The Fantastic Mr. Fox opens with the titular hero plucking an apple fresh from the tree beneath a clear golden sky, listening to a song about the King of the Wild Frontier. It ends with Mr. Fox admiring the artificial stars on the genetically-modified apple glinting in the fluorescent light of the supermarket that has … Continue reading Kwanzaa 2021: Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
Tag: self-determination
Kwanzaa 2020: Kujichagulia
Habari gani, fam? Today we focus on the principle of kujichagulia, or self-determination. Any people that have struggled to throw off the legacy of slavery and institutional racism fundamentally struggle for the right to determine who they are themselves, instead of accepting the role the dominant culture pushes on them. As Black Americans, we deal … Continue reading Kwanzaa 2020: Kujichagulia
Kwanzaa, Day 2: Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
Habari gani, brothers and sisters? A depressingly common refrain we tend to get whenever we make the attempt to center blackness for a time is "Why don't we get WHITE (pride, History Month, superheroes, etc.)?" My response is this: Has this ever happened to most (if not all) white ancestors in your family? … Continue reading Kwanzaa, Day 2: Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
(Political) Social Justice Cleric
This is the fifth Presidential election of my politically active life, and each one has taught me something about the American public and the nature of being a responsible citizen. This one taught me perhaps the most painful but also the most important lesson: a community is only as good as the people who belong … Continue reading (Political) Social Justice Cleric
Kwanzaa 2015: Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
I am a gay black man. I am a Zen Buddhist. (Thank you, Kevin.) I am agnostic -- I don't know if there is a God, but I don't believe that being a good person should be dependent on that. I am a writer, gamer, geek, lover of animals, myths, and the intersection between them. … Continue reading Kwanzaa 2015: Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
From the Desk of Jakebe T. Rabbit 