JERSEY PANTHERS BRING IN NEW YEAR WITH A ROAR

By ‘little Red’

         In the spirit of Kujichagulia (self-determination), the New Jersey Chapter of the New Black Panther Party brought in the New Year “raw” with an empowering Kwanzaa ceremony, honoring the principle of Imani, ‘Faith,’ the seventh and culminating principle of this tradition.

            But what made the event special was how it emerged triumphantly over very hostile conditions and circumstances designed to insure its failure.

            First, the local media sought to isolate and deride the ceremony as a “Blacks only” event while at the same time lauding another ceremony days earlier that was organized as an “integrated” affair.

            Second, the site of the event, the West Ward Community Center, which was staffed by volunteering African-American elders, was literally abandoned by its owners, the West Ward Partnership Association, only days before the event without any notice, leaving those elders without vital support services and just as shameful without lights, heat or electricity.

            Under these circumstances, most would have cancelled the event; But not the New Black Panther Party.  Under the leadership of its Trenton-based chairman Divine Allah, with only a portable heater and an array of dozens of candles, the Panthers went forward with their event.

            To everyone’s surprise, the West Ward Community Center’s community room, was filled to capacity within a half-hour after they opened doors. 

            The Party’s new national minister of culture and regional chief of staff Zayid Muhammad assumed the challenging and painful task of explaining the lights out, heats off hostility the audience was faced with. Proudly standing by his young chairman, he wasted no time tearing into the West Ward Partnership Association for the outrageous situation.

            “Brother and sister, all I was originally was supposed to do this evening was a libation and explain to you the enormous historical importance of Imani being on January 1^st. Instead, I have to be the one to tell you about this outrage,” he roared.

            “And I’m going to tell you that I am mad as hell that these conditions are such that I can’t call on my ancestors the way I want to. And for all of you who live here in Trenton, you ought to be mad as hell and you should unite and raise hell at the way these jokers totally disrespected your elders leaving them without heat, lights and electricity like this. And if they disrespect you’re elders like that, you know what they think about our babies!”

            The audience stood by the Panthers for their steadfastness. They chose to defy the hostility and then participated in a moving ceremony that included Afrikan-centered spoken word tributes by local cultural workers Queen Reflection and Montsho Edu, children doing recitations like six year old Queen Imani who recited ‘The Pledge Of Imani,’ Afrikan dance led by Queen Alakee Wisdom Bethea and a moving intergenerational candlelighting ceremony. They closed the event ironically with the libation that they originally intended to do at the beginning.

        Affirming the importance of standing one’s ground and being examples for the youth, Brother Divine spoke squarely to the critics of the event and media’s negative attention.

        “We’ve got to stand up for our babies. We’ve got to tell them the truth. There’s no fat white man coming down no damn chimney, doing for them what we are supposed to do for our babies ourselves,” he implored…

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©2002 all rights reserved

’Bro. Zayid’ Kazi Angaza Kikongo Muhammad

1/18/02