Sharing Kwanzaa’s Joyful Call Black Students At Whitworth Can’t Wait To Celebrate Holiday

Kwanzaa doesn’t happen until the end of the month, but the African American holiday will be celebrated Friday at Whitworth College.

Members of the school’s Black Student Union want to share it with the community, said BSU president Chris Mastin. They didn’t want to wait until after the winter break.

“(Kwanzaa) brings African Americans closer,” said Stephy Noble Beans, a student life program specialist who helped organize the event. “It gives us a reason to be proud of our culture and heritage. It won’t let us forget our ancestors.”

To help educate the community about Kwanzaa, BSU members will explain the holiday during a three-hour celebration Friday at the Whitworth Campus Center. The free event, which will include music, refreshments and a candle-lighting ceremony, starts at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.

Most people, including some African Americans, know little about the holiday, Beans said. Some still confuse it with Christmas.

For many, it’s about self-acceptance, she said. In mostly white cities such as Spokane, blacks and other people of color sometimes suffer from an “identity crisis.” People stare at them because they look different, Beans said. Some also experience discrimination.

Kwanzaa becomes a way to remind them of their black culture and heritage, she said.

The weeklong holiday was started in the ‘60s by Maulana “Ron” Karenga, a civil rights activist and California professor. Kwanzaa, which is Swahili for “first fruits,” is a feast based on seven principles called Nguzo Saba.

Members of the BSU will explain these principles, which include “Umoja” or unity and “Kujichagulia” or self-determination. They’ll also light the kinara, a candelabra with one black candle for the people, three red ones to symbolize the blood ancestors shed, and three green ones to represent their future.

“We must be proud to be people of color,” Beans said. “We must never forget that.”

, DataTimes