at seven pm at the New Cultural Cafe at Studio
W inside the Etistical Church of the Atonement. The address
is five O seven three East Capitol Street, Southeast, Washington,
d C. And again, if you cannot make it in person,
that is completely fine. You can join us via zoom.
It will still be a blast you've promised. And also
(01:39:16):
this is just an EPs speaking hello. Also, if anyone
would like to support us, they can. They can by
donating by zell at Ujima Joint at gmail dot com
or through cash app at the Ujima Joint. And if
you have any further inquiries, you can call or text
(01:39:36):
us at two O two formed nine two one seven
zero two, or you can email us at Ujima Joint
at gmail dot com. Thank you. Yeah, And we also
just wanted to reiterate that this this entire event as
our and from the beginning when our father I brought
(01:39:56):
our parents originally created it, and before they passed the
quest to us, it has always been in love offering.
It has always been something that we are just doing
from the heart. Everything is volunteered, the people who come
and put it together, the acts the performers, everyone is
coming to give something to the community. So at the
(01:40:19):
heart of it this is this is a love offering.
This is something that we want to do to just
uplift and show love and support our community.
Speaker 5 (01:40:32):
Right back in again, this is tie On my Auntie
cum Holly, and I just want to also say in
the spirit of what my sister and Sara just mentioned
about giving back and the fact that this has always
been a free event that includes everyone who has helped
us from and who's helping put it together. That means
from locations to you know, volunteers, everyone that has helped
(01:40:56):
put this event together over the years. It's all been
through love off friends and that continues. This year was
not just us helping to put this event on, but
also the Lydia's sisters, our fee souls daughters Soyini, Sharawhah Makaida,
as well as the Zulu girls you know, our uncle
(01:41:17):
Juansa Zulu's daughters Amaya and Anaya. And we are so
grateful to have the legacies that are a part of
from the parents who helped with the original event with
along as our parents, but the legacies the children that
are just like us to be a part of this
to help with this event because us as girls, me
and my sisters, we grew up a part of the A.
Sarah sat society practicing comedic philosophy, and at the root
(01:41:41):
of that philosophy is always having a view of the
whole and considering how what you do affects the world
around you and the people within your community and the
people in your home. So that's why it's so important
that we throw an event that's free for the community,
where people can come out and celebrate and you know,
really feel like they're at home. Because in a world
(01:42:03):
where every everything costs money, everything can cost money every
single day, why can't we give back. There's no reason
not to. There's no reason we shouldn't. It's even more
imperative that we do right now because people need that
sense of community and they need that space to express themselves,
to feel free. And we're very proud to be a
part of this legacy and two and to do this
(01:42:28):
work because ultimately it's it's not it's not hard work,
it's it's it's for the love of Kwanza and for
the love of our people, and we're very proud to
be a part of this.
Speaker 9 (01:42:40):
We really really.
Speaker 5 (01:42:41):
Are and I just wanted to say one more time
because in terms of the live stream, I just wanted
to give those are All the information for this event
is on uh line and on on both Facebook and
Instagram under Hollygirls at Hollygrowth. You will be able to
(01:43:02):
find all the information on Instagram and Facebook and the
zoom id number. I just want to say this seven
nine one two six zero five one three one and
all of the businesses that you'll see helping put this on.
It is being hosted by het Ra, but they're all
black owned businesses, including the vendors that will be there
(01:43:25):
all black owned. The location black owned. So please come
out and support this event. It's a free event, so
come through. We have some free raffles we're giving away
all kinds of really amazing things happening throughout the night,
so you don't want to miss this, all right.
Speaker 3 (01:43:40):
Thank you and thank all of you for showing up
this morning and sharing your thoughts about Quanta. Brother Shan
go before we go, Let you guys go.
Speaker 4 (01:43:48):
Anything you want to add h Yes, you can also
go to the Kwanza DC dot org calendar. You can
also we're going on the near Knight. We're streaming that
as well, and you'll be able to do that by
going to either Facebook or you know you can go
to the u NIA Division three thirty dot org and
(01:44:10):
get information. So we are live streaming that because our
people from all over even in Africa will be tuning in.
Last but not Lease. If you ever want to call
me to get any other detailed information, you call two
O two two five six two five one eight. I
want to also held up Union Temple. Union Temple can
be called at two O two six seven eight eight
(01:44:32):
eight to two. They're doing every day at Union Temple
as well. And as of more than enough QUANS events.
Last but not least on Koji Chocolate Lea for Self
Determination for people that have children ages three to twelve
years old, that's where you should start. Come to the
fifty sixth annual QUANSA Children's Party, which is gonna be
(01:44:53):
located at twenty one twelve Varnham Street Northeast at that
church there. It's gonna be plenty of fun and it
goes from twelve noon to three pm. So got little
children from ages three to twelve and you can bring
your older children as well, and adult are welcome. The
fifty six annual Kwansi Children's Party will be held there.
(01:45:14):
Kuji Chaka live self determination. It's best to start early,
just like the Holly Girls say they got it early.
A lot of young people who get it early, they
understand it clearly as they grow up and they pass
it on. So I want to thank everybody for joining us.
Thank you Carl, and we say to everybody end today,
you'll win a solstice with a meditation that everything is
(01:45:37):
going to be better for African people, north, southeast and
west of the world. Meditate on that and let's make
it happen as you claim it. We can attain it.
One God, one aim, one definitely one Africa.
Speaker 3 (01:45:49):
All right, thank you brother saying God. Thank everybody who
joined us this morning too many. Top of the our
family again and say this never come back with doctor
Corenga eight five zero seventy eight seventy sixth and I'm
gonna call to speak to doctor Green if you'd like
to have a conversation with me, and we'll taking calls
after the traffic weather it's next.
Speaker 16 (01:46:36):
But traffic on this Christmas even we're still watching an accident.
This is out on sixty six eastbound in northern VA.
And this is in Manassas. We've been watching this accident
for the last hour or so, moving towards Prince William Parkway.
Speaker 17 (01:46:49):
It's a mess out there.
Speaker 16 (01:46:50):
An accident has been cleared out on sixty six Express
lanes eastbound moving towards Sutley Road. An accident to report
to you as we stay in northern Va on George
Mason Drive, moving over towards Leesburg Pike. And accident has
been cleared from the BW Parkway here a northbound just
after four ten out in Prince George's County. That is
some good news. But an accident on two seventy northbound.
(01:47:11):
This is in Rockville. Actually in the three left lanes
are blocked. And this is right at West Montgomery Avenue.
This is out in Rockville. Taking a look at your
forecast for this Christmas Eve and Sonny and Hyes will
actually go up in the lower fifties for tonight, mostly
cloudy and a slight chance of rain after midnight and
Loewe's in the mid thirties. Dray Johnson on News Talk
(01:47:32):
fourteen fifty am WOL where Information is Powered.
Speaker 14 (01:47:36):
Fourteen fifteen WOL, Washington d C ninety five point nine,
W two four zero DJ w mmj HD three, w
DCJFM HD three at worldwide at w ol dcnews dot com.
Speaker 18 (01:47:53):
The views and opinions expressed in this program are those
of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect
the views of urb and One Incorporated, Radio One or
any of its subsidiary companies.
Speaker 1 (01:48:09):
You're fucking with the Most submiss the Carl Nelson Show.
Speaker 13 (01:48:14):
You're fucking with the most submissive.
Speaker 3 (01:48:16):
Yourself and Grand Rising family, thanks for rolling with us
(01:48:41):
on this Wednesday morning. Our next guest is the founder
of Quanta, doctor Milana Karenga, Grand Rising and Harbarry Ghane.
Doctor Krenga, welcome back to the program.
Speaker 9 (01:48:56):
Appreciate the invitation and the opportunity to discuss the issues with you.
Let me just start off by thanking you for being
so consistent and old point all these years for us
and our people. It's so important for it. Thank you
so much.
Speaker 7 (01:49:12):
Carl.
Speaker 3 (01:49:13):
Let me just tell the family, because people just think
that doctor Karenga is just created Quanta. Doctor kreng is
one of our top scholars family. I'm quite sure if
he's still a professor and chair of the Department of
African Studies of the cal State. Long are okay, okay,
So you're retirement until the next week. Then you'll you'll
you're finished, okay, And I'll talk.
Speaker 9 (01:49:34):
To you about that in a minute. But finish, I
tell you.
Speaker 3 (01:49:37):
Yeah. Let me share with the family because you know,
as I mentioned, doctor Kurenga is definitely one of our
top scholars. As you know, he's the creator of the
Pan African cultural holiday Quansa and the Angoos of Sabbath,
which is the seventh principle. It's also the author and
of the authority of text titled Quanta, a Celebration of Family,
Community and Culture. An active at scholar, is chair of
(01:49:58):
the organization US and then National Association of kawah Eda Organizations,
and executive director of the African American Cultural Center and
the COWEDA Institute of Pan African Studies. Also co chair
of the Black Community Clergy and Labor Alliance the bc
c l A. DoD Karrenga is the also the author
of numerous scholarly articles and books, including Essays Unstruggled, Position
(01:50:20):
and Analysis, cowa EDA and Questions of Life and Struggle.
Maat the Moral Ideal of Ancient Egypt, A Study of
Classical African Ethics, Introduction to Black Studies, fourth edition, Huisha,
The Sacred Wisdom of Asian Africa, who Efa The Ethical Teachings,
and he's currently writing a major work on the social
(01:50:42):
and ethical philosophy of Malcolm X, title The Liberation Ethics
of Malcolm X, Critical Consciousness, Moral Grounding and Transformative Struggle.
Doctor Karrenger is the recipient of numerous awards for scholarship,
leadership and service, including the Paul Robinson Zora'neil Houston Award
for Scholarly Work of African World Culture and the C. L. R.
(01:51:03):
James Award for Outstanding publication of scholarly works that advanced
the discipline of African Africanist Studies and Black Studies, and
also the Presidential Award for Exemplary Service for Outstanding contributions
to the field of Black Studies, all of this from
the National Council of Black Studies. It's also the subject
of a book by doctor Malefia Santi, another one of
our top scholars, this title Milana Karrenga An Intellectual Portrait.
(01:51:27):
Doctor Karengis also wrote the Manifesto for the million Man
March the Minster Falcone. When decided to have that march,
one of the first person you called was doctor Kurenga
just to lay at the agenda for the march. So
doctor Krenga again, Abarigani, and welcome back to the program, Buddie.
Speaker 9 (01:51:43):
I'm so glad again to be here. And I am
still Professor and Chair of the Department of Africana Statistic
cal State University, Long Beach. And at the end of
the year, I stepped away. But as I said to
the audience the Department and College Health retirement reception for me,
(01:52:03):
and I told that, look, I'm not really retiring because
I don't have a career. I have a life vocation.
You retire from a career, but mine is a life
vocation and so I'm not going to retire. What I'm
going to do is step away into another special space
which already exists. My organization, African American Coach Center US
(01:52:26):
and all the other things I do and I will
continue to do right just like I'm doing that teach
It's like I'm doing lecturing national and international and local
and building on and organizing in the community, building on
the legacy left me by the ancestors. I would continue
to do that all the way up. And so I
(01:52:48):
just think it's very important for us to know that
that the struggle continues, and I'm a constant soldier. That's
part of my name. If I stop that, I wouldn't
know myself. I know myself about what I do. So
my line is my first name given to me by
the people in my organization mean master teach it. So
I must keeat and I must create works that I
(01:53:10):
can teach. I can share with others so they can teach.
My second name, given to me also by the movement
is in wazet conscious soldier. Right, So I'm going to
always be struggle. I'm all wa it's going to reaffirm
our people's radical refusal to be defeated. And they're victorious conscious,
they're looking for victory and fighting for victory and will
(01:53:31):
of course achieve it. And then finally, my last name,
which I took myself, is Kurenga keep other tradition. I
enjoy studying and constructing and reconstructing, going back sank Cofort
almost intellectual archaeology, going all the way back and bringing
forth for my culture the best of what it means
(01:53:52):
to be African and human and speaking our special culture
truth to the world, making our own unique contribution to
how we reconceive this country and the world and reconstruct
it in a more human way. So I'm continuing to
struggle and are continuing the work. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:54:13):
You know doctor current A, Brother Tony Brown, and doctor
Lefia Sante. I'm leaning on them to find our next
set of scholars. They say they're out there, young people
because a lot of our scholars like me and you.
I don't con say myself but a scholar, but we're
up there. We're getting up there in age and we
need to pass on this information to the younger generation.
(01:54:36):
Both brother Tony and Brother Malefia are very optimistic about
our future. They say there's a lot of young people
coming up who are going to take We're going to
pass the baton to them. Are you in agreement with that?
In your area, you've seen a lot of young people
that come up that we could identify as some of
our top scholars.
Speaker 9 (01:54:54):
Yes, I think so. One of the things I wanted
to say about you is you what we call an
activist intellectual. The difference between a scholar and an intellectual's
a scholar spends time doing research and a discipline study
within a certain discipline like that. But an intellectual is
(01:55:15):
a person that deals with ideas and thinks deeply about
those ideas and does the kind of study that here
she needs in order to master those ideas and share
them with the people. So you like an organic intellectual, activist, intellecture,
that's what we would call that. That's very important. Before
(01:55:35):
I said no, the difference between an intellecture and a scholar.
So that Haiji Malcolm was an intellectuor he wasn't a scholar,
but he was a master intellectual. And so in terms
of young people, you know, uh, I take I take
their position. I take moles in Tony's position, doctor Scien
(01:55:56):
and doctor Broughder's position that future is good in the
hands of young people that are involving. In fact, a
molefic doctor sciente has trained many, if not most, of
these people that out there. Certainly I shouldn't say most,
but many many. I don't want to overstake, but he
(01:56:17):
has trained those people in his classes. He's given them
the African centered basis for doing what they need to do.
Certainly I have done this, my colleague, Professor Amen Ra
at cal State. I mean, he's done hundreds and hundreds
of people, given them the basis for building. It's up
(01:56:38):
to them now. And I take the position with none
of Frians for known that each generation must discover its
mission and have been discovered, either fulfill it or betray it.
So it's up to them. It's in their hands. But
we have faith in them, and we believe that they
will continue the struggle. Keep the faith and the line,
(01:57:00):
and those are the three things I'm always looking for
continuing the struggle. Is their scholarship, and is their work,
their research to teaching the pediculture all directed toward the
liberation and upliftment of our peoples. Continuing the struggle? Do
they keep the faith? Reaffirm what we say in our
(01:57:21):
organization us that our people have this radical refusal to
be defeated. Do they have that? And do they have
what Molefic caused, the victorious consciousness right that we're going
to win regardless. You know, So all the time we
end our our meeting by saying that we got to
believe in you know, the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
(01:57:43):
I mean that's key there. We start with the belief
in our people right, but we end with the belief
in the righteousness and victure of our struggle, and so
our scholarship, our intellectual work, must be joined with a
practical work to expand the realm of freedom and just
this equality and other goods that we see as indivisible,
(01:58:05):
inclusive and shared goods in the world.
Speaker 3 (01:58:08):
All right, twelve minutes at the top of that, our
family call up a couple of friends sell them. Doctor
Korrenga's on the radio, and they learn a lot about
Quanza how and he's going to share with us and
I let's have the question straight up, doctor Krenga, how
did you come up with the ij How do you
conceive of Kwanza?
Speaker 9 (01:58:23):
I created Quansa in the context of the Black Freedom movement,
And what I wanted to do is to let me
just say when I said in the context of the
Black freedom it been in nineteen sixty five. I began
to think about joining the movement full times. So I
(01:58:45):
was working on my doctorate at UCLA. I left UCLA
and I began to organize it again to you know,
found my own organization. But even before I was out
of UCLA. I belonged to a group called the After
American Association, and I did a lot of my preliminary
work and thinking of doing that time. And then I
(01:59:08):
left UCLA working on my doctorate. I came back, of course,
and finished my doctorate at USIU, and then I got
a second one at usc and the second one was
of course in Martian ethics. That's what my dissertation was on.
But anyhow, I came out and I asked myself rich.
But I, of course to this question that doctor Mary
(01:59:31):
mccloudmanth throw in grade. She said, knowledge is the prime
need of the hour. People want to know. What are
you going to do with your knowledge? And she said
it's up to us, those who know, to discover the
dawn and then share it with our youth and the
masses of our people who needed most. So I first
(01:59:52):
I created Quansa for that to contribute to the movement.
And so Quansa became in that concept first of all,
an act of freedom, second, an instrument of freedom, third
a celebration of freedom, and force a practice of freedom.
(02:00:12):
It was actual freedom. It is actual self determination. Right.
We didn't go to the local government or the bounty,
city government, county government, state government, or federal government and
ask them we have a holiday, or to recognize our holiday.
You know, that's vulnerable and it doesn't represent self determination
on one level or one lever. I understand it. So
(02:00:34):
I don't want to put it day on. But I'm
just saying, look at what's happening now. Because they gave
it to you, then they can say we're not to
celebrate that anymore, right, So no, you have to do
it yourself. And then the final nts. You know, black
people are going to celebrate the holidays. Even if the
Europeans recognize it and say that's a national holiday. They
(02:00:55):
have to do what we did with Conset, go on
and celebrate it regardless. Right. The fiant right be self
determination second principle right, and so I did it as
an act of self determination. We authorize ourselves second. So
it was not only an active freedom, it was an
instrument of freedom. We use it as a time to
(02:01:17):
raise black consciousness. We said black is not just color,
it's also culture and consciousness. And the consciousness comes from
the culture, the will to liberate the people, the will
to uplift the people, and to talk about what it
means to be African in the world right, and to
realfirm our sacredness, our soulfulness, our resilience, our resource forul
(02:01:39):
it more than any other time. You know, Black people
do that around quansam right. They become defiant around quinsa.
You know what I mean. People got there, how we
got ours? You know, that's how they think about it.
And so it became an instrument of freedom by raising
consciousness cultural consciousness, but political consciousness, the will to struggle
(02:02:03):
and the will to reaffirm the beauty of being Black,
the beauty of being African, and also the responsibility of
being African in the world. Third, it became a celebration.
Everybody knows this is a raise of freedom. Freedom from
self restriction, self restraint, self doubt, self condemnation. That's why
(02:02:24):
I always tell people, not just on your show, but
everybody show, don't come on here talking about how bad
black people. We can talk problems, but don't generalize. Don't
call a problem.
Speaker 3 (02:02:33):
Black, right and hold up thought Right there, doctor Kreng,
we got to step aside for a few months. How did
you pick it up? And we come back? Family just
joined us seventeen minutes at the top of that with
Kwansa creator, doctor Malana Karrenga. Doctor Krenga is explaining to
us and sharing with us how we created Kwanza. What
are your thoughts? Eight hundred and four or five zero
seventy eight seventy six Speak to doctor Karrenga and we'll
take the phone calls.
Speaker 14 (02:02:53):
Mag fourteen fifty wol Now back to the Carl Nelson Show.
Speaker 3 (02:03:49):
And Grand Rising family. Thanks for rolling with us on
this Wednesday morning with our guest, the doctor Milana Kranka.
Dr Krank of course created Quansa before we left to
tell us the steps he took to create the So,
doctor Craner, I'll make you continue your thoughts.
Speaker 9 (02:04:03):
Yes. So I was talking about the first reason that
I created concent in a contact, and it was in
the context of the Black freedom movement. And notice I
didn't say the civil rights movement. I know it was
in the Black power phase of the Black freedom movement.
Black Treatom movement had two phases, one the civil rights
(02:04:23):
phase nineteen fifty five to sixty five and then the
Black Power phase nineteen sixty five to nineteen seventy five.
And I created Quncent in the Black power phase of
the Black freedom movement. So the whole stress on freedom,
we have to keep that in mind that this was
a time Black people were struggling for freedom, and so
(02:04:46):
I wanted the holiday to reflect that. And so the
first thing I did was leave to create to contribute
to that struggle. And I was saying that it became
then first and active freedom, we've covered that. Second, I
said it was issrument of freedom, active freedom, self determination.
We didn't ask anyone, We're establish it as issuing of
(02:05:09):
freedom and conscious raising. And third, it became a celebration
of freedom. And that's when we, you know, celebrate ourselves
by singing ourselves, dancing ourselves, narrative telling, the narratives, the
sacred narratives we know is our history. Telling that on
a local family level, but also on the world level.
I mean, that's the beauty of that, to talk about ourselves,
(02:05:31):
to focus on ourselves without excuse apology, right, because our
struggle had always been two aspects to it, the struggle
to be ourselves, to free ourselves. And we know we
can't free ourselves if we don't be ourselves. But we
can't fully be ourselves until we fully free ourselves. So
it was always interrelated. So we celebrate and sing ourselves.
(02:05:54):
You know that everyone knows the celebration part. But the
last is the practice, and that is by pract the
practice of freedom, and that is practicing in Guzo Saba.
You know the seven principles that we say that if
we could just practice some of the principles some of
the time, especially most of the time, a whole new
(02:06:15):
change would come into our lives. People always ask me, now,
how can we make this a year long celebration by
practice and the principles? I say every day, Raise up
these principles, practice them, take them as moral imperative, something
you have to do. Because unity is a moral value.
To be in unity with your family, members, with your friends,
(02:06:38):
right to be in unity, to struggle to bring a
good world into being. That's a moral imperitive. That's a
command from us from the beginning. Speak truth, do justice.
All of these require what unity? You need unity, you
need community, you need family, you need organization, and so
(02:07:00):
practice these. The second reason I created Quncent in this
context of the Black freedom movement was to reaffirm our
rootedness in African culture. Now, why would I stress that,
because as you know, during this period, we were trying
to get back to black We wanted to find out
(02:07:21):
what is the best of what it means to be
African and human in the world, right, And so we
say the first step forward is a step back. And
we had to do that, as I've said so many times,
because we were lifted out of our history and culture
by the holocaust of enslavement and made a footnote and
forgotten casualty in Europe's history. They made us absentees of
(02:07:44):
our own history. I repeat, they made us absentees of
our own history. Even though we were creating history. It
wasn't for ourselves, it was for them. They finished us
in their own formula. And so this was to break
that out, to break that change, you know, and you
remember our philosophic power Eater, which is an ongoing sentences
(02:08:07):
of the best of African sensibility, thought, and practice in
constant exchange with the world. We argue that the key
crisis and challenging Black life is a cultural crisis again
with this continent. And we say, until we free our
hearts and minds, right, we can't be free people. We
(02:08:28):
can't physically free ourselves, politically economically free ourselves. We must
free ourselves culturally and thus has the right values, the
values that are dignity affirming, life enhancing and world preserving.
In the tradition of our ancestors, dignity affirming, we have
(02:08:49):
to respect ourselves as images of the divine and as
bearers of dignity and hearing word in its concepts we
introduce first before anyone mean, I got proved of me.
I did this case of work on it right, so
we know that. But even before we knew that, we
knew that we were equal to everybody else. But what
we've done is scholars is just put this down here
(02:09:12):
and say this is it. Here's where it comes from.
This is the earliest understanding of it. Dignity affirm and
respecting ourselves. Second, all of that is have to be
life enhancing. Does it contribute to the protection and promotion
of our lives? And if it doesn't do that, why
do we have it? And so the other one in
(02:09:33):
world preserving that African people, a world historical, a world
encompassing community of people. And we have to think, as
Hygie Malcolm old us in world encompassing ways, and we
have to think about preserving the very earth we live on,
and that's becoming more and more important as you see,
(02:09:53):
not just in terms of the environment as you know,
like trees and forests, but the environment is in terms
of like how the European puts materials in our community,
killing us, giving us premitu asthma, et cetera. And now
(02:10:13):
they're putting the AI databases in that which are doctor too.
But I don't want to get past what I'm saying.
But I'm saying it had to be world preservant. We
have to respect the world, and I would like to
get back to that if we get a chance. And then,
of course the third reason I created quins in the
context of freedom is give us a time where we
all over the world as African people could come together,
(02:10:36):
reaffirm the bonds between us, and meditate on the awesome
meaning of being African in the world. What does it
mean to be the elders of humanity? What does it
mean to be the fathers and mother is not only
a humanity but of human civilization. To have introduced some
of the basic disciplines of human knowledge in the now valley?
What does that mean? That's a challenge to us to
(02:10:58):
continue the struggle for excellence for achievement. Right, That's why
one of the reasons we study our history is not
only to learn this lessons and absolved his spirit and
practice that morality of remembers, but also to identify, extract
and emmilay the models of excellence and achievement of our ancestors.
(02:11:22):
And so this gives us when we study thattween go
and stress being African in the world, it also is
a time and Africanism. Right, Quanta has united us a
car more than any other celebration or culture event or
(02:11:45):
philosophy of principle that I know. I mean, it's unique.
It comes across religion, cuts across class, across political persuasion,
cross generations. I mean it really unites important and it
unites us in a Pan African way. This is a
basis for Pan africansm This is one of the most
(02:12:05):
important significance of this is that it gives us a
time to reaffirm the beauty, the dignity, the sacredness, the soulfulness,
the resisis and resource of our people. And finally, I
created Quanta to introduce in Ghuzosaba, you know, and other
community and values. And that say community and values. I
(02:12:26):
mean values that stress and strengthen family, community and culture.
And of course the hon Hindo on which the old
holiday turn are the Ghuzusava the seventh principles. And that's
one of the main reasons I created Quanta is to
introduce these values. That's why the holiday had seven days.
That's why I had to find a holiday in Africa
(02:12:47):
that was like that, that that seventh days. And of
course the scholarship led me do and course in uh
in in uh Zulu land. Uh So if you if
you look at a Zulu land and you see of
course in course swarma, then you can see that this
(02:13:12):
celebration of first truits is a motto for for it.
And you know, this is why it's so sad to
see people trying to you don't give the attribute attribute
my creation to somebody else or something to the ancestors
or a little girl, this person in this place, or that.
They don't they don't have the basis for that, they
(02:13:34):
don't have the intellectual basis, they don't the culture basis
and inguish the base it and so it's just sad
to see that. But you know, we can talk about
that later because some of the things I think we
need to do is always protect uh the integrity of
the beauty and expansive meaning of Quanta. So those are
the four basic reasons I created Quanta. I know it's
(02:13:57):
much more extensive, but those are just out line of it.
So the first reason, of course, to contribute to the movement.
The second was to return us to our culture and
to reaffirm that we rooted in African culture, not just
African continental because that was important for us because we
were dodging against it, but rooted in the best of
(02:14:17):
our culture, continental and di Aspirin, ancient and modern. And
third that it was to give us a time when
we as African people could come together, reaffirm the bonds
between us and meditate on the awesome meaning of being
African in the world. And wanted to stress again how
(02:14:38):
beautiful this is that all over the world, on every
continent in the world, it will celebrate quind Sile. Not
because it was advertised by the dominant society, but because
Black people took it, valued it and used it to
ground their lives, centered themselves and direct their lives toward
(02:15:00):
good and expansive end. And finally I created Quantita. Of
course to introduce the Ghuzotsava and to reaffirm the importance
of them and other community and values, values that stress
and strengthen family, community and culture. That's a definition of
quant a celebration of family, community and culture.
Speaker 3 (02:15:23):
Got you twenty nine minutes away from the top now
with doctor Milana krengk Doctor krek can you tell us
about it in Google Solad? How did you come up
with those principles?
Speaker 9 (02:15:31):
Again? Studying long term? You know, my specialization and college
was African politics, African culture, African studies. And I asked
myself in studying these cultures because I liked them when
I learned them. It was a long long way from
what Europe said, long way from the Tarzan Tarzan presentation, right,
(02:15:57):
And I liked them, and I asked myself, how how
all do these cultures ground themselves? What is the social
glue that pose them together, gives them their few men,
caring in the humanistic characteristic, their depths and beauty. And
for me it turned out to be their collective values.
(02:16:18):
There is the stress and strengthen family and community and
you know, like you know usually we said in the
movement for a long time, using em beauty he says,
at the heart of community and values, of this stress
and which is right? I am because we are and
because we are therefore I am. But I wanted to
(02:16:40):
say that I wanted to stress and we do and
how relationship right that when we talk, just think every
identity we have is a relationship. I'm a teacher, I'm
a father, I'm a husband, a brand, all of these
(02:17:02):
say relationship. That's not a name I can call myself
that doesn't involve a relationship. And so we said, it's
how we understood community and values, communal values, is that
we say we are related and we relate. Therefore we are.
We come into existence in relationship. I came into a
(02:17:27):
relationship to my mother and father force, but also to
my grandparents and great grandparents, et cetera, my ancestors. I
come into being in relationship my sisters and brothers. I
come in relationship to the future. I'm in relation to
the past, I'm in relationship to the president, and I'm
(02:17:49):
in a relationship to the future as an African person. Right,
So what I wanted to do was to stress this
togetherness what I call in my and I'd like to
discuss that with you later. On the article for my
annual Founder Funds of Message. As I say, it's a
(02:18:10):
sacred togetherness. Yes, this is a sacred principle. When it's
good and beautiful and mutually beneficial for everyone, that's sacred
to us. And so the seven principles became. People say
why seven? Well, because seven is a sacred you know
word brought me a number in African culture and many
(02:18:32):
African cultures, and so I thought that would be good.
But also because it's manageable, right, and I wanted to
stress that the sacredness of and also the manageability. Some people,
so why didn't have ten? Well, you know we got ten,
and other cultures you can say that. I mean, I
have no problem with dan, but I wanted seven. At
the seven spoke to it and you could manage it.
(02:18:53):
And then I had to choose things that were most
important to the movement. What is most important to the movement.
Remember that I created this context of the Black freedom movement,
and that's another thing. But this is an intellectual constructure.
It's not an invention, right, It's an intellectual construction that
takes years of study and of contemplation and reasoning about
(02:19:16):
what is good, what is best to answer the questions
before you ask me to answer them in the times
that I'm great. So I put unity first, Umoja right,
because without umoja unity, nothing else is possible. Life is
not possible without unity of the male and female coming
(02:19:36):
together with us, coming together, family is not possible. Without
coming together, community is not possible. Friendship is not possible.
So that becomes an important point, and the movement is
not possible, and victory is not possible without our togetherness.
Feeling the good life is not possible without emoja. Put
(02:20:03):
emney last. That's the foundation. Because without faith, even if
we start, we cannot continue. Even if we start to
build a family, we lose faith in each other. We
build friendship, we lose faith in each other. We lose
a hope that is a companion of faith. Hey, how
(02:20:24):
do how do we sustain our unity? I believe in
our people. I believe in the people, in our organization.
I believe in my house, Timorial, my wife, my companion,
in all things good, beautiful and sacred. She believes in me.
That's everlasting. That's it. If I hold onto that faith,
(02:20:44):
that's it. That's the basis of the love. Faith. Love,
love produces that faith producer love. Love produces faith, and
so I think it's very important for us to see
it self determination well, even if we're unified, and we're
not unified, on the basis of our own culture, our
own self, understanding our own self, definition, our own self, naming,
(02:21:06):
our own self, creating our own self speaking, Hey, what
do we have?
Speaker 4 (02:21:11):
What we have?
Speaker 9 (02:21:12):
A carckage of Europe run into Sweden asked how do
we go forward? How do we raise our children? How
do we what color should I have be? You know
what I mean? We can't do that. You know, one time,
you can remember Caul. One time we had to study
by doctors Maimy and Kenneth Clark. We know many doctor
Kennet Clark, that doctor Maimi Clark, his wife was very
(02:21:35):
instrumental in the study that helped produce the nineteen fifty
four UH decision that ended the segregation in the Brown
decision in the segregation in education and then led to
desegregation else play. And one of the arguments he made
(02:21:56):
was he did a study on the children, and the
children when they were asked what doll they want, the
little girl said the yellow haired dog. That's who she
thought was pretty irrelevant, right, that's who she wanted to be, Like,
you can't use that anymore because now it's not just
a little girl, it's a little boy and the father
and the mother. So what's going on? Black people? We
(02:22:19):
have to be self determined, not just in the way
we call our air, but in the way we do
our lives.
Speaker 3 (02:22:26):
Hold I thought right there, Doctor karank we gotta step
aside for another short break. I'll let you finish your
thought on the other side. Family, YouTube can join us,
and we're speaking of doctor Koran. Can reach out to
us at eight hundred and four or five zero seventy
eight seventy six and we'll take your phone calls next.
Speaker 17 (02:23:21):
Fourteen.
Speaker 10 (02:23:22):
Come now back to the Carl Nelson Show.
Speaker 3 (02:23:53):
And Grand Rising family. Thanks for staying with us on
this Wednesday morning. I guess there's ones I created dots,
Milana Kranker. Quanta starts tomorrow, and tell us how we
created Quanta and all the different aspects of Quanta before
we go back to the element. Just remind you. Coming
up tomorrow, we're going to speak with clinical psychologist doctor
Jeromi foxing or in best for his best selling work
book Addicted to White, The oppressed in league with the
(02:24:15):
oppressor shame based alliance, Doctor Crank. Before we left, you
were talking about the adultist Kenneth Clark and the hair.
But before we get there, though, why did you choose
Keith swahiely most of these words. That's left all of
us scrambling to go to find out the real meanings
behind some of these words. So if you can tell
us about the key Swile aspect then because that's everything's
(02:24:37):
based in Keith Swaily and then tell us and pick
it up again with ango saba okay boe.
Speaker 9 (02:24:43):
Appreciate what you said saying it's an excellent question. Appreciate
what you've said and answer by saying correctly, Karl, the
reason I choose Swahili is because it's the most widely
spread African language, and uh i, it's a Pan African language,
(02:25:05):
and I had for years been Uguan for that to
become not only our language end diaspa, but also the
continent's major language. And finally, of course, the African Union
began to use that as one of its major languages.
And even now people have spread throughout African countries like
(02:25:30):
South Africa, Gambia of making it part of the elementary education,
early education, so it's really good to see that. And
of course recently a few years ago, I got an
award from International Swahili Organization UH for my work in it.
(02:25:51):
I used to teach Swahili on TV early in the morning,
seven am, right, I taught you the night school, and
of course I taught you that in the university. And
I think it's important because we're not I don't claim
I'm not a person that goes and looks for my
DNA with ethnic group, and I don't live other people
(02:26:12):
for doing that. I think people should do that. It's
part of re establishing our relationship, right, But I don't.
I claim the whole of Africa as our homeland and heritage,
our historical homeland and heritage, all the people my relatives,
so I don't need a specific ethnic group all of
the Africans of my relatives. So I wanted to build
(02:26:34):
that in the context of Quanja. That's the Pan African
dimension to it, right, So I'm stressing again the Pan
African thing. And also I wanted to have an African
language that we used. You know a lot of people
have languages right that they use even if they come here.
You know, they still speak their language, they have some relationship.
(02:26:56):
They might not even know the whole language, but can't
speak the whole language, but somebody he does, and somebody
knows the word, you know. So I just think that
it was important. I thought then and I continue to
think it's important for us to reaffirm our Africanists in
every way we can, and to have an African language,
(02:27:16):
you know, that's important. Continent an African language as well
as our own African language evonics, right, But I didn't
even know that was an African language that later. I mean,
scholarship shows that the people who did the work any bonics,
showed that that was a language, a rule governed speech.
So it's ours. It's an African language. But I met
early African language on the continent, continent Africans, so that
(02:27:38):
I thought that was part of creating the holiday, right,
reaffirming our relationship. And remember now, for a long time,
we didn't even want to identify with African. Now when
we first came, we did because our oldest one of
our oldest institution, if not the oldest institution. His name
African methodistis church not colored people, right, not Negro but
(02:27:59):
African right. But the European, you know, drove us away
from that, you know, by these Tarzanic presentations of Africa right.
So our thing was to get back to the source,
return to the source, get back to black and that
was part of it. And you know it, really it
is good for people to learn. And another thing, the
(02:28:21):
European writes book called books with Dummies. We should never
do that. We should never assume Black people can't learn.
We're the first learners. We're the first human learners, right,
So we can't claim such a magnificent civilization. And every
time we talk about ourselves, we talk about ourselves in diminished,
our pathological ways. We was real firm, our dignity, our beauty,
(02:28:43):
our greatness, a capacity to create progress, to make history,
and to open up a new future for not only us,
but for the whole world. So that's that's how I think.
And and and it's global. And and one of another
thing is I chose Swahili and another African language, and
(02:29:03):
I use other African language like Zulie. I used them
because they contain communal concepts I need. I needed those
communal concepts I needed. I knew it Ujima, I needed
these that are specifically from Africa, and that stressed the
Communitearian aspect of our lives, the collective uh aspect of
(02:29:28):
our lives. You know, one of the things about Nina
Hydia Malcolm xicin Nina Martin Luther King, doctor Martin Luther King,
is that they stressed out togetherness. Usually doctor King did
it on a world level, but he also did it
on a racial level, that we needed unity. He always
talked about that all of our people, that me and
(02:29:49):
mclaver Thom talked about us in terms of being a community,
a world historical people, right, and sometimes when we talk
about us that we talk about ourselves in ghetto wives
pathological terms, and we don't need to do that. Some
people do that, not all people, but enough for us
to be concerned about that. We have to see ourselves
as a world historical people. Now a Hydi, Malcolm said. Now,
(02:30:13):
one of the things I noticed about Swahilia, again talking
about an expansive identity that comes from these languages, is
that we have in Swahili two words for people. One
is watch to, which means human being, and the second
one is wild and wingle, which means world being. So
it shows us an expanded identity of ourselves to be
(02:30:36):
a world being. That's a responsibility for the whole earth.
We're supposed to care for the earth, and we're supposed
to be good relatives to the earth. You remember when
I was talking earlier about relationships, Well, out of that
comes our imperitive and ethical imperitive. That's a moral obligation,
ethical imperitive, moral obligation, our moral obligation to be good relatives,
(02:31:01):
good relatives to our families, to our friends, and even
to the earth. To be relative, a good relative to water,
to animals, to forests, and feel right to the earth itself.
That's that's a whole different kind of concept. I can't
I can't do just to it speaking English. I need
a Swahili word for that. I need Zulu for that,
(02:31:24):
I need your but for that, I need other African
languages for that. Right that helps me to conceptualize right,
I'm a serious scholar, you know. That's just it's like
what di I have said, I should say that not
a sheckout to that DV said about the difference between
him studying Egypt as a scholar and the Dilo tips.
(02:31:45):
I just wanted to take trips to it Egypt and
talk about things that are not so like we moved it. Uh,
the pyramid blocks with the mind, all that kind of limitation.
There's a mathematics there, right, there's a physics there. There's
a trigger knowledge there. We have to find it. We
(02:32:05):
have to hold it up and use it as models.
And so I say go back to Africa and not Hydimacam.
You know, I'm very employenced by him. And he said,
we've got to go back to Africa. And even we
don't go physically, we have to go back philosophically and culturally.
And I have done that, and that's what is important
to me. I'm an African person. I'm always going to
(02:32:27):
come into the room, sit at the table at African.
I'm not gonna erase my identity. I'm not going to
lose it in a larger category. Even when I do
a larger category, I'm going to always have it African.
If I say human, I mean human as African, because
I believe not just Africans but all people that for this,
(02:32:48):
each people and culture is a unique and equally valid
and valuable way of being human in the world. This
is my way of being human. African. I don't need
to explain that away. I don't need to just the
buy under fear right. And I come to bring my
special culture truth, to speak it and to use it
(02:33:10):
right in ways that helped to reconceive and reconstruct this
country and the world in the most beautiful, expansive but
really we say, in the most ethically effective and expansive ways.
Speaker 3 (02:33:24):
Yeah, add away from the top. Now you talked about
the Angusasaba, you dealt with the first person. Are you
still were on the first principles? So I'll let you
continue on that.
Speaker 9 (02:33:34):
And I was saying the second principle was and I
really would like to share some of my UH Annual
founders crins of message with you. And when I finished this,
I'll finish this real quick so I can listen into that.
So you know, if I look at the principles of
self determination, I was saying, how could we be free
(02:33:55):
and not be self terminated? Self determination means so more
you mean to strive for and maintain units in the family, community, nation,
and race right and by extension, the whole world, because
we're world historical people, world and Thompson people. The second
self determination means to define ourselves, to name ourselves, right,
to create for ourselves and to speak for ourselves. We
(02:34:17):
have to be able to do that, otherwise we're not
fool people. Right. We have to be able to express ourself,
to be confident in ourselves, to be confident that there
is no idea in humanity that cannot be expressed through
and in African culture that's not I mean, we got
(02:34:38):
to take that position, right. I don't care what science
it is, I don't care what subject it is. African
culture is sufficient in itself and we can borrow from
the world, but we can't be borrowed by the world.
We can absorb, but we must not be absorbed. We
must have our own particularity in the face of universe.
(02:35:01):
So all great messages, I've said this before, I want
to say it again. All great messages, whether it's some
of the religion, or whether it's Kawe the philosophy or
the principles Duso Saba, they have both a particular and
universal character to us. They start in a certain people
like Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or Hinduism, or the
(02:35:23):
Native American culture, maya religion or Hopey. They start in
the people, but they not only speak to the best
of what it means to be that people for us African,
but also the best of what it means to be human.
So when we talk about self determination, it's an African value,
(02:35:44):
but it's so human value. But we can't just say
it's human. And one of the things that's really bothered
some to me sometimes is how the dominant society makes
some Africans always have to say Quansas for everybody known,
quasa for black people. Other people can learn from it, right,
(02:36:05):
and it can be for them, But guess what it's
for African people. Nobody tried to say Judaism is not Judaism.
Nobody's trying to say single Dama is not single Toma,
not for the Mexican. Nobody's trying to say Chinese New
Year is not for Chinese. Oh, it's what we don't
have to explain that, right, But for some reason they
(02:36:26):
make us want to say something that lets them in.
That's why they change the movement from the Black freedom
movement to the civil rights. Then everybody can get off
in there, right, but it does something to us. This
is our contribution to expanding the realm of human freedom.
Not only in this country but the whole world, and
(02:36:48):
we have to understand it. But let me go to
the names Ujima. Can we really practice who moja without
practicing Fujima or moji? Becomes simpler principle if it doesn't
become a practice, and if it's real, it must become
a practice and it becomes a practice in Ujima. Working together, right, right,
that's what we must do, work together to build and
(02:37:09):
maintain our community together and make our brothers and sisters
problems our problem and to solve them together. And said
oo Jaman for opertyep economy to be able to maintain
our sorece shops and other business and the problem from there,
this is the product principle. Oh what shared work and
shared well us we must be able to enjoy the
(02:37:30):
wealth we create in this country despite of capitalism. We
must create free space where and transform the society where
people have an inclusive and shared good for the work
they do. Right, that's just basic. Right And then of
course Nia, you know, to make our collective vocation the
building and developing our community in order to restore our
(02:37:53):
people to their judicial greatness. And we know that greatness
is not simply knowing knowledge and technology and all that,
because who see are the sacred text of ancient agent said,
the wives are known by their wisdom, but the greater
known by their good deeds. So we want greatness by
doing good deeds. Doing good deeds in every field you in.
(02:38:15):
So if it's in science good, it's a medicine good,
if it's in teaching good, if it's just serving good. Right,
But do service for the people, even Nana, uh that,
Martin Luther King said, everybody can be great because everybody
can serve, So serve right. But let your knowledge be
in service of the people, right, and let it be
(02:38:38):
in service of making a new world, as nan a
doctor Mary McLeod Bethune told us, see ourselves as world
encompassing people, she said, and realize that our task is
to remake the world. It is nothing less than this, right,
and then we move from that to goomber to do
all that.
Speaker 3 (02:39:00):
We got to step aside a few moments. I'll let
you tackle comb. But when we get back, the station's
got to identify themselves down the line per the FCC,
two minutes away from the top of the family. I
guess this, doctor Alana Krenga Creative QUANSA, got a question
for him? Reach out to us at eight hundred four
five zero seventy eight seventy six and we'll take you
phone calls.
Speaker 14 (02:39:17):
Next fourteen fifty w O L fifteen w O L
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Washington d C ninety five point nine W two four
zero d J w M M j H D three
w d C j f m h D three at
worldwide at w O L DC news dot com.
Speaker 18 (02:40:10):
The views and opinions expressed in this program are those
of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect
the views of Urban One Incorporated, Radio One or.
Speaker 10 (02:40:19):
Any of its subsidiary companies.
Speaker 1 (02:40:26):
You're fucking with the most Submission, the Carl Nelson Show,
You're with the Most submiss.
Speaker 3 (02:40:56):
And Grand Rising Family. Thanks for staying with us on
this Wednesday morning with I guess the doctor Milana Krenka
the Creative Quanta. Before we left, doctor Krengo's running down
these seven principles, then Google Saba of Quanta. I think
we stopped at Comba creativity, okay.
Speaker 9 (02:41:11):
Boy, and then the last one is and then I
would like to go to my and you found its quantimistic.
But the last one of course, is faith, and we
talked about that as a basis to believe with all
our hearts in our people. Notice we start with the people,
and our people are parents, our teachers, our leaders, and
the righteousness and victory of our struggle. That's very important
(02:41:35):
to believe in our people. Right. You know, we can
say I believe in myself, but if you don't believe
in your people, you don't really believe in yourself. And
if you don't believe in your people, we can't have
a moja. We can't have self determination by ourself. That's
just voga individualism imagining. You can have a culture by yourself.
You have a culture inside a people, a people producers
(02:41:57):
a culture. And as I said before, the great challenge
to us is the culture crisis and challenge. The great
crisis and challenge for us as a culture crisis and
challenge how to break the monopoly that the pressor has
on so many of our mind. We say, until we
break the monopoly that the pressure has on so many
(02:42:19):
of our mind, liberation is not only impossible, it's unthinkable.
You don't even see it as a rejected possibility. You
don't even consider it. And so I think it's very
important for it. And so Panza, I just want to say,
Quantita gives us a chance to talk about this. You see,
it frames a whole different kind of conversation, right, It's
(02:42:40):
a conversation that's like expansive, right, and it's beautiful and
it's reaffirming for black people. Nothing negative here, right, nothing
about black people this or that. Black people rising grand
rising as you say. Oh, and so I wanted to
say that my annual Every year I give an annual
(02:43:01):
Founder's Quanta message, and this year this title practicing the
Seven Principles in dimly lit times, lifting up the light
and hearing the dawn and others start out by wishing
for African people throughout the world. African community chanties our quanta,
Happy Quncer. That's why he lived again. It is our
(02:43:22):
quancett and we bring and send greetings of celebration, solidarity,
and continuous struggle for an inclusive and shared good in
the world. And we also wish, especially for our people
and for all other press and struggling peoples of the world,
the shared and indivisible goods of freedom, justice and peace,
(02:43:45):
which can only be achieved and enjoyed and passed on
to the future through righteous and relentless struggle. Also in
the Kawd of Mantan harvest celebration tradition of our honored ancestors,
we wish for African people all and all the peoples
of the world all the good that Heaven grants, the
(02:44:07):
earth produces, and the waters bring forth from their death.
Oh chap, I say heady again. This year's annual theme
is practicing the civil principle in dimly lit times lighting
lifting up the light hair in the dawn. So what
does it mean dimly lit time? To speak of dimly
(02:44:27):
lit times is to talk of the thick fog of
falsehood and fear, chaos and confusion and uncertainty that has
emerged in this historical moment and has settled heavily over
this land and our community. Indeed, they to speak of
the rise of authoritarian and anti democratic governments and practice it,
(02:44:48):
and an increased levels of mean spiritedness, human alienation from others,
an official and unofficial violence of various kinds, including livestream
genus side. And then to speak two of the giving
of the light and life of the heart and mind.
Imagine that dimming the light and life of the heart
(02:45:10):
and the mind. That is to say, cultivation of narrow
and uncritical mind and constricted a constricted heart, which embrace
illusions as real life, embracing illusions as real life, and
creating a diminished capacity for the people to fight through
(02:45:30):
the fall, to rast rightfully reason, and to conscientiously demonstrate
moral sensitivity to others, especially those who are different and vulnerable,
those who we can can't defend themselves. That's who people
ounce on, right, That's Trump, That's that in y'aw. All
of these people pounce on the different and the vulnerable,
(02:45:54):
but they don't act by themselves. The people support them. Right.
And when we talk about this about tarrying the dawn,
we talk about what none of doctor Martin Luther King
asserted during his time. He said, we'll confronted with the
fierce urgency of now. That's a beautiful phrase if you
(02:46:15):
listen to the firce urgency of now, and this, he said,
calls not just for delay or in decisions, but rather
for immediate and sustained, vigorous and positive action. There's that
positivity again. We've got to be positive, right, And yes,
we're living and celebrating Carnza. This year again in difficult, dangerous, demanding,
(02:46:37):
and humanly lit time. But as the sun sets, black people,
it also rises, and it drives away the shadows and
gymnasts and darkness and lights up the world. And the
best of our culture tells and teaches us that we
must be the light. We must be the light, I repeat,
we must be the light that drives away the shadows,
gymnas and dugness and opens a way to the good
(02:46:59):
world want and deserve. Indeed, the lessons of our history
and our sense of our own humanity tell us we
must defy the darkness, and the darkness make us not
just the darkness, but the darkness make us also those
that seek to dispirit and diminish us. And we must demonstrate,
as I said earlier, a radical refusal to be defeated
(02:47:21):
or dispirited in any way. Following in the footstop of
our hundred answers, we must, in the midst of the
deepest darkness hanging over us, lift up the light that
lasts and dare to herd the dawn only achieved, I repeat,
in righteous and relentless struggle for an inclusive and shared
good in the world. Our sacred teachers of our ancestors
(02:47:44):
tell us in the earliest of our sacred writing, that
who see U quote, it is wrong to walk upside
down in darkness, And we must come forth today and
bring forth to my eard the light of truth and justice,
righteous and good, which is within us. For surely it
is within us that they said, and this teaching of
the light and the good within us. Find this voice
(02:48:06):
and practice in every place, I said, every place and
theory of our history. Therefore, non doctor W. W. Du
Bois relates in the sacred narrative of our people that
even during the holocaust of enslavement, in the darkest of days, nights,
and centuries, our people sang to sunshine. That's the words
(02:48:27):
of you, sang to sunshine. What does this mean? It
means they embraced in evidence the radical refusal to be
dispirited or defeated. Indeed, they became the sunshine themselves. They
became the sunshine they sang to each day, regardless of
the weather and the evil and human inhuman way of
the oppressor, they sensed and saw a great light lifted
(02:48:51):
up within them, and they lifted it up and called
it freedom. They thought their children to remember freedom, to
reimagine freedom and to Cherry's freedom, and together they moved
and marched irresistibly and irreversibly towards it and brought us
to this day. And if which honor that tradition as
(02:49:13):
a living, uplifting and liberating tradition, then we too must
sing to sunshine irregardless. Indeed, we too must embody him,
be the sunshine that calls forth the day and harries
the down a new don black people and a new
day of inclusive freedom, justice, and others shared human goods
(02:49:34):
through our continued and expanded work, our service, our sacrifice,
and our relentness, our righteous and relentness struggle, and clearly
during the Black freedom movement, also our people dare to
drive away the darkness and darkness makers and lift up
the light. This is overwhelmingly evident in the life and
struggle history of non Afana Louhima and her co combatants
(02:49:58):
in our liberation struggle. Y'all remember that one of her
favorite songs was this Little Light of Mine, And she
sank the sunshine, and she sank for freedom, singing this
little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine, I've
got the light of freedom. I'm gonna let it shine
everywhere I go.
Speaker 4 (02:50:18):
Hey.
Speaker 9 (02:50:19):
So this was a resilient and audacious defiance of the
darkness right and the darkness makers to singing and being.
They our people were singing and being sunshine in the
midst of the darkness around them, and audaciously bearing witness
to their stent fast faith, their undiminishing hope, and their
relentless resistion to evil, injustice and oppression. But let us
(02:50:43):
also remember, as Nana Haidi Malcolm taught us, he emphasized
the importance of the light of self knowledge. That light
within us is also a call to know ourselves right,
to have knowledge of ourselves in each other, as we
also study and learn the ways and wisdom of the world.
(02:51:05):
So we must know the ways and wisdom of the world,
but we must know ourselves. If not everybody we win,
we will lose another one. And if we don't know
ourselves are the enemy or the oppressor everybody we fight,
we'll lose. Right, So Haiji Malcolm tells us and teach
us quote, we need more light about each other. Light
(02:51:28):
creates understanding, Understanding creates love, Love creates patience, and patients
creates unity. And that is a unity. We need to repair,
renew and remake the world. In the practice of Quanta,
in the candle lighting ceremony, we follow in the footsteps
of our ancestors and we lift up the lasting light
(02:51:49):
of the Ghuzo Shabah born in and out of the
Black Freedom movement. As I said before, Quansa stresses our
ongoing struggle to be ourselves and to free ourselfs and
to achieved was shared African and human good and the
well being of the world and all in it. It's
a harvest celebration, so it's environmentally or in it. It's
(02:52:10):
a world encompacing holiday. Therefore, enlightening each candle, we are
committing to lifting up the light and hearing the dawn
by practicing the Guzosaba, as our freedom songs say, everywhere
we are and everywhere we go, and we must do
this in liberating and uplifting way. In this way we
(02:52:30):
honor the ancient African imperitive from the Husa that says
we must bear witness to truth and set the skills
of justice in their proper place, especially among the voiceless
and the vulnerable, the downtriden, the devalued, and their press
allSome tasks, as I said earlier, is a world in change,
in assignment that was given to us by non document
(02:52:53):
Macavit doom And she says, our task is to remake
the world. It is nothing less to that that, and
that we must be a source of sunlight that gives
the shared goodness of light and life and warmth to
the world. That's the beauty of that analogy of sun.
The sun gives light, life and warmth to the world.
(02:53:13):
And she and our ancestors all tell us we must
be that son that brings the goodness of light, of
life and wart to the world. And that means it
calls first for or moja unity, a sacred togetherness of
our people in the small and large circles of our life,
the solidarity of humanity, and the profound sense of oneness
(02:53:35):
with the world and with all in it, which jagulari
of self determination. It tells us and our and urges
us to respect the right of every people to be
free control their destiny and daily life, and make their
own unique contributions to history and humanity, whether in Haiti, Sudan,
(02:53:55):
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Palestine, and anywhere else in
the world. And ujima elective work and responsibility means our conscious,
shared efforts and obligation to conceive, beal, and sustain the
good world we all want and deserve to live in
and leave for future generations who come after. And the
(02:54:18):
task calls for and requires ujama coaptive economic shared work
and shared wealth. They don't inshlt with and concern for
the well being of each other and the well being
of the world, especially concerned for the most vulnerable and
own our right to share echoedly and responsibility in the
natural and creative good of the world. Neal purpose means
(02:54:42):
the liberation and upliftment of our people and our shared
fundamental meaning and mission of human life, and that is
to create and increase good in the world and for
the world, and not let any good be lawed. That's
the beautiful averse from the odu Ephi that says, let's
do things with joy, for surely humans are divinely created
(02:55:06):
to bring good into the world and not let any
good be lost. I'm sorry. Humans are divinely chosen, chosen
to bring good into the world and not let any
good be last and not chosen. The word is anyond
means human being and chosen one. So everybody is chosen,
not just one group, not one people, but all humans
(02:55:28):
are chosen, and they've chosen, not over and against anyone,
but chosen with everyone to do one thing to bring
good into the world. Take whatever career you have, whatever
vocation you have, and use it to bring good into
the world. And then Coombra. Creativity is i shot shared
obligations to do all we can to constantly repair, renewed,
(02:55:49):
and remake the world, making it more beautiful and beneficial
than we inherited. And finally, eminding faith is the shared
belief and confidence in the good and in ourselves rooted
in the sacred teachings of our honored ancestors like Nana
Howard Therminal, Nana Grin Brooks, and Nana Nanny Bearers. And
(02:56:10):
they tell us. Nana Herod Howard Therman tells her, we'll
people who ride the storm and remain intact. Nana Grin
Brooks tells us, we'll people who conduct our blooming in
the noise and whip of the whirlwind. And Nana Nani
Bearers tells us we are people that specialize in the
holy impossible. Now, given this, Black people, what dark or
(02:56:33):
dimly lit time can truly dispirit us. What makers and
demons of the dark can defeat us or divert us
from our commitment to bring good into the world, to
be free, to be ourselves and free ourselves. Who can
do that to us? If we continue to struggle, keep
the faith and hold the line regardless and irreversibly. That's
(02:56:57):
essentially my message for this quins right and.
Speaker 3 (02:57:01):
Hold that thought right there. Doctor Kerengo got to step
aside for a few moments eighteen minutes after the top
of our family just joined us. I guess this Quansa
creator dotr Karengo will take your calls. And also before
we take the call, so doctor Kring, will we come
back tell us about the lighting of the candles the canar,
How did that come about in the sequence in which
one has to do that to celebrate Quansa family. You
two can get in on this discussion. Reach out to
(02:57:23):
us at eight hundred four or five zero seventy eight
seventy six and we'll take your phone calls.
Speaker 14 (02:57:27):
Next fourteen fifty wol.
Speaker 10 (02:58:05):
Now back to the Carl Nelson Show.
Speaker 3 (02:58:28):
And Grand Rising family. Thanks for sticking with us on
this Wednesday morning. Here I guess is doctor Milana Krenka,
doctor Crank created quansafore go to the phone, though, doctor Krenka,
part of the celebration of Quansa is the canara and
the candles. Can you share that with How are we
supposed to use.
Speaker 9 (02:58:44):
That process now as sacha for that? That's so much
so the seven candles represent the seven principles. So when
we light them, we're lifting up the light that last
of those principles. These are moral principles and in the
(02:59:06):
sacred teachers of our ancestors, and then we see it
it said, we're given that which endures in the midst
of that which is overthrown, and that which endures in
the midst of that which is overthrown, or our fundamental
moral principles speaking truth, doing justice, practicing o mojo and
self determination, being free as a free people, et cetera.
(02:59:29):
So I think it's very important for us to understand
that the lighting is lifting up the light that lasts,
and the light that lasts of these moral principles and
practices by which we ground ourselves, center ourself and direct
our lives toward good and expansive end. So the seven
(02:59:53):
candles have colors black, red, and green. One black for
the people, three black for struggle, and three dream for
the future. That is forcing struggle, and so there are
lessons from that. How we light the candles and the
order we light them is a lesson in priority and importance.
(03:00:19):
So the first candle we light is the black candle.
That means we put black people first. Right, if we
can do other things, you know, we can talk about struggle,
we can talk about the future, but if we don't
put the people at the center of all we do
as the priority in all we do. Hey, who are
we right? So first the people, second the struggle. It
(03:00:43):
teaches us the essentiality of struggle, that without struggle. And
I usually struggle here as striving and confrontational struggle at
the same time. And I want to introduce the concept
of resistance. Kau Kawidi is my philosophy of Court kauitera
(03:01:06):
conception of resistance which has three points to it. Usually
when we think about resistance, call we think of just
opposing opposition, and we must have that, we must So
it has three parts opposition, affirmation, and aspiration, not just opposition.
Certainly we must have opposition to our pressor and all
forms of a pressent, internal and externally. Right. Second, though,
(03:01:30):
we must affirm the people. It's the second aspect is
not simply opposition, but it's affirmation, affirmation of our people,
of our sacredness, our soulfulness, our resilience, our resourcement, are
capacity to create progress, and our radical refusal to be defeated.
We've got the positive. That's why I always take quositas
of time for the positive. Right, why did we go
(03:01:52):
from here? And then the third is resistance is not
only opposition and affirmation, it's also aspiration, an active aspiration
to create a new world as less as Muhammad said,
a new Earth and a new Us. How do we
create a new world, a new people, a new humanity,
(03:02:14):
as a nano phenone said, a new world, a new
man to bring into being, he said, a new man
and woman, a new human being, in other words, a
new human being. How do we do that? And we
have to struggle and we're at the heart of that.
So when we like the talent, we show first the
black the priority of the people, second the red decentiality
(03:02:34):
of struggle, and third the possibility. And we like the
green character calendar, we demonstrating the possibility and promise of
a good future forged and righteous and religious struggle. So
the people, the struggle and the future, right. And so
that's how we like, and we like from inside, you
know why, because every same tarts within. Even when we
(03:02:58):
talk about transforming the world, we must transform ourselves in
the process and practice. That's how a man offent On says.
You know, decolonization is not just the leaving of the
white troops or the colonials, right. This means not on
the end of that, but the end of the decolonized person.
I mean, at the end of the colonized person, we
(03:03:19):
must decolonize the person to colonized the mind in our heart, right.
And so here we have the priority of the people,
the sentiality of struggle, and the possibility of promise of
a good future that is forged by the people in
righteous and relentless struggle. So that's the beauty of this right.
And that's why they don't say it's invented. It's an
(03:03:41):
intellectual creation, right. And sometimes when we just learn it
and we don't do what you're doing now asking the
details of it, we think it's just lighting candles. It's
not just lighting them some people might think that. For
those who think deeper, they know and have read the book,
they know that there's a beauty in this and there's
(03:04:02):
a thoughtfulness that went into producing this that has warmed
the heart and affected the minds of millions of Africans
throughout the world, African community. And that's a beautiful thought
and a beautiful achievement. And I thank our people for
embracing this holiday making it real. Of course, I think
(03:04:25):
my organization US who sheltered this idea that I put
forward and helped you protect and promoted to teach it
to others who then tart it around the world.
Speaker 3 (03:04:41):
Twenty had after the top of the hour, Bob is
calling us from Buffalo. He's online for Grand Rising. Bob,
your question for doctor Karenka.
Speaker 8 (03:04:48):
Yeah, blissed love of family Southeasiana. Doctor Krinda, thank you
very much for all that you've done and all that
you will do. And I thank you for all the time.
Thank you blessed both with your presence during the Quanta seasons.
It has helped us and enlighten us. We've grown from
individual celebrations to the city wide celebration. We celebrate all
(03:05:10):
the way long the Aguza Saba. I learned it as
the seven Principles of nation building, and I was wondering
if people now call it or refer to it as
the seven Principles of Kwanza. But I still hold on
to the nation building aspect of it. And one of
(03:05:30):
the aspects of Quanta that I most appreciate is the
in gathering of the people, and I love that. But
to skate my question quickly, can you speak to two
other workers warriors that we've lost this year, Jimmail Olamin
(03:05:51):
and Asadakor could you say something about their life and
look leg see.
Speaker 9 (03:05:57):
Thank you so much, brother Bob and scientif On. Greetings
to the brothers and sisters of Buffalo, and we wish
for them and all our people blessings without numbering, all
good things without aim, and the quinds of blessing, that
you have all the good that Heaven grants, the earth produces,
(03:06:20):
and the water spring forth from their death through the
seven principles Bob, or the seven principles of Kwa velocity,
out of which I created. Both the quins are ended
seven principles, or they can do so, savag so you
can say there are seven principles of nation building. People
(03:06:40):
say there are seven principles of family building. People say
there are seven principles of organizing our people into a
self conscious social force. Those are descriptions of what you
can use them for. But if we talk about the
origin of them, they are part of chow eat philosophy,
(03:07:01):
a larger philosophy informs and undergirds the seven principles. So
as we teach the seventh principles, we teach cow eater philosophy. Right,
So it's the seven principles of cow eater philosophy first,
And as I defined the coro eater philogy, I created
the beginning in my uh college days, my university day,
(03:07:27):
and I continued it and deepened it, of course in
the midst of struggle, because that's where we uh. You know,
thought informs practice, but practice also informs thought. So the
more I practiced, the more I could see things that
I needed to see and to expand our understanding of
(03:07:48):
these things. So the seven principles of cow cow we eating,
seven principles of uh uh nation building uh oh seven
principle co we eat, the seven cornsa seven principle of
nation building, and whatever else you want to say, that's
positive and good. You can say that you know, you
can use it for that you said you liked the activities,
(03:08:12):
And what Bob is talking about is the fire fundamental
organizing activities of the First Truth celebrations that we still
use that were practiced in ancient African celebrations. And of
course our ancestors and elders, the force, you know, came
(03:08:32):
together first as an end gathering to reinforce the bonds
between us as people. Second, they came together to give
special reverence to create it, and creation to give thanks
for the harvest of the good that they had gathered
from the furtive fields of our lands, the fruitful fields
(03:08:54):
of our lives, right, and the gains from our hard
in difficult but victorious struggles. Right. And then of course
they came together to commemorate the past, right, to raise
and praise the names and sustain practices of our ancestors,
(03:09:15):
and to recommit ourselves to the dignity firming and life
nance and views and values that they left to grounding grindness.
So they not only came to commemorate the path, but
they came to also recommit themselves to the best of
our values. And that's what we do doing quantity not
(03:09:36):
only the in Guzo sobig, but commit ourselves to the truth,
to justice, right, to appropriate propriety, to harmon into balance,
to reciprocity, to righteous order. You know, values that stress
and strengthen family, community, and culture. Values that tell us
to speak and speak truth, do and demand justice, reflect
(03:09:58):
our elders and our ancestry, cherish and challenge our children.
Here for the poor and vulnerable among us, have a
rightful relationship with the environment, constantly struggle against evil, injustice
and oppression, and always praise, pursue and raise up to good.
And finally, the fifth activity after you know number one,
(03:10:21):
of course, and gathering of the people, special reverence for creating, creation,
commemoration of the past, recommitment to our highest values. Is
celebration of good. The good of family, community, and culture,
the good of loving kindness and care, the good of
respect for ourselves and others, the good of life and
(03:10:44):
the good of love, the good of sharing together, the
gift of nature of field and forest, water, river, rock,
extreme just the beauty of things. You know, this is
and first of all, the beauty by people, or the
sacredness of our people, the soulfulness of our people, the
(03:11:04):
resilience and resourcefulness of our people. I can't say that
too often because I need for us to always affirm myself.
As we oppose the evil that would undermine us, we
at the same time affirm ourselves and demonstrate our aspiration
(03:11:24):
for a new world and a new people, a new
human being in the world. Now. In terms of Jamil,
I knew Jamia uh a mom Jamir Abdullah Allah mean,
and we used to say let rap rap right, that
was his struggle name. We can call him rap because
(03:11:46):
their struggle name. The other name, the European name. I
never knew it, but I knew rap, right. I say
it now, of course, but I never knew it. And
so UH we UH honor him uh And as I
say said about Malcolm Haijia Malcolm and I him and
(03:12:06):
aside to court nanad Nana imam Jamat, I mean we
are of the best in ourselves. No Nana, I'm uh
uh Jamil. I mean we met when he came uh
uh first to U U hu the rally we had
(03:12:28):
UH commemorator and celebrating to watch revolt, the August revolt
because Uh we invited the major leaders to come and
they came in and he was one of them uh
in sixty seven and we had a large parking lot.
We put we stood on the back of a truck
made made a black fork. We spoke and wrapped, rapped,
(03:12:50):
of course, and we became very good colleagues and comrades
and struggle. And I mentioned the name of uh Nina,
I mean Halifu, who is one of our founding members
who made good friendship with him and with Guami to
ray Nay. And I'm writing this month. I'm writing for
(03:13:14):
my next column. I write a weekly column for the
Sentinel uh here in Los Angeles. Every week I write
a column for this and my column this week is
on Nana Imam Jamil, and it's titled the mo the Mujahi,
the Shahid and Imam Jamil I mean, so I say
(03:13:36):
about him, he was a soldier, a constant soldier. Mujahid
mean righteous warrior, righteous soldier in uh Islam and in
uh Airba. Shahid means martyr for the cause, one who
bears witness uh to uh the divine witness for his
people and for this struggle. And so I give him.
Speaker 3 (03:13:59):
Our last break. Twenty three minutes away from the top day.
I'll let you finish up when we get back. And
also a tweeter wanted to know why you use the
term none if you can explain that for us as
well a family, heso can get it on this discussion
with dtor Milana Karrenga, the creator of Kwanza reach out
to us at eight hundred four five zero seventy eight
seventy six and we take your phone calls.
Speaker 14 (03:14:18):
Thanks fourteen fifty wold.
Speaker 10 (03:14:52):
Now back to the Carl Nelson Show.
Speaker 3 (03:15:15):
And Grand Rising family. Thanks for rolling with us on
this Wednesday morning and Christmas Eve for some folks celebrating
Christmas if not if we still love you and celebrating
Quanja as well. And I guess is the creative concent
doctor Milana Kurenga. Before we go back to him, let
me just remind you tomorrow we're going to be joined
by a clinical psychologist, doctor jerome E. Fox. You know
him from his best selling workbook Addicted to White The
(03:15:36):
Oppressed in League of the Oppressor, a shame based alliance.
So uh Doctr Krank, I'll let you finish responding to
I think it was Bob's call from Buffalo. He wanted
to talk about.
Speaker 9 (03:15:46):
Uh, yeah, yeah, And so the question you asked before
you left is I should say, Nana is our con
for someone worthy of respect, high honor, and uh you know,
some people use it for live people, but in our
organization US, we use it mainly for people who've made
(03:16:06):
transition and ascension. And so we say that for those
who the ancestors, We use that for ancestors. So I say,
Nana Jamil alamein, Nana Assachi Shakur. So I was getting
ready to go too long on this, so let me
just sum up what I think about them. I say
it most. They are major freedom fighters in our history,
(03:16:30):
in our long and beautiful history of righteous and relentless struggle.
And I honor them, and our organization honors them for
one their commitment to their struggle, second their record of struggle,
and third their service to the people and love of
the people that is shown by their service and struggle
(03:16:52):
for the people. And I'd like to honor each of
them with one of the signature quotes from them. First,
let me take uh uh Nana Asata Chakot.
Speaker 12 (03:17:04):
First.
Speaker 9 (03:17:05):
She says, it is our duty to fight for freedom.
It is our duty to win we must love each
other and support each other. We have nothing to lose
but our change, and so that's a lesson here.
Speaker 21 (03:17:17):
We are obligated, morally obligated to struggle, and that's central
to their lives, to her life, into the life of
Nana Jama uh Aman.
Speaker 9 (03:17:29):
All of them did very much for h Jamia, Nana
Jamil Alami or Imam Jamil, Imam Jamel of course had
a chance to work in the country and do more,
but also Asacha made a contribution and left to some
model of dedication, discipline and psychophight that both of them had,
(03:17:50):
and we honored them. And the one I wanted to
live for. The quote I want to use for a
mom jamiel h Nana in mom Jamil is that he says,
you know that we must never expect justice from our
pressure while I was struggling to in fact extract justice.
He reminds me of not an Aphil of Randolph and
(03:18:12):
said that freedom is not given right, it's one, and
justice is not granted, it's extracted. And so he believes that,
and he says, I in a country as oppressive and
evil as this, there's only three places for a righteous
and committed person that is on the battlefield, fighting the enemy,
(03:18:37):
in a seal, imprisoned by the enemy, or in the
grave free from the enemy. So it's a struggle to
the death. And he became a shahid, a martyr, a
witness to the faith, a witness for his people, a
witness to the world right, dying in prison on a
(03:18:58):
trumptive choice. And we and we also, I wanted to
say about the Cuban people. I really respect them for
not caving in to the white man demanding putting two million,
three million whatever meetians own Nona as Sacha Shoku's head
and asking people to buck and bow and bend over
(03:19:19):
to serve him. So that was a good thing. And
I do want to run past that. We have a
lot of respect for the Cuban people and for the
struggle they weighed against them peerless and continue to weigh
overwhelming odds. So yeah, I honor both of these soldiers.
Thank you so much for the question.
Speaker 3 (03:19:40):
Fourteen away from the top of the Cliff's calling us
some Connecticut these online five grand rising Cliff, your question
for doctor.
Speaker 19 (03:19:45):
Karenga, grandprising brother Carl and grandfathers and doctor Korenger. Let's
just taking my call. Listen, I think you said it's
a very profound and that's what I'm experiencing myself on
a personal level.
Speaker 9 (03:19:56):
Then I have an end with a question.
Speaker 19 (03:19:58):
But when I look at white Christian nationalists and look
at white Christians and then they're celebrating this Christmas, even
Mega people. So I'm saying to myself, how can I
celebrate a holiday in which people that hate us, particularly Trump,
you know, especially Trump, you know, that celebrate the same
holidays and why as we as black people celebrate the
(03:20:19):
same holiday. So that's why I'm so thankful, you know.
And as I span black radio stations, everybody's married Christmas,
the whole nine yards, even white conservative So it just
doesn't make sense. So I want to thank you on
a personal level for giving something that's unique to us
as a black people. So I know Mega people ain't
gonna celebrate Kwanza. I know Trump ain't gonna celebrate Kwansa.
(03:20:43):
As matter of fact, I'm end with this, And this
is my question because if they think that they are
they claim to have a God, then it's obvious to
me that we have a different God. So give me
your answer to do we as a black people. Do
we have a guy that's separate from white people? And
what's is or its name?
Speaker 7 (03:21:04):
Can you do that?
Speaker 9 (03:21:09):
Oh? Hang up, listen to your response. Yeah, this is
this is a hard way. Now let me let me
tell you this though, specially what you said. If I'm saying,
kret Kwansa is a cultural holiday that unites all of
us uh in spite of our religious differences, our political difference,
(03:21:30):
our class difference, aging generational differences, right, our ability differences, UH,
nationality differences, et cetera. So I don't want us to
attack other people's faith. That's that's a big mistake in
the six is. Though we were very critical of white Christians,
but we didn't keep saying white Christiangy. We said Christianity.
(03:21:54):
And I don't want us to do that. I want
us to make a distinction between how we practice Christianity,
which black Christians have done and progressive Black Christians and
radical Black Christians have done. And I want to make
a distincion between that our Christian Black Christianity and white
christianswer white Christianity. When we met, it wasn't enslavery in Christianity.
(03:22:18):
In fact, this is hijia. Malcolm and messenger Mohammed or
the first first message of Mohammad gives him credit, and
he taught Malcolm and Jijia. Malcolm then made his own
understanding of this, right. But it was the mess with
Mohammed at first problematized Christianity in a way it had
never been problematized and called for another interpretation of Jesus. Right.
(03:22:44):
Not only did they begin to say Jesus was black,
but they talked about Jesus teaching liberation as instead of enslavement.
If you remember, the Christians enslaved us, and the Christians
taught us a catechism of enslavement. And as nana E.
Franklin Praiser said, the questions went like this, what is
(03:23:06):
my duty to God? It is my duty to my Master?
How do I serve God by serving my Master? Why
am I in this condition because I'm an evil being?
Et said, So we had to fall out of that
a liberational response, right, and so we had to take
a liberation of theology. That's the beginning of liberation theology,
(03:23:31):
as spoken by turn None in that Turner right, noe
a hero tell me none a here tell me say
I don't let the white people tell me how to pray.
I pray to God myself and I pray that God
will help me to be strong to fight for the
freedom of my people. And I also pray that if
the white man don't change, that God would take him
(03:23:55):
off the planet. Right. This was her prayer. Right, So
that's a little different. By still a Christian. The Christianity
to my mother and father is altogether different. It's not
a prosperity gospel, right, That's that's acting as we do
as our pressor our presser cannot be our teacher. The
Christianity I remember came up in and was a part of,
(03:24:18):
was the Christianity for the dispossessed, the devalue, the degraded,
the downtriden. And it was always taught that we my
mother and father taught me to do for the phrases
from Matthew the least among us, and that's how they
(03:24:39):
said Jesus would judge us how we treat the least
among us, And now we say the most vulnerable. So
let's talk about the positive of Black Christianity. Don't get
off of that, because what I want us to do
is talk about the ethics. Do our people believe in
speaking truth, doing justice? See I do I want argue
(03:25:00):
about God? I mean that, howd you Malcolm said that?
Peeples said, keep the religion in the closet. We come
out here, let's talk about the problem of black people.
Now he brought his religion. He knows that the Christians
he's talking to got their religion. What he meant is,
let's not ugle over theology. Let's not argue about God,
and let's show our good words by the ethical things
(03:25:21):
we do in the world. What are we doing to
help the people? Do we speak truth? Do we do justice?
Do we care for the poor and avulnerable? Do we
have a rightful relationship with them? Involve Do we honor
our elders and our answers? Do we cherish and challenge
our children? Right? Do we do that? Do we oppose
evil and justice and oppression? And do we always raise
(03:25:45):
their praise and pursue the good? That's what I'm looking for, right?
And so we can call God by many names. You
know I got I got many names before God in
my scholarship and text for African people, for example, Ama
in the dogone this is this is real there, Jesus
and Jehovah and you always right, oh do Mari and
(03:26:10):
then in for tradition from kulukulu uh in the Zulu tradition.
I know them all, I said it right, I don't.
Those names are just different names for God. But if
they believe that this is God, and this is God
of the whole universe, right, right, then I accept that.
I just want to see what they do with it, right,
(03:26:32):
That's what I want to do. I wouldn't see their
work the good words. What do they do to bring
good into the world. That's that's my Jestey, And do
they do things that are three criteria I've said it earlier.
Are they dignity affirming of the human person right, respect
and dignity this inherent worthiness? Second, are they legendhancing? And
(03:26:57):
third or they were preserving? How did they help the
world to survive this own slot by imperist capitalists, warmongers
and other people who are anti human and anti nature.
That's the issue. Asanto Doo, Thanks so much for the question.
(03:27:20):
It was a good one.
Speaker 3 (03:27:22):
Yeah. Seven away from the top y. There's a question
somebody sent you a couple of days when they found
out you were coming on It says, how do we
keep quanca from being co opted and revised by others
outside the black community or the black family.
Speaker 9 (03:27:35):
Gibel. You know, the best way is to practice it right.
So I think there are several things that are important here.
So we have to start from this position to defend
and promote the integrity, the beauty and expansive meaning of Quanta.
(03:27:55):
We've got to study black people. We kids just then
practicing said sixty seven or eight whatever. You can't do that.
Sometimes people say they did it in sixty five, which
of course is not so because it was just in
an organization that that. Well, first Quanta didn't come to
(03:28:15):
sixty six. It was sixty five the principal. So you know,
you got to get the day straight. But the main
thing is read and get you know, even if you
don't have time or don't want to again't read the
whole book, which you're good. Go to our website, the
official Consit website to study it. It's outline. It's just
(03:28:36):
short versus a summary. It's the answer to regular questions
even like this. To study that, then ask yourself, how
do you protect integrity? Now you're asking that about commercial
all that, But you have to defend it right. You
have to defend it. The first thing, don't allow people
(03:28:57):
to rewrite the original meaning of the principles. For example,
the meaning of emoja is to strive for a maintain
unit in the family, community, nation of race. You got
to say that. You can say something about explain it later,
but don't change that, because that's what's united us, that's
(03:29:18):
the common thing. It's like if the Christians would change
the tak Commandments, if I can say that, or if
the Buddhists changed the Eightfold Path the wording No, you
can explain it, but don't change the original text because
that's what we're going to talk about, and then we
can show the expansive meaning of each of those right. Right.
(03:29:42):
Sometimes I saw one time that person took out to
make our brothers and sisters problems for oujima and solve
them together and put to solve the problems of the community. No,
it's important that inclusiveness brother and sister for a lot
of reasons. First, they're racing the brothers, right, but also
(03:30:02):
for a long time the sisters weren't considered equal, and
so we've got to always foreground brother and sister creating
a good world. We won male and female creating a
good world we all want and then all human beings. Right,
But that's the model, so you can add to it.
You can say, look, and also I think this is
(03:30:23):
speaking to all humans. Right. You can say that afterwards,
but first say what the what the discussion is the
second thing we have to resist the air in hand
and highlands and handmaidens attempt to recreate a to create
a false narrative of who created Quanta right back. People's
(03:30:47):
like saying, my life didn't create Quansas Alight, somebody else
did it. The ancestors did it, a little girl did it,
the person somewhere in the mayor. They're just going off
into it. And then it's not that people, But it
could great if you don't say, look, first of all,
this is wrong. The first reason this shouldn't happen because
(03:31:09):
it's false. That's the first reason checond It denies the
excellence and uniqueness of my achievement. Years of research and
study right and and and imagining right and conceiving something
of value and beauty that means of people have embraced.
(03:31:33):
It took years to do that. It took language learning,
culture learning, right as it say.
Speaker 3 (03:31:41):
I gotta cut you there, because it's just flat out
of time. But I want to thank you. Thank you
for what you've done, thank you for creating Quanta and
beyond that, what you've done for our folks. If you've
been on the front line, and you're still on the
front line. So just we appreciate you, brother.
Speaker 9 (03:31:54):
Thank you, Thank you. Continue to struggle, keep the space
and hold the line and practice the principles.
Speaker 3 (03:32:00):
Thanks so much, doctor Milana Kranka. That's it for the day.
Family classes dismissed. Stay strong, stay positive, and he says,
please stay healthy. We'll see you tomorrow morning, six o'clock
right here in Baltimore on ten ten WLB, Also on
the DMB on fourteen fifty, WOL.
Speaker 14 (03:32:31):
Fourteen fifty, WOL fourteen fifteen, w OL Washington, d C
ninety five point nine, W two four zero, DJ w
mmj HD three, w DCJFM HD three, and worldwide at
WOL dcnews dot com.
Speaker 18 (03:32:51):
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