December 14, 2025 • 33 mins
Join Brother Haatim as he moves beyond the ceremonial candles of Kwanzaa to reveal the 'Cultural Power Loop'—a strategic blueprint for turning our heritage into tangible infrastructure. In this episode, we break down how to reclaim sovereign time through the Gye-Nyame System and shift from passive celebration to active investment in our own liberation. Tune in to learn how to audit your yearly harvest and build a self-reinforcing cycle of power for the community.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
M all right, first stuf, can y'all hear me? Okay,
all right, I'm my fault. Can you hear me? Now?
Can you hear me? Now? Cool? All right, let's talk
about Kwanza. Of course, I know I'm gonna make a
little twist on this because I'm gonna go through a
(00:23):
little bit of history. But I want to throw some
stuff up that I've been that I of course, with
my research, I done stumbled upon it because I love
doing the research. I love the culture. I love sharing
what it is that we have, but it's certain things
that we often have to be confronted by. So let's
talk about it. Kwanza. Of course, those that know here, no,
(00:46):
so let me I'm warming up for possibly people who
don't know. Y'all recording need to be recording because I'm well,
actually I'm recording, but you know, I want to make
sure sure people could get hold of it. So the
origin story, So the first Kwanza supposedly happened in nineteen
(01:09):
sixty six, but we knew it had to be research
before that, so we don't know how long he was
researching before he came up with the idea. Quansa was
officially created in nineteen sixty six or first practice by
doctor Malon Karinga and his group us during the height
of what was going on with us black power, during
(01:30):
the high of Black Power movement. It wasn't just a party.
It was a response to what was going on with
us as a people at that time. In some studies
they say it was a response to the Watts riot,
but we know other stuff was going on. As far
as his research, we were searching for identity in the
midst of the chaos that we were constantly being confronted with.
(01:56):
The purpose it was designed to reinform, re affirm, and
restore our African heritage and culture. It introduced in Guza
Sobists and principles to serve as a value system for
our daily daily lives. Now re affirm, restored because part
of the issue for us was that we were in
many ways and still up to this day, unconscious Africans.
(02:20):
We were practicing because you could see, you could see
the continent, you could see the essence of our people
and how we walked, and how we treated our elders
and the food we ate and our creativity. But we
were unconscious Africans. And I think during this period. I
ain't gonna say think during this period we wanted to
make being African a conscious aspect with us and we
(02:45):
still kind of struggling with that today, all right. So
the purpose was reaffirm and restore African heritage and culture
introduced in Guzasaba to serve as a value system for
our daily lives. So now emphasize that I need to
emphasize that it is a communal, non heroic cultural holiday,
(03:10):
all right now, because this was something that in my
early days we used to always have to make sure
people understood because part of the aspect of Quansa a
lot of people was like, I don't you know those
of us as old enough to remember people. A lot
of people are scared of Kwanza, or they thought it
was a replacement for Christmas, or it was some type
(03:30):
of cult going on. But it's a communal, non heroic
cultural holiday. So when you're talking to people, you let
them know. And this is why non religious. You could
be a Christian, you could be a Muslim, you could
be a Hebrew, you could be in any traditional religion
you want. Kwanza is for the people, not a specific doctrine.
(03:51):
It's for the people. It's non heroic. We aren't worshiping
a man or. We're not celebrating some greater evening. We
are celebrating us, the community. In fact, what's crazy about that?
And I ain't gonna say crazy, but celebrating us for
those that know, you get it. It's celebrating us united,
(04:12):
you know because that was the name of the organization
that Malana Karingo was at the head of. So let's
look at the symbols real quick, because I want to
run through this. We got the machaika, the matt the
foundation upon which everything stands, represents the history, tradition. Everything
(04:34):
on the canari stands on this. The canar represents our ancestry,
which is the candle holder. We got the Mushu Masaba,
which is all the seven candles. We got three red,
the struggle, three Green, the future, the hope, and the
one the black people, the black candle. We got the massile,
which is the crops, fruits and vegetables representing the harvest
(04:55):
and the rewards of black paper. We got the Kukumba
child Moja, which I hope because Elder Tony had a
cold one. I hope we are gonna be able to
use that for kwanza, use the poor libations to the
ancestors and to sit together to reinforce unity. But we
don't do that one no more because you know a
lot of you know, you know the world has changed.
(05:17):
But anyway, the last one is the one I ain't
gonna say. The last one with Zowati is the gifts,
the meaningful gifts, usually books or heritage eyes and give
them to the children to encourage growth. Now, so family,
we know the symbols, we know the colors, we know
the history. We set the table every year, but look
(05:44):
at the table again. We place the mazaa, which is
the fruit, on the table to represent the harvest. But
what are we actually harvesting. Most of us don't farm.
We don't grow corn, we don't grow tomatoes. So when
we sit down at this table, if we haven't built anything,
if we haven't produced anything, if we haven't created a
(06:08):
system in the last three hundred and sixty five days,
is the table empty? Because now, once again, the whole
idea of Kwansa is more about symbols. It's the power
of symbols. And I'm going to get into that discussion
because I think a lot of times we miss it
(06:28):
because because sometimes sometimes we too deep and sometimes were
not deep enough. So it's kind of hard being a
pep the people we are and be in a situation
we are. So this brings me to the real discussion today.
Kwansa is not just a time to light candles. It's
a time to audit our power. We say, it's a
(06:50):
harvest celebration, So let's talk about the seas we plant,
the time we use to grow them, and why we
need to stop operating on our oppressor's clock if we
ever want to see the real crop. So let's get
to the heart of this now. Of course, we know
(07:12):
we need to stop thinking about the fruit and the
corn and all that, because those, once again are symbolic
of something. We are celebrating the harvest. But most of
us didn't grow a single tomato this year, So what
are we really bringing to the table. We are harvested
in the work, the winds, and the systems we built
(07:34):
over the last three hundred and forty three days. And
I'm gonna get into why I'm using the three hundred
and forty three days in a minute. The challenge, if
you have nothing to show for the year, you have
nothing to celebrate Kuans is an oddit of our personal
I don't like using the word production, but what value
(07:55):
we have built as an individual and as well as
a community. So because uh, we need to really look
at those principles, because it's like it's a few of
us that we'll come to We'll come to these meetings
and it's like we're not growing. So are we not?
We need to really evaluate some of the stuff that
(08:17):
we're doing so that we can see how do we
attract others to what we're doing. So let's go. Now.
One of the things I want to focus on in
discussion quanta because Quansa is set during a certain period
of time. So we got the history and the culture.
(08:38):
But let me let me just because I gotta go
buy my notes or y'all know how I get. I'm
gonna go buy my notes. I'm let me stick to
my notes. I'm doing good. Take a breath. We know
they took our names, our language, and our God, but
we never talk about how they took our time. Now,
time is aleman of culture. Different people deal with time differently.
(09:03):
We are running on our pressor's clock. If you run
on their time, you produce for their empire. Now we
have to reclaim our relationship with time. That is why
we look at the three hundred and forty three days
and JamMan, I'm gonna talk about that in a second,
because it's three hundred and forty three days, and then
(09:23):
we got from three hundred. We got from three hundred
from day three hundred and forty four up to three
hundred and sixty five in a quarter. We call that.
We call that our break is a rest called the
Great Pause, right, and ja, I mean I'm coming back
to that in a minute. Hold on. So one of
(09:45):
the things that I want to bring forth with this
is talking about what white folks call a power loop,
but I'm gonna call it deliberation loop. All right. So
now let's break down this power loop because now we
can see it in its modern formation with these tech
bros and what happened with MAGA or the Christian nationalists. Right. So,
(10:10):
after looking at these things, start clicking and as I'm
going through my studies, I run into this thing called
the power loop. So I'm gonna run through this for
you real quick, and I want to take it. I'm
gonna transform it so that we could use it for us.
So that we could think about it as a community
on how to use it for us and I bring
(10:31):
back the time in a minute. So this specific group
looks like this. Step one is the ideology. So if
we look at the tech bros, they have an ideology
that they want to practice. We look at MAGA ideology.
(10:51):
It's easier for Matga because everybody is familiar with the
ideology of mega right Christian nationalism and make America greatiting
great again. We don't you know, they don't never tell
you what the hell that means. But it's an ideology
and the ideology is backed up by research and by
people generating ideas. Of course with because you need ideas
(11:14):
for ideology. So you have the myth or the belief system.
Then you have the investment, the money, the energy, and
this is put into the ideology. Right, So now the
ideology makes it possible for investment, makes it makes the
(11:35):
investment needed. That investment is put into the ideology and
through the ideology they are able to build power, investment bias, politics,
state influence. And we can see that happening with Margat.
We can also see that happening with the tech bros.
Because for those of us that don't know. If you
(11:56):
look at what these tech white boys are doing, they
know longer believe in democracy. They're saying this out loud, period.
They said democracy and capitalism cannot work together, and they
want to run this thing like the old time instead
of having a feudal system. They got a techno craxity
that they want to run and they want to have
little kingdoms. As a matter of fact, for those of
(12:17):
you that are not paying attention, these rich white boys
are going out and buying land and areas where they're
building cities so that they could run it the way
they want. So you got the ideology. You have the investment,
which which brings money, brings energy, brings people that believes
(12:38):
in it. Together they develop the mechanism to get power
through investments. They invest in politics, they invest in influence,
and from there they developed they use the political power
to build the infrastructure. So in building the infrastructure, the
infrastructure brings more money, which which brings returns, and that
(13:03):
money is reinvested in the ideology forming the loop that
I'm talking about. Now, what's even deeper with the enemy
because a lot of stuff that we do right, and
a lot of stuff that we did in the past,
we've been spooped out by it. Now for those that
don't know, and I'm just gonna throw this, this is
just extra. There's a company called Pallenteer. Pallenteer is a
(13:30):
corporation that was started by these rich tech dudes and
they are investing a lot in these in these in
these in the politics. Right, so Pallunteer. One of the
owner is a dude by the name Pewter Teer. Pewter
Till funded the run for the guy that's the vice president.
What's his name? What's the vice president's name? Anybody know? Right?
(13:54):
He he? He funds Jed Advance right. So now, but
what's it's crazy for those of you who might be
in a sense nerdy like me, because one of the
things y'all know, I love mythology, folk tells and all
this stuff. Is anybody familiar with where the word polunteer
come from? B A L A N T I E R.
(14:24):
You ain't got to look it up. I'm gonna tell you.
But see, when I talk about mythology and stuff and
the hero's journey, a lot of people like but these individuals,
they understand the power of myth They understand how this
power look works. Volunteer comes. It's a term that comes
(14:45):
out of the mythology or the story of called Lord
of the Rings. The pallunteer was a device that if
you touch it, it allows you to see everything if
you look at the function Palateer. These white boys basically
took their mythology and used it, use the idea of
(15:06):
mythology to create something that is now real. Palanteer is
a business that is designed to use technology to be
able to help the government or be able to help
whoever in power, to see everything that they want to
see so that they could better target people and either
destroy you or discredit you, or do whatever. Now they're
(15:32):
using the mythology for this, They're using their ideology. They're
investing in their ideology and investing in the ideology they
developed the power. In developing the power, they formulate the infrastructure,
and in formulating the infrastructure, it brings returns that are
able to be reinvested back into the ideology that allows
(15:54):
this whole cycle to run. Now, how and why has
it this idea or this process, How is it not
being how we how are we not able to do it?
Why can't why is it not happening for us, right,
so let's wear through it real quick. We have the
(16:16):
ideology already, we got the Guzasaba, but we lack the
investment in the infrastructure. We don't we we do kwanza
once a year. We're not strengthening the whole concept as
a community. In small pockets. We may be doing this,
but we are not investing in the ideology of Quansa,
(16:40):
in the ideology of in Guza Saba, in the ideology
of Pan Africanism. We're we do we we we have
not been investing in it. And I'm not just talking
about money. You don't understand what I'm saying. So we
got to be able to redefine what some of these
investments look like. The danger we can we cannot ask
(17:01):
them because part of the issue is once you start,
once you developed the ideology, we cannot act invest in
our ideology because if they fund it, they own it.
We got to be clear about that. So when we
are building this ideology, we got to understand that whatever
(17:22):
whoever puts the money into it gets to control it.
So we have to be clear on who owns theology,
who owns the ideology, and be able to push it.
For example, if we go back to the seventies and
a lot of people are this is crazy. The more
I'm looking at it, A lot of people don't understand
(17:45):
that the whole idea of black capitalism that in the
sense we still are pushing in our community, was basically
an idea that was used to kind of derail the
Black Power movement. A lot of us don't pay attention
to that. They interfere with the Black Power movement by
(18:06):
coming up with the idea of black capitalism and start
sprinkling that and eventually we started thinking that was our idea. See,
because the clear piece that we have to be clear
on is that the Aguza sober and capitalism do not,
cannot and will not work together. You can't talk about
collective work and responsibility and cooperative economics and be racing
(18:31):
to the bottom. You understand what I'm saying, because then
the capitalism, the whole piece is you need somebody to
take advantage of. So we have to be clear on
our ideology. For example, once again, once we start allowing
them to invest in our ideology, it stop being ours
and we start having ideas that's coming in. So we
would say ooh ja man and not really understanding Oojama
(18:53):
cannot work in a capitalist type system. Now once once again,
once we start developing our ideology, we cannot ask them
to invest in our ideology. If they fund it, they
own it. We must be our own venture capitalists. Our
currency is our talent, time and resources. See because our time.
(19:15):
We think that it's just the money that makes things run,
but it's the people. Because when we listen to doctor Kelsey,
the major PC he's been kicking for these last few
years is the wealth that we have, the real wealth
that we have. The wealth is not in it is
not in the money aspect because we look at the
money aspect because we've been trained to look at the
(19:36):
money aspect, but we're missing the talent and the time
investment that it requires. So we don't I'm not just
talking about money when I'm talking about investing in the ideology.
We need to build the infrastructure or take advantage of
the infrastructures that's already here. What are the infrastructure we
need to look at? We got schools, we got recreation centers,
(20:00):
you we got things that we can do. Or we
can start investing in our time and our resources as Tawee,
as as as Gimme, as as any of these other
Pan African organizations as ASCAT that generate returns to feed
(20:21):
back into our community, feedback into our ideology. Now, so
if we look at the Guza Cyber, it's structured in
a way or not even structured away. It has all
the tools that we need. Quanta isn't just a holiday,
It's a personality test for us, right, check this out.
(20:43):
So one of the things that we've been experimenting with
in game for the last few years, those you that
even step into my shoulds for a little bit. We
don't say Monday, we say Emoja, we say we say
we will say Monday in mixed company. But if we
are in a cultural space where we are surrounded by family,
(21:07):
surrounded by tribe, we use those days we are supposed
to invest or give up pushups, right, because we're trying
to shift how we think. We're trying to bring the
ideology alive. Right. So the point that I'm trying to
make is this, we have to start since we ain't
(21:30):
got the money invest we have to start investing our
talent in our time, in our ideology. Once we start
investing the talent and time in our ideology. Then we
can start we'll start growing because a lot of people
hear what we say, but they don't see it manifesting. Right,
(21:54):
We not only have to demonstrate that what we have
is a value, but we have to demonstrate that it
will bring value to other people's lives. But if we
only practice it once a year, once a week, See,
you can't liberate yourself from a system that is working
to keep you oppressed twenty four hours a day by
(22:19):
by thinking about your liberation once every hour, one hour,
one hour, and every twenty four hour period. It don't work.
We have to have individuals that are willing to invest
twenty four hours a day into this. We need to
be like in Marcus Garby's because even with Garby, Garby
talk about we need to dream about it. We just
(22:40):
got them saying the pledge. If you listen to the pledge,
the pledge go so much deeper than just than just
us saying it and us walking a list. He talk
about dreaming about the flag. We need to be having.
We need to be having African dreams and we will
We will maintain being caught up in this as long
(23:00):
as we operate within what they have given us to
operate within. We have to start taking back our time.
We have to start listening. I need to stop looking
at those days and I'm going even deeper. We need
to do something simple like, for example, this is not Sunday,
this is a money. We need to recapture ourselves. We
(23:21):
need to recapture our culture. We need to recapture how
we deal with the time. We need to recapture and
really start living our ideology and thrown it out there. Now.
The challenge that I have and I had this for
the group that I just did the initiation group, is
for each of us to identify which principle is worn
(23:41):
on because our ancestors have already created the system for us.
We have then guzsa saba it's seven days, and then
Gusa saba I mean seven principles. Those seven principles can
be spread out over seven days. Now, in Ghana where
Mamalona and Omayaya are at right now, they have a
(24:01):
day name system where when you are born, you not
only get your name, but you get your day name.
This means you was born on a certain day and
with that certain day comes certain qualities. Now, why am
I talking about this, this is ideology. We need to
be confirming our ideology. We need it in some form
(24:22):
of fashion. If we're going to use it, Guzahsapa, we
need to use it every day. We need to invest
our what time and talent because we ain't got that
much of a treasury. We ain't got that much of
a treasury, but we have plenty of talent, We have
plenty of time. Can we bring this thing alive for
(24:42):
ourselves so people can see it operating within us? Because
now let me say this, when years ago, when I
started the Underground, which was the predecessor of Giami. When
I started the Underground, we used to wear black uniforms
every day. And when the young people start seeing us
(25:04):
and seeing us march and seeing us do certain things,
young people started wanting to be part of what we have.
So we started growing. We grew a little bit too
fast and hence got to start over. But anyway, the
point that I'm saying is people will respond once they
start seeing us investing our time and our talent into
the stuff that we're talking about. Now, let me go
(25:25):
on to finish, because I don't want to hold job
too much longer. Everybody has a principle they was going on.
So we ain't gonna, We're gonna we can use the
system that uh that they're using Ghana today name system.
But rather than use that, why not apply the andnguzasaba.
Each principle has a meaning and we can define each.
(25:48):
How can I put it's already it's basically lay out
where each day would tell you about you give you
an idea. Now I have already I have already built
the program for this, right, and it's crazy. I'm able
(26:08):
to I'm able to generate readings, and anybody that's on
here that has had a reading, you can ask them
how close it is to the characteristics, not so that
we could tell futures. But the piece that I'm trying
to do is help people to plug into our ideology
(26:30):
directly from their personal lives. Right, so that Deaker has
some the tough what do you mean you? What do
you mean you? A coolie? Try to lea borne give
people points that they could talk about and in that
taking back our time, right, taking back having the idea
of our time now three hundred and forty three. So
(26:53):
we've been told that the years three hundred and sixty
five in a quarter days, which in order for us
to stay in tune with the sun, we could do that.
But what I originally came up across because when when
I formulated at the calendar, min Kwame had a discussion
with doctor Kelsey. Doctor Kelsey came up with a graph
(27:17):
for like daily activities. I can't remember exactly what it
was for, but it was a grid, and me and
Kwame started talking. I said, man, we're doing we already
doing the days. Blah blah blah. You know what I'm saying.
We know what day we was born on. So Kwame
basically did the math and came up with a forty
nine seven by seven grid where we are able to
(27:40):
put all the days in it. And what we did was,
rather than breaking it down into twelve months, we break
the year down into seven forty nine day periods, which
would bring us up to three hundred and forty three
days now from three forty four to three sixty five.
(28:00):
We call that a break where we are preparing ourselves
for our celebration in Quans and all that giving us
the opportunity to take our time back, if nothing but symbolically,
we're taking our time back tomorrow for us tomorrow. For me,
I'm starting what I call my great paws. I'm slowing down,
I'm looking around, I'm looking at some of the stuff
(28:23):
I did last year. I'm counting up my winds so
that when it comes time for quans, that I could
present to the community what I have built because I
have taken time to look back and look at that. Right,
bringing the ideology to life, investing my time in the
ideology now also another way that we could invest our
time in our ideology. What's wrong with us in a
(28:46):
sense bringing back Shoela Saturday schools. We have a school
that's a quarter mile around right now that has classrooms
that right now are empty that we could be filling
up every weekend if we decided to. Now. Also, I'm
gonna say this, what would be wrong Rather than us
focusing on reading and writing and math, which is necessary,
(29:08):
what if we started gearing up our young people to
start moving into the positions of power so that we
would be able to start developing infrastructure we need. For example,
I was I've been talking about running for mayor, right,
I have said it, so I'm gonna have to do
(29:29):
something about it. Right, But my brother called me the
other day and say, hey, man, you're gonna have to
be willing to be sitting on the phone for two
hours or eight hours to raise the money. And I'm like,
I ain't trying to be beholding to nobody like that.
Is there something else that we could do? Is there
some is there something else that we could run for
that is affordable, affordable for us so that I could
at least lay the groundwork to to inspire one of
(29:52):
the young people coming from us to start running for
our higher office so that we can move slowly and
progressively to what we need. Right the political aspect of
tow we of askat of Giame, we have not really
been talking about that. We have not really been talking
(30:12):
about nation building in a sense to where we are
actually talking about nation building. How do we stand politically right?
Our ideology is incomplete and we have to start sitting
down and having the discussions about what are we going
to do about bringing this ideology ideology to life. So
(30:33):
because once again, if you look at how that loop work,
that power loop work, I call it deliberation loop ideology
justifies people investing in it. When people once you throw
the idea out and you start working with it, and
you start making it look like it works, other people
(30:54):
will invest in it. Once again, since we don't have
money we invest with and what else time and talent?
Time and talent. We have plenty of that, right. So
one of the things that I'm doing right now is
or actually what we're doing, because we're doing Kwanza on
the twenty seven to twenty ninth. On those nights, we're
(31:17):
calling for people to rep their principal. We want you
to find your principal because we want Quanza and we
want the principal to become a personal thing that people
I want. I want people coming in talking about what
their principal is. So now we can how can we
make it interesting for them to explore at least one
of the principals, at least the one. I'm gonna stop
(31:44):
right there. I don't because I don't wanna how long
I've been going Is it too long? And my boy
and y'all was going on all right, I got three,
I got three, three more things and I'm done real quick.
(32:06):
Call it a vibe check. If Quanti is a harvest,
what is the one thing you grew this year that
you are bringing to the community table? Two hold on
hold on this because this was for the discussion next week.
Number two, do you feel like your schedule and your
time belonged to you or does it belong to your job?
(32:30):
Of course, of course people are gonna be calling me
while I'm talking. And where are we currently leaking our investment?
Are we funding their idology instead of ours? So I'll
stop right there, I say, I say,
M all right, first stuf, can y'all hear me? Okay,
all right, I'm my fault. Can you hear me? Now?
Can you hear me? Now? Cool? All right, let's talk
about Kwanza. Of course, I know I'm gonna make a
little twist on this because I'm gonna go through a
(00:23):
little bit of history. But I want to throw some
stuff up that I've been that I of course, with
my research, I done stumbled upon it because I love
doing the research. I love the culture. I love sharing
what it is that we have, but it's certain things
that we often have to be confronted by. So let's
talk about it. Kwanza. Of course, those that know here, no,
(00:46):
so let me I'm warming up for possibly people who
don't know. Y'all recording need to be recording because I'm well,
actually I'm recording, but you know, I want to make
sure sure people could get hold of it. So the
origin story, So the first Kwanza supposedly happened in nineteen
(01:09):
sixty six, but we knew it had to be research
before that, so we don't know how long he was
researching before he came up with the idea. Quansa was
officially created in nineteen sixty six or first practice by
doctor Malon Karinga and his group us during the height
of what was going on with us black power, during
(01:30):
the high of Black Power movement. It wasn't just a party.
It was a response to what was going on with
us as a people at that time. In some studies
they say it was a response to the Watts riot,
but we know other stuff was going on. As far
as his research, we were searching for identity in the
midst of the chaos that we were constantly being confronted with.
(01:56):
The purpose it was designed to reinform, re affirm, and
restore our African heritage and culture. It introduced in Guza
Sobists and principles to serve as a value system for
our daily daily lives. Now re affirm, restored because part
of the issue for us was that we were in
many ways and still up to this day, unconscious Africans.
(02:20):
We were practicing because you could see, you could see
the continent, you could see the essence of our people
and how we walked, and how we treated our elders
and the food we ate and our creativity. But we
were unconscious Africans. And I think during this period. I
ain't gonna say think during this period we wanted to
make being African a conscious aspect with us and we
(02:45):
still kind of struggling with that today, all right. So
the purpose was reaffirm and restore African heritage and culture
introduced in Guzasaba to serve as a value system for
our daily lives. So now emphasize that I need to
emphasize that it is a communal, non heroic cultural holiday,
(03:10):
all right now, because this was something that in my
early days we used to always have to make sure
people understood because part of the aspect of Quansa a
lot of people was like, I don't you know those
of us as old enough to remember people. A lot
of people are scared of Kwanza, or they thought it
was a replacement for Christmas, or it was some type
(03:30):
of cult going on. But it's a communal, non heroic
cultural holiday. So when you're talking to people, you let
them know. And this is why non religious. You could
be a Christian, you could be a Muslim, you could
be a Hebrew, you could be in any traditional religion
you want. Kwanza is for the people, not a specific doctrine.
(03:51):
It's for the people. It's non heroic. We aren't worshiping
a man or. We're not celebrating some greater evening. We
are celebrating us, the community. In fact, what's crazy about that?
And I ain't gonna say crazy, but celebrating us for
those that know, you get it. It's celebrating us united,
(04:12):
you know because that was the name of the organization
that Malana Karingo was at the head of. So let's
look at the symbols real quick, because I want to
run through this. We got the machaika, the matt the
foundation upon which everything stands, represents the history, tradition. Everything
(04:34):
on the canari stands on this. The canar represents our ancestry,
which is the candle holder. We got the Mushu Masaba,
which is all the seven candles. We got three red,
the struggle, three Green, the future, the hope, and the
one the black people, the black candle. We got the massile,
which is the crops, fruits and vegetables representing the harvest
(04:55):
and the rewards of black paper. We got the Kukumba
child Moja, which I hope because Elder Tony had a
cold one. I hope we are gonna be able to
use that for kwanza, use the poor libations to the
ancestors and to sit together to reinforce unity. But we
don't do that one no more because you know a
lot of you know, you know the world has changed.
(05:17):
But anyway, the last one is the one I ain't
gonna say. The last one with Zowati is the gifts,
the meaningful gifts, usually books or heritage eyes and give
them to the children to encourage growth. Now, so family,
we know the symbols, we know the colors, we know
the history. We set the table every year, but look
(05:44):
at the table again. We place the mazaa, which is
the fruit, on the table to represent the harvest. But
what are we actually harvesting. Most of us don't farm.
We don't grow corn, we don't grow tomatoes. So when
we sit down at this table, if we haven't built anything,
if we haven't produced anything, if we haven't created a
(06:08):
system in the last three hundred and sixty five days,
is the table empty? Because now, once again, the whole
idea of Kwansa is more about symbols. It's the power
of symbols. And I'm going to get into that discussion
because I think a lot of times we miss it
(06:28):
because because sometimes sometimes we too deep and sometimes were
not deep enough. So it's kind of hard being a
pep the people we are and be in a situation
we are. So this brings me to the real discussion today.
Kwansa is not just a time to light candles. It's
a time to audit our power. We say, it's a
(06:50):
harvest celebration, So let's talk about the seas we plant,
the time we use to grow them, and why we
need to stop operating on our oppressor's clock if we
ever want to see the real crop. So let's get
to the heart of this now. Of course, we know
(07:12):
we need to stop thinking about the fruit and the
corn and all that, because those, once again are symbolic
of something. We are celebrating the harvest. But most of
us didn't grow a single tomato this year, So what
are we really bringing to the table. We are harvested
in the work, the winds, and the systems we built
(07:34):
over the last three hundred and forty three days. And
I'm gonna get into why I'm using the three hundred
and forty three days in a minute. The challenge, if
you have nothing to show for the year, you have
nothing to celebrate Kuans is an oddit of our personal
I don't like using the word production, but what value
(07:55):
we have built as an individual and as well as
a community. So because uh, we need to really look
at those principles, because it's like it's a few of
us that we'll come to We'll come to these meetings
and it's like we're not growing. So are we not?
We need to really evaluate some of the stuff that
(08:17):
we're doing so that we can see how do we
attract others to what we're doing. So let's go. Now.
One of the things I want to focus on in
discussion quanta because Quansa is set during a certain period
of time. So we got the history and the culture.
(08:38):
But let me let me just because I gotta go
buy my notes or y'all know how I get. I'm
gonna go buy my notes. I'm let me stick to
my notes. I'm doing good. Take a breath. We know
they took our names, our language, and our God, but
we never talk about how they took our time. Now,
time is aleman of culture. Different people deal with time differently.
(09:03):
We are running on our pressor's clock. If you run
on their time, you produce for their empire. Now we
have to reclaim our relationship with time. That is why
we look at the three hundred and forty three days
and JamMan, I'm gonna talk about that in a second,
because it's three hundred and forty three days, and then
(09:23):
we got from three hundred. We got from three hundred
from day three hundred and forty four up to three
hundred and sixty five in a quarter. We call that.
We call that our break is a rest called the
Great Pause, right, and ja, I mean I'm coming back
to that in a minute. Hold on. So one of
(09:45):
the things that I want to bring forth with this
is talking about what white folks call a power loop,
but I'm gonna call it deliberation loop. All right. So
now let's break down this power loop because now we
can see it in its modern formation with these tech
bros and what happened with MAGA or the Christian nationalists. Right. So,
(10:10):
after looking at these things, start clicking and as I'm
going through my studies, I run into this thing called
the power loop. So I'm gonna run through this for
you real quick, and I want to take it. I'm
gonna transform it so that we could use it for us.
So that we could think about it as a community
on how to use it for us and I bring
(10:31):
back the time in a minute. So this specific group
looks like this. Step one is the ideology. So if
we look at the tech bros, they have an ideology
that they want to practice. We look at MAGA ideology.
(10:51):
It's easier for Matga because everybody is familiar with the
ideology of mega right Christian nationalism and make America greatiting
great again. We don't you know, they don't never tell
you what the hell that means. But it's an ideology
and the ideology is backed up by research and by
people generating ideas. Of course with because you need ideas
(11:14):
for ideology. So you have the myth or the belief system.
Then you have the investment, the money, the energy, and
this is put into the ideology. Right, So now the
ideology makes it possible for investment, makes it makes the
(11:35):
investment needed. That investment is put into the ideology and
through the ideology they are able to build power, investment bias, politics,
state influence. And we can see that happening with Margat.
We can also see that happening with the tech bros.
Because for those of us that don't know. If you
(11:56):
look at what these tech white boys are doing, they
know longer believe in democracy. They're saying this out loud, period.
They said democracy and capitalism cannot work together, and they
want to run this thing like the old time instead
of having a feudal system. They got a techno craxity
that they want to run and they want to have
little kingdoms. As a matter of fact, for those of
(12:17):
you that are not paying attention, these rich white boys
are going out and buying land and areas where they're
building cities so that they could run it the way
they want. So you got the ideology. You have the investment,
which which brings money, brings energy, brings people that believes
(12:38):
in it. Together they develop the mechanism to get power
through investments. They invest in politics, they invest in influence,
and from there they developed they use the political power
to build the infrastructure. So in building the infrastructure, the
infrastructure brings more money, which which brings returns, and that
(13:03):
money is reinvested in the ideology forming the loop that
I'm talking about. Now, what's even deeper with the enemy
because a lot of stuff that we do right, and
a lot of stuff that we did in the past,
we've been spooped out by it. Now for those that
don't know, and I'm just gonna throw this, this is
just extra. There's a company called Pallenteer. Pallenteer is a
(13:30):
corporation that was started by these rich tech dudes and
they are investing a lot in these in these in
these in the politics. Right, so Pallunteer. One of the
owner is a dude by the name Pewter Teer. Pewter
Till funded the run for the guy that's the vice president.
What's his name? What's the vice president's name? Anybody know? Right?
(13:54):
He he? He funds Jed Advance right. So now, but
what's it's crazy for those of you who might be
in a sense nerdy like me, because one of the
things y'all know, I love mythology, folk tells and all
this stuff. Is anybody familiar with where the word polunteer
come from? B A L A N T I E R.
(14:24):
You ain't got to look it up. I'm gonna tell you.
But see, when I talk about mythology and stuff and
the hero's journey, a lot of people like but these individuals,
they understand the power of myth They understand how this
power look works. Volunteer comes. It's a term that comes
(14:45):
out of the mythology or the story of called Lord
of the Rings. The pallunteer was a device that if
you touch it, it allows you to see everything if
you look at the function Palateer. These white boys basically
took their mythology and used it, use the idea of
(15:06):
mythology to create something that is now real. Palanteer is
a business that is designed to use technology to be
able to help the government or be able to help
whoever in power, to see everything that they want to
see so that they could better target people and either
destroy you or discredit you, or do whatever. Now they're
(15:32):
using the mythology for this, They're using their ideology. They're
investing in their ideology and investing in the ideology they
developed the power. In developing the power, they formulate the infrastructure,
and in formulating the infrastructure, it brings returns that are
able to be reinvested back into the ideology that allows
(15:54):
this whole cycle to run. Now, how and why has
it this idea or this process, How is it not
being how we how are we not able to do it?
Why can't why is it not happening for us, right,
so let's wear through it real quick. We have the
(16:16):
ideology already, we got the Guzasaba, but we lack the
investment in the infrastructure. We don't we we do kwanza
once a year. We're not strengthening the whole concept as
a community. In small pockets. We may be doing this,
but we are not investing in the ideology of Quansa,
(16:40):
in the ideology of in Guza Saba, in the ideology
of Pan Africanism. We're we do we we we have
not been investing in it. And I'm not just talking
about money. You don't understand what I'm saying. So we
got to be able to redefine what some of these
investments look like. The danger we can we cannot ask
(17:01):
them because part of the issue is once you start,
once you developed the ideology, we cannot act invest in
our ideology because if they fund it, they own it.
We got to be clear about that. So when we
are building this ideology, we got to understand that whatever
(17:22):
whoever puts the money into it gets to control it.
So we have to be clear on who owns theology,
who owns the ideology, and be able to push it.
For example, if we go back to the seventies and
a lot of people are this is crazy. The more
I'm looking at it, A lot of people don't understand
(17:45):
that the whole idea of black capitalism that in the
sense we still are pushing in our community, was basically
an idea that was used to kind of derail the
Black Power movement. A lot of us don't pay attention
to that. They interfere with the Black Power movement by
(18:06):
coming up with the idea of black capitalism and start
sprinkling that and eventually we started thinking that was our idea. See,
because the clear piece that we have to be clear
on is that the Aguza sober and capitalism do not,
cannot and will not work together. You can't talk about
collective work and responsibility and cooperative economics and be racing
(18:31):
to the bottom. You understand what I'm saying, because then
the capitalism, the whole piece is you need somebody to
take advantage of. So we have to be clear on
our ideology. For example, once again, once we start allowing
them to invest in our ideology, it stop being ours
and we start having ideas that's coming in. So we
would say ooh ja man and not really understanding Oojama
(18:53):
cannot work in a capitalist type system. Now once once again,
once we start developing our ideology, we cannot ask them
to invest in our ideology. If they fund it, they
own it. We must be our own venture capitalists. Our
currency is our talent, time and resources. See because our time.
(19:15):
We think that it's just the money that makes things run,
but it's the people. Because when we listen to doctor Kelsey,
the major PC he's been kicking for these last few
years is the wealth that we have, the real wealth
that we have. The wealth is not in it is
not in the money aspect because we look at the
money aspect because we've been trained to look at the
(19:36):
money aspect, but we're missing the talent and the time
investment that it requires. So we don't I'm not just
talking about money when I'm talking about investing in the ideology.
We need to build the infrastructure or take advantage of
the infrastructures that's already here. What are the infrastructure we
need to look at? We got schools, we got recreation centers,
(20:00):
you we got things that we can do. Or we
can start investing in our time and our resources as Tawee,
as as as Gimme, as as any of these other
Pan African organizations as ASCAT that generate returns to feed
(20:21):
back into our community, feedback into our ideology. Now, so
if we look at the Guza Cyber, it's structured in
a way or not even structured away. It has all
the tools that we need. Quanta isn't just a holiday,
It's a personality test for us, right, check this out.
(20:43):
So one of the things that we've been experimenting with
in game for the last few years, those you that
even step into my shoulds for a little bit. We
don't say Monday, we say Emoja, we say we say
we will say Monday in mixed company. But if we
are in a cultural space where we are surrounded by family,
(21:07):
surrounded by tribe, we use those days we are supposed
to invest or give up pushups, right, because we're trying
to shift how we think. We're trying to bring the
ideology alive. Right. So the point that I'm trying to
make is this, we have to start since we ain't
(21:30):
got the money invest we have to start investing our
talent in our time, in our ideology. Once we start
investing the talent and time in our ideology. Then we
can start we'll start growing because a lot of people
hear what we say, but they don't see it manifesting. Right,
(21:54):
We not only have to demonstrate that what we have
is a value, but we have to demonstrate that it
will bring value to other people's lives. But if we
only practice it once a year, once a week, See,
you can't liberate yourself from a system that is working
to keep you oppressed twenty four hours a day by
(22:19):
by thinking about your liberation once every hour, one hour,
one hour, and every twenty four hour period. It don't work.
We have to have individuals that are willing to invest
twenty four hours a day into this. We need to
be like in Marcus Garby's because even with Garby, Garby
talk about we need to dream about it. We just
(22:40):
got them saying the pledge. If you listen to the pledge,
the pledge go so much deeper than just than just
us saying it and us walking a list. He talk
about dreaming about the flag. We need to be having.
We need to be having African dreams and we will
We will maintain being caught up in this as long
(23:00):
as we operate within what they have given us to
operate within. We have to start taking back our time.
We have to start listening. I need to stop looking
at those days and I'm going even deeper. We need
to do something simple like, for example, this is not Sunday,
this is a money. We need to recapture ourselves. We
(23:21):
need to recapture our culture. We need to recapture how
we deal with the time. We need to recapture and
really start living our ideology and thrown it out there. Now.
The challenge that I have and I had this for
the group that I just did the initiation group, is
for each of us to identify which principle is worn
(23:41):
on because our ancestors have already created the system for us.
We have then guzsa saba it's seven days, and then
Gusa saba I mean seven principles. Those seven principles can
be spread out over seven days. Now, in Ghana where
Mamalona and Omayaya are at right now, they have a
(24:01):
day name system where when you are born, you not
only get your name, but you get your day name.
This means you was born on a certain day and
with that certain day comes certain qualities. Now, why am
I talking about this, this is ideology. We need to
be confirming our ideology. We need it in some form
(24:22):
of fashion. If we're going to use it, Guzahsapa, we
need to use it every day. We need to invest
our what time and talent because we ain't got that
much of a treasury. We ain't got that much of
a treasury, but we have plenty of talent, We have
plenty of time. Can we bring this thing alive for
(24:42):
ourselves so people can see it operating within us? Because
now let me say this, when years ago, when I
started the Underground, which was the predecessor of Giami. When
I started the Underground, we used to wear black uniforms
every day. And when the young people start seeing us
(25:04):
and seeing us march and seeing us do certain things,
young people started wanting to be part of what we have.
So we started growing. We grew a little bit too
fast and hence got to start over. But anyway, the
point that I'm saying is people will respond once they
start seeing us investing our time and our talent into
the stuff that we're talking about. Now, let me go
(25:25):
on to finish, because I don't want to hold job
too much longer. Everybody has a principle they was going on.
So we ain't gonna, We're gonna we can use the
system that uh that they're using Ghana today name system.
But rather than use that, why not apply the andnguzasaba.
Each principle has a meaning and we can define each.
(25:48):
How can I put it's already it's basically lay out
where each day would tell you about you give you
an idea. Now I have already I have already built
the program for this, right, and it's crazy. I'm able
(26:08):
to I'm able to generate readings, and anybody that's on
here that has had a reading, you can ask them
how close it is to the characteristics, not so that
we could tell futures. But the piece that I'm trying
to do is help people to plug into our ideology
(26:30):
directly from their personal lives. Right, so that Deaker has
some the tough what do you mean you? What do
you mean you? A coolie? Try to lea borne give
people points that they could talk about and in that
taking back our time, right, taking back having the idea
of our time now three hundred and forty three. So
(26:53):
we've been told that the years three hundred and sixty
five in a quarter days, which in order for us
to stay in tune with the sun, we could do that.
But what I originally came up across because when when
I formulated at the calendar, min Kwame had a discussion
with doctor Kelsey. Doctor Kelsey came up with a graph
(27:17):
for like daily activities. I can't remember exactly what it
was for, but it was a grid, and me and
Kwame started talking. I said, man, we're doing we already
doing the days. Blah blah blah. You know what I'm saying.
We know what day we was born on. So Kwame
basically did the math and came up with a forty
nine seven by seven grid where we are able to
(27:40):
put all the days in it. And what we did was,
rather than breaking it down into twelve months, we break
the year down into seven forty nine day periods, which
would bring us up to three hundred and forty three
days now from three forty four to three sixty five.
(28:00):
We call that a break where we are preparing ourselves
for our celebration in Quans and all that giving us
the opportunity to take our time back, if nothing but symbolically,
we're taking our time back tomorrow for us tomorrow. For me,
I'm starting what I call my great paws. I'm slowing down,
I'm looking around, I'm looking at some of the stuff
(28:23):
I did last year. I'm counting up my winds so
that when it comes time for quans, that I could
present to the community what I have built because I
have taken time to look back and look at that. Right,
bringing the ideology to life, investing my time in the
ideology now also another way that we could invest our
time in our ideology. What's wrong with us in a
(28:46):
sense bringing back Shoela Saturday schools. We have a school
that's a quarter mile around right now that has classrooms
that right now are empty that we could be filling
up every weekend if we decided to. Now. Also, I'm
gonna say this, what would be wrong Rather than us
focusing on reading and writing and math, which is necessary,
(29:08):
what if we started gearing up our young people to
start moving into the positions of power so that we
would be able to start developing infrastructure we need. For example,
I was I've been talking about running for mayor, right,
I have said it, so I'm gonna have to do
(29:29):
something about it. Right, But my brother called me the
other day and say, hey, man, you're gonna have to
be willing to be sitting on the phone for two
hours or eight hours to raise the money. And I'm like,
I ain't trying to be beholding to nobody like that.
Is there something else that we could do? Is there
some is there something else that we could run for
that is affordable, affordable for us so that I could
at least lay the groundwork to to inspire one of
(29:52):
the young people coming from us to start running for
our higher office so that we can move slowly and
progressively to what we need. Right the political aspect of
tow we of askat of Giame, we have not really
been talking about that. We have not really been talking
(30:12):
about nation building in a sense to where we are
actually talking about nation building. How do we stand politically right?
Our ideology is incomplete and we have to start sitting
down and having the discussions about what are we going
to do about bringing this ideology ideology to life. So
(30:33):
because once again, if you look at how that loop work,
that power loop work, I call it deliberation loop ideology
justifies people investing in it. When people once you throw
the idea out and you start working with it, and
you start making it look like it works, other people
(30:54):
will invest in it. Once again, since we don't have
money we invest with and what else time and talent?
Time and talent. We have plenty of that, right. So
one of the things that I'm doing right now is
or actually what we're doing, because we're doing Kwanza on
the twenty seven to twenty ninth. On those nights, we're
(31:17):
calling for people to rep their principal. We want you
to find your principal because we want Quanza and we
want the principal to become a personal thing that people
I want. I want people coming in talking about what
their principal is. So now we can how can we
make it interesting for them to explore at least one
of the principals, at least the one. I'm gonna stop
(31:44):
right there. I don't because I don't wanna how long
I've been going Is it too long? And my boy
and y'all was going on all right, I got three,
I got three, three more things and I'm done real quick.
(32:06):
Call it a vibe check. If Quanti is a harvest,
what is the one thing you grew this year that
you are bringing to the community table? Two hold on
hold on this because this was for the discussion next week.
Number two, do you feel like your schedule and your
time belonged to you or does it belong to your job?
(32:30):
Of course, of course people are gonna be calling me
while I'm talking. And where are we currently leaking our investment?
Are we funding their idology instead of ours? So I'll
stop right there, I say, I say,
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