The following is the Christmas message from Wayne T. Griffith the public relations officer of the United Progressive Party.
The 60s was a difficult decade. It was an era of combat on many fronts. The iniquitous practice of apartheid was entrenched and riots were commonplace. Indeed, there was a feeling of dread. Man however can be resilient, and out of this period of unease Dr Maulana Karenga founded Kwanzaa.
Central to Kwanzaa is the highlighting of seven principles over seven days commencing 26 December yearly. These principles are:
• To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
• To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.
• To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.
• To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
• To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
• To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
These principles provided hope in the 60s and continue to provide hope today.
Two thousand years earlier King Herod, a man of uncontrolled ambition, ruled Judea with tyranny. Thus he was purposely ruthless in eliminating perceived threats to his rule. Not surprisingly then, on hearing about the pending birth of Jesus King Herod set about to destroy Him. As a consequence Jesus had to be taken to Egypt to escape King Herod’s campaign of infanticide. Yes, Jesus had to overcome challenges in order to fulfil the unique mission for which he was sent.
Today, we are at this very moment living in an environment in which severe challenges abound. Some of the principal spheres in which they can be found are: crime; governance; economic growth; cost of living; the justice system; a hesitance to make doing business easier; our educational system; and the care of the elderly.
We, the United Progressive Party, believe that as dire as our situation appears that if correct actions are taken then positives can arise just as Kwanzaa arose out of a period of turmoil, and the challenges Jesus overcame to provide hope for all then and now. Let us set about to do so.
The UPP sincerely wishes you a Merry Christmas and a most joyous celebration of the principles of Kwanzaa.
