HAPPY
GYE NYAME
A CELEBRATION OF NEW AFRIKAN CULTURE
WITH
THE NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY
By Bro. Bruce Karriem
On Saturday, November 24th, after spending a
wonderful afternoon in southeast Queens with our brothers and sisters at CEMOTAP,
that bold, uncompromising organization waging war against all media offensive to
Afrikan people, Malik Zulu Shabazz and the New Black Panther Party for Self
Defense headed to our Harlem headquarters, The Carlos A. Cooks Hall, to spend a
festive evening in celebration of the New Afrikan holiday, Gye Nyame,
which was conceived by our national chairman in memoriam, the late Khallid Abdul
Muhammad.
In an article explaining the holiday, Bro. Zayid Muhammad, our newly
installed national minister of culture, wrote:
“This New Afrikan holiday is called Gye Nyame. It means in the
beautiful Akan language spoken throughout Ghana that ‘none is greater than God
the Creator.’ It is a central symbol among the rich, treasured Adinkra symbols
of the regal Akan people. Gye Nyame is not an Akan holiday, however. It
is a New Afrikan holiday that synthesizes rich, principles of faith found in
several traditional Afrikan spiritual traditions, most especially in the Akan
and Yoruba traditions and of course, Maat.
“As a ceremony, Gye Nyame was designed to be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November to give Afrikan people captive here in the united states a conscious cultural choice instead of being confined or limited to that holocaust holiday Thanksgiving.
“Gye Nyame was forged to help Afrikans captive here in amerikkka
return to the Afrikan philosophy and the original Afrikan way of thinking and
doing. It is New Afrikan in that it consciously seeks to separate us from
participating in the violently hypocritical holocaust holiday unique to the
amerikkkan nation state that is Thanksgiving; It is Pan-Afrikan in that it
invites every man, woman and child of Afrikan descent to participate.”
Gye Nyame was first celebrated on November 27, 1997 by some 500
members of the Pan-Afrikan study circle Egbe Nyame in Cleveland, Ohio. Bro.
Khallid’s youngest son, Farrakhan lit the candle in that first Gye Nyame
ceremony.
Bro. Zayid presided over the beautiful ceremony. Bro. Thutmose Powell, the Party’s national minister of commerce and industry, was installed as the presiding elder, a position that fit him like a glove, and there were presentations throughout the celebration by distinguished elders Camille Yarborough and James Small and party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz.
Perhaps the most touching moment of the evening’s festivities was when
Bro. Zayid broke down during his
explanation of the koro and didun symbols, the bitter and the
sweet. He said that our party was challenged with some real bitter when we were
faced with sudden death of our beloved leader, Khallid Abdul Muhammad in
February. Barely able to speak, Bro. Zayid turned to the picture of Bro. Khallid
on the Gye Nyame altar and said “I miss you, brother. We are on our
post! We’re holding the line! We’re covering down!”
Sis. Camille Yarborough also stressed the importance of this ceremony.
“We must do this. We must call on our ancestors if we are to move forward.”
Another touching moment occurred at the end of the ceremony when Bro.
James presented the party with the golden sankofa staff used at the gravesite of
El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Malcolm X, and spoke to us about the concept of
younger people being involved in revolutionary struggle and being guided and
assisted by those Afrikan people who have become elders.
James Small then pointedly said “Khallid will make a bigger impact in
our lives more than he’s ever made before because he is now an ancestor.”
“Long live Khallid Abdul Muhammad! Come! It is time for Gye Nyame! Help
our people return to the way! Black Power!”
#
©2001 all rights reserved
’ Bro. Zayid’ Kazi Angaza Kikongo Muhammad
01.31.2004