Kwanzaa takes on new meaning in light of tragedies

Kimberley McGee

Monday, Dec. 24, 2001 | 1:13 a.m.

After the gifts have been unwrapped and the Christmas dinner has been turned into bundles of leftovers, thousands of local families will gather to celebrate the annual holiday Kwanzaa.

The seven days between Christmas and New Year's day are a time for reflection and focus on family values.

For those who celebrate Kwanzaa, the holiday has become a weeklong symbol of faith and strength celebrated primarily in the black community with feasts, stories and family gatherings.

But this year the 35-year-old holiday will include reflection on the sadness and fear that the Sept. 11 attacks stirred within most Americans. More importantly, it will also focus on hope and faith for the future, local Kwanzaa celebrants said.

The Kwanzaa candles will be lit with a heavy hand this year, Las Vegas sculptor Joe Walker said. His large family has celebrated the holiday together for more than 30 years.

"Definitely this year we will be thinking of those families that lost someone (in the attacks)," Walker said. "We will be concentrating on making our community stronger, too."

Kwanzaa has always strengthened Walker's family and his sense of his African heritage, he said. But this year there will be red, white and blue included with the traditional black, green and red Kwanzaa decorations.

"It makes me realize how important both cultures -- American and African -- are in my life," Walker said. "I appreciate both sides this year because of the bombing and unrest in the world. It made me realize how patriotic I really am."

In 1966 Dr. Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in San Diego as a holiday to strengthen families of African heritage and promote family values across the nation.

Each night families light one of three green, three red and one black candles on a minshumaa, a candleholder that resembles a Jewish menorah. Each candle represents one of the seven Kwanzaa principles -- umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity) and imani (faith).

The seven principles of Kwanzaa are meant to instill purpose and pride in the people who practice it throughout the year. They come together at the end of the year to reinforce their focus.

While many Kwanzaa celebrants gather at the homes of family and friends, this year the West Las Vegas Arts Center invites the public to join in a workshop, said Marcia Robinson, director of the West Las Vegas Arts Center.

The five-hour celebration will focus on youth in the community.

"After the attacks, this is an opportunity for our youth to step up and take centerstage," Robinson said. "They can help us get through this by taking leadership positions and spreading peace and education. That's how we want to affect the youth with the lessons of Kwanzaa."

Dr. Michelle Dugan said Kwanzaa has always been about strengthening the family bonds at her home.

"It's so much more meaningful since Sept. 11," Dugan said. "Especially the faith principle (imani) has more purpose in light of what has happened this year."

The Dugan family has celebrated Kwanzaa for nearly three decades. They continue to come together each year and remind one another of where they came from -- of the family that silently supports them through the year in their thoughts and prayers, and of the strong foundation that doesn't crack under pressure.

"We are all sad about what happened (on Sept. 11), and will talk about it," Dugan said. "We remain together through this."

That strong bond exemplifies Kwanzaa, said Michelle Banks, director of the local chapter of Jack and Jill, a national family-oriented black social organization.

The world may be different after Sept. 11, she said, but that makes the principles of Kwanzaa that much more important.

"In the wake of Sept. 11, we will pay some tribute to what happened," Banks said. "But the Kwanzaa celebration for us has always been about the education of the children and their heritage."

Each generation is taught to give back to the community and help others achieve their goals and dreams, she said. Kwanzaa bolsters that resolve within the black community, Banks said.

"People who have made it are encouraged to reach back into the community and pull someone up, show them that there are better opportunities," Banks said.

She and her husband, Michael, practice the principles of Kwanzaa to encourage their five children to strive for goals, as well as reach out and show others that they can achieve anything with faith in themselves and their community.

"We have to show our children that there are so many opportunities out there," Banks said. "Kwanzaa empowers people, and in order to grow, a person must feel empowered."