{"id":116077,"date":"2026-01-01T09:11:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T09:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/116077\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T09:11:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T09:11:47","slug":"how-kwanzaa-connects-culture-healing-and-black-ag-in-sacramento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/116077\/","title":{"rendered":"How Kwanzaa Connects Culture, Healing, And Black Ag In Sacramento"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Angela Galbraith, attending Sacramento\u2019s Kwanzaa celebration wasn\u2019t just about observing a holiday; it was about reclaiming a part of herself that had been denied for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in the foster system,\u201d Galbraith said. \u201cBecause my father was Black, I was abused in white foster homes. I didn\u2019t even know my father was Black until I was older. When I found out, my life finally started to make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now 53, Galbraith brought her son to the 27th annual California State Capitol Kwanzaa Celebration on Dec. 29 to instill Black pride in him, something she says she didn\u2019t grow up with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want my son to be proud of being Black,\u201d she said. \u201cI want him to know his heritage, his history, and that Kwanzaa was created for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UahsufUahsuf Shepsuaba shares the seven principles of Kwanzaa with Angela Galbraith and her son Michael Byrum, 12, at the CapitolCapital on Dec. 29. Roberta Alvarado, OBSERVER<\/p>\n

Her story reflects the core purposes of Kwanzaa: cultural reclamation, education, and self-definition.<\/p>\n

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by scholar and activist Dr. Maulana Karenga in the aftermath of the Watts Rebellion, a period marked by racial violence, political upheaval, and the fight for Black liberation during the Civil Rights Movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a seven-day holiday with seven principles and seven symbols,\u201d said Michael Harris, coordinator of the celebration. \u201cAnd it\u2019s celebrated on all seven continents.\u201d<\/p>\n

After centuries of oppression, Karenga believed Black Americans had lost cultural grounding. Kwanzaa was created to help Black people reconnect with African heritage, define themselves outside of white-dominated culture, encourage economic and cultural self-sufficiency, and build pride in Black identity on our own terms.<\/p>\n

Kwanzaa was not created to replace Christmas or any religious holiday. Instead, Karenga designed it as a non-religious, cultural holiday that could coexist with Christianity or other faiths.<\/p>\n

The name Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase \u201cmatunda ya kwanza,\u201d meaning \u201cfirst fruits of the harvest.\u201d The holiday runs annually Dec. 26-Jan. 1, with each day dedicated to one of the Nguzo Saba, or Seven Principles: unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba), and faith (imani).<\/p>\n

\u201cKwanzaa forces us to ask a basic question,\u201d Harris said. \u201cWho are you, where do you come from, and are you living in alignment with that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AngelaAngela Galbraith and her son Michael Byrum engage with an item on a table that carries symbolic meaning celebrated during Kwanzaa at the CapitolCapital. Roberta Alvarado, OBSERVER<\/p>\n

Harris, who also advocates for Black farmers, said the holiday\u2019s agricultural roots often are overlooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a harvest festival,\u201d he said. \u201cIt presupposes that you have a farm, that you produce something, and that you put the fruits of your labor on the Kwanzaa table.\u201d<\/p>\n

For nearly three decades, Harris has used the Capitol celebration to spotlight the decline of Black farmers in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll pay the drummers, the dancers, the printers,\u201d Harris said. \u201cBut at a harvest festival, nobody asks where the farmer is.\u201d<\/p>\n

He sees reconnecting Kwanzaa to Black agriculture as essential for true self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a half-billion-dollar industry,\u201d he said. \u201cFood is insurance, health, economics, and power. And we are nowhere in that system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ujamaa, or cooperative economics, urges communities to build businesses together and benefit from them. Harris said this principle remains mostly unrealized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no Black cooperatives in Sacramento,\u201d he said. \u201cWe practice cooperative economics everywhere else, but not for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris argues that without intentional investment in Black-owned systems, especially food systems, celebrations risk becoming symbolic rather than transformative.<\/p>\n

\"Vanessa,Vanessa, left, and Nestor Hatuey share symbolic elements of Kwanzaa with their son, Bakari, 9. Roberta Alvarado, OBSERVER<\/p>\n

\u201cKwanzaa isn\u2019t just about lighting candles and eating good food,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about applying the principles to your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Galbraith, Kwanzaa represents personal and generational healing.<\/p>\n

\u201cCelebrating this is taking back what they took from me when I was little,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about skin color or hair texture. Black people are not a monolith. We come in many shades and stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

She hopes exposing her son to Kwanzaa helps build confidence and connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe if we teach our kids to be proud of their Blackness,\u201d she said, \u201cwe\u2019ll stop harming each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sense of collective responsibility also resonated with Cheyenne Butcher, a lifelong Sacramento resident attending the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cKwanzaa is about community empowerment,\u201d Butcher said. \u201cIt\u2019s a chance for people of all ages to come together, learn the principles, and figure out how we can make our communities better.\u201d<\/p>\n

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