Kwanzaa, an African-American holiday which celebrates family, community, and culture, is the fastest growing holiday in the U.S. An estimated 18 million Africans celebrate KWANZAA each year around the world, including celebrants in the U.S., Africa, the Caribbean, South America, especially Brazil, Canada, India, Britain and numerous European countries. Kwanzaa as an African-American holiday belongs to the most ancient tradition in the world, the African tradition. Drawing from and building on this rich and ancient tradition, Kwanzaa makes its own unique contribution to the enrichment and expansion of African tradition by reaffirming the importance of family, community, and culture. The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa. The central reason Kwanzaa is celebrated for seven days is to pay homage to The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa which in Swahili are: Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumba, and Imani. The principles are also known as The Seven Principles of African American community development and serve as a fundamental value system.
"This is just the first step. We need to put Haiti on our agenda," said Fred Logon, a member of Black Voices. "In terms of the policy, we need a movement that will force the Obama administration to take a progressive approach to Haiti. I hope we can increase the importance of Haiti to the world at large. " "Haitians are very conscious for the need of education," [Leon Pamphile, Ph.D.] said. "The country is pretty much divided between city dwellers and countryside. If parents don't have money to pay for their children's school, there is no public school for them." "Americans have looked at Haiti as an example of what happens when Black men lead government," Pamphile said. "Haiti is always under the burden of having foreign loans, but now this is being forgiven."
Then the charismatic Sundar Popo, who championed "chutney" music, or Indian soca, died of heart failure in May at the age of 57. Sundar Popo is remembered for "Your Mother's Love" and other hits. "People here are very superstitious," said businessman Danny Montano. They conclude "something has swept the country, something is wrong, and that's why so many bad things are happening."
The average cost of both public and private medical schools in the U.S. can exceed $50,000 annually. The cost of medical school in the United States can leave most graduates in a pool of debt soon after graduation. These exorbitant tuition fees alone can make the idea of going to medical school for members of poor communities seemingly unrealistic and even nonexistent in some cases.
What even serious individuals must note is that 40 or 50 years ago, the kind of jobs that illegal immigrants migrate towards today are the same positions that African Americans were relegated to. How else can we explain highly educated African Americans, even some with Ph.D's, being forced to work at the post office or as a hotel waiter. The barriers for African Americans were Jim Crow; for Hispanics or Latinos fleeing Mexico, El Salvador, Guatamala or other South American countries, it is the wretched poverty in those countries. For them, such jobs are a "step up" from what they had to accept in their country.
"I pray every day for someone to give me a tent. I have 5 children, including a 7 month-old. When it rains everybody gets wet," said Joceline Magloire, 37. "This situation is unbearable. I heard that a lot of people are collecting money on behalf of Haiti. Why don't they buy those tents and ship them to us here," she said angrily. "I am 8-month pregnant. I have to walk a long way and am not feeling well but I have to go there to try to find something to eat," [Marlene Duvernus], whose husband died in the disaster, told NNPA as she walked-her right hand holding her belly. "Otherwise, I am going to die," she said. "I am not sure whether I'll find food today. But if I find, I am not sure how I'll take it home. I hope somebody will help me," Duvernus said as she held a coupon distributed by the [Petion-Ville] Mayor Claire Lydie Parent. The World Pood Program says it has distributed food to nearly 500,000 people since the magnitude-7 earthquake devastated the Haitian capital and the southern provincial areas of Jacmel, Leogane and PetitGoave.
1804-Jean Jacques Dessalines proclaims the independence of Haiti from France. The island nation, after the United States, becomes the second independent republic in the Western Hemisphere. The chief slogan of his independence speech was "Live free or die." The Haitian war of independence had actually begun in August of 1791. The leader and greatest hero ofthat war was a former slave who worked as a carriage driver - Toussaint L'Ouverture. As a general, L'Ouverture was comparable to, and in some respects superior to, America's [George Washington Carver] and France's Napoleon Bonaparte. However, under the ruse of discussing peace L'Ouverture was tricked into traveling to France where he died in prison in April of 1803. The Haitians nevertheless prevailed over the French under the leadership of Dessalines and he was able to declare independence on this day in 1804. 1
