Haiku/Affirmation — Kujichagulia

Celebrating the second day and principle of Kwanzaa.

Kujichagulia

No one defines me

because I embody the

soul of my culture.

Copyright © 2021 by Bill Holmes.

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Habari gani? Kujichagulia. As I meditate upon the second Kwanzaa principle, I plan to spend some time evaluating my identity by answering the following three questions:

· Who am I?

· Am I really who I am?

· Am I all I ought to be?

My responses will be carefully thought out so that they are aligned with not only the concept of self-determination, but they are also rooted within the values of my culture since “we have both the right and responsibility to exist as a people and make our own unique contribution to the forward flow of human history” (1).

(1) Molefi Asante, The Afrocentric Ideal, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987

Today I will set aside time to journal regarding my identity as it relates to both self-determination and cultural values.