Every day from December 26-January 1, Pax Christi USA will share a reflection on one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Pax Christi USA National Field Organizer Stephen Niamke has prepared each piece to show how Kwanzaa is an effective approach to community organizing — a celebratory, nonviolent, Afrocentric approach to wellness, justice, and peace.
In 2024, Executive Director Charlene Howard wrote, “Kwanzaa is an African American holiday … to celebrate family, community and culture. Although it was not designed to be a religious holiday, the seven principles possess a spiritual quality that is evident in holy scripture and resonates with our principles of Catholic Social Teaching inspired by Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum. The binding thread is acknowledging that we thrive in community and common care for one another.”
Day 6: Kuumba/Creativity: Reimagining ourselves and our communities toward complete liberation
To always do as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
Exodus 35:35: This passage speaks of people being filled with skill, intelligence, and artistry for the work of building the community. This reinforces the idea that creativity serves a collective purpose.
The Kwanzaa ceremony: On the sixth day of Kwanzaa, the final red candle, positioned at the far left of the Kinara, is lit. Red symbolizes struggle, and Kuumba’s placement reminds us that creativity is not a luxury reserved for times of ease. It is a survival strategy forged in resistance. For African peoples across the diaspora, creativity has always been a means of adaptation, expression, and transformation. Kuumba insists that imagination is not escapism. It is a moral obligation. Kuumba allows one to reframe the trauma of the past through poetry, song, dance, and various other visual and performing arts. In the face of systems that have dehumanized, erased, and constrained Black life, the creativity that is Kuumba becomes a declaration of agency, a blueprint for freedom, and a lighted path for those working their way through the darkness of an oppressive world.
Kuumba in the family: Cultivating imagination, expression, and confidence: Within the family, Kuumba nurtures imagination and affirms that every person has something meaningful to contribute. Creativity is not limited to art in the conventional sense; it includes problem-solving, storytelling, innovation, humor, and the ability to envision alternatives.
Families practicing Kuumba:
- Encourage artistic expression without judgment
- Honor cultural traditions through music, food, and storytelling
- Invite children to imagine solutions rather than accept limitations
- Create spaces where feelings can be expressed safely and honestly
- Recognize that self-expression can be soothing and healing for the presenter as well as the audience
For children in particular, creativity builds confidence. It allows them to process experiences, especially those shaped by racism, without internalizing harm. Through creative expression, pain can be named, joy can be reclaimed, and possibilities are nurtured.
Kuumba as community wellness: Art becomes a tool of healing and liberation: At the community level, Kuumba reclaims art and culture as tools of wellness rather than commodities. African American communities have long used music, dance, poetry, and visual art to process trauma, celebrate resilience, and affirm identity. Creativity supports wellness by:
- Providing outlets for emotional expression
- Strengthening cultural continuity
- Building shared narratives of resilience
- Transforming public spaces into sites of pride and belonging
Communities grounded in Kuumba recognize that beauty is not superficial. It is healing. It restores dignity and counters environments shaped by neglect and disinvestment.
An Africentric perspective captured in the proverb “A people without art is a people without a soul” underscores the centrality of creativity to communal health.
Cultural erasure is a form of violence. It strips communities of memory, language, and self-recognition. Kuumba resists this erasure by insisting that African American culture is not derivative, but generative. For those who have experienced silencing—whether in schools, workplaces, or faith communities—Kuumba restores voice. It allows individuals to create without permission and to define beauty on their own terms. This restoration has a soothing and healing property. Creativity reconnects people to joy, curiosity, and agency—qualities often diminished by oppression.
Kuumba in nonviolent community organizing: For organizers, Kuumba is indispensable. Nonviolent movements depend on creativity to disrupt unjust systems, communicate vision, and inspire participation. Songs, murals, theater, and storytelling have historically been central to movements for civil rights, labor justice, and peace.
Kuumba in organizing includes:
- Developing innovative approaches that promote wellness and avoid harm
- Using art to convey complex ideas to all audiences
- Creating new narratives that humanize rather than demonize
- Reimagining systems rather than merely opposing them
- Leveraging talent and creativity to educate self and others.
Creativity also prevents stagnation. It allows movements to adapt, respond, and renew themselves without losing core values.
Creating the world where we belong, a world that we deserve: Kuumba teaches that liberation is not only about dismantling what harms us, but about building what sustains us. Creativity turns vision into something tangible and substantive. It becomes self-sustaining as it builds upon itself. Hope and possibilities emerge. As the red candle burns, it reminds us that even in struggle, we are creators. Kuumba calls us to leave our communities not merely intact, but transformed into more beautiful, more just, and more alive than the condition in which we found them.
An Africentric proverb that reflects Kuumba states, “The creative mind knows no boundaries.” This affirms that creativity is expansive, optimistic, and inherently liberating.
Note regarding the use of “Africentric“
From Baobab Tree: “In education, Afrocentrism has generally had an inward focus, bringing needed self-knowledge to Black children. Africentrism, in our usage, is outwardly focused – on what Black culture means in larger cultural contexts.”