Students celebrate Kwanzaa at African American Culture Center

"Harambee!"\nStudents anywhere near the African American Culture Center Thursday night probably heard more than 50 people shouting the word repeatedly. Swahili for 'let's pull together,' Harambee is just one of many rituals in the celebration of Kwanzaa.\nAlthough Kwanzaa is celebrated from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, people packed Ashton Center's Africa Room to participate in an early celebration.\n"To see people wanting to build and maintain the community definitely shows progress on this campus," said junior Javetta Pierce, first vice president of the Black Student Union. Pierce said she has celebrated Kwanzaa since her freshman year at IU.\n"It is always good to see people celebrating their history," she said.\nThe evening was organized and executed by many groups, including the African American Culture Center, Faculty and Staff for Student Excellence mentoring program, Black Student Union and several African-American greek organizations.\nDr. Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in the 1960s, as a celebration of heritage for African Americans.\nThere was hardly a dull moment during the two-hour ceremony, as members of IU's African-American community sang, acted and spoke about the importance of the seven principles of Kwanzaa.\nBloomington resident Sachiko Higgins Kante explained the significance of several of Kwanzaa's symbols, including the candles that are lit to mark each principle.\nThere are three green candles, three red candles and one black candle, which are lit from left to right, usually by a child, Kante said. The three red candles stand for the struggle, the green candles stand for the future and the black candle and centerpiece of the kinara or candleholder stands for unity. The seven principles are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (community), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).\nThe theme of the evening was Ujima and the necessity of building community on campus. June Cargile, director of the FASE mentoring program was the keynote speaker for the evening. Cargile delivered a speech that had the audience on their feet by the end of her presentation.\nCargile explained that there are many components necessary for building and maintaining a strong community. Communication, honoring common ancestry and pride are only a few components of the formula, she said.\n"You must lift your voice," Cargile said. "Don't just sing 'Lift Every Voice and Sing.' Lift your voice, you have got the power."\nNoble Le Var Woods expressed their feelings on the importance of Ujima through poetry and song.\n"As a man of black, society will never understand my rage," Woods said in his poem.\nAlpha Phi Alpha also put on a skit about the importance of working together and the rewards that come with cooperation.\nThe evening ended with the traditional Karamu or feast. Mistress of Ceremonies Shira Amos, a sophomore, said she was pleased with the program's turnout.\n"We thought we would get less people because of finals and I-Core, but we had a really good crowd," Amos said. "Everyone was blessed to learn about Kwanzaa."\nJunior Ayo Braxton said she has learned about Kwanzaa since she was in middle school, but now sees a different meaning in the holiday.\n"There is too much separation among such a small group of people," Braxton said. "In order for us to thrive and succeed, we need to come together"