Today's Kwanzaa celebration focused on self-determination

YOUNGSTOWN

What do you get when you combine completing tasks consistently with obtaining a good education, being responsible for one’s family and community, acting with kindness and consideration and going above and beyond one’s own beliefs?

Those are among the ingredients that make up Kujichagulia.

“We need to go home and celebrate these principles. We also want our children to carry them on,” Gladys Burnett said of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, including Kujichagulia — self-determination.

This second principle literally means “to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.”

That concept was the highlight of Saturday’s Kwanzaa celebration at the East branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, 430 Early Road, on the East Side.

Hosting the one-hour program was the East Friends of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.

Also part of the event was a table filled with artifacts from Africa, including a set of seven candles that were red, black or green — the colors of the Pan-African flag — and symbolized the seven principles.

Read more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.