7-Day Kwanzaa
Guided Journaling Challenge

Day 7 | Imani | Faith

Kwanzaa day seven principle is imani, faith. It doesn’t ask us to have the mustard seed faith like God. It asks us to believe with all our hearts in our people, parents, teachers, leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Day 7 Writing Prompt | As we close our Kwanzaa, consider where you need to have faith in yourself by evaluating:

• What radical thing sets your soul on fire that you aren’t doing?

• Why?

• Is it doable?

• How are you going address it?

Day 6 | Kuumba | Creativity

Kuumba celebrates the creativity of our people - through arts, politics, in the community, and at home. Black people are creative in so many ways. Creativity lives in each of us.

Day 6 Writing Prompt | Consider your creative intuition.

• Do you listen to the pull inside you to be creative?

• In what ways are you creative?

• What areas of creativity do you want to explore?

Day 5 | Nia | Purpose

Today, we honor purpose with the fifth principle of Kwanzaa - nia. Nia asks us to be intentional in building and developing our community. Our writing prompt centers on this intention.

Day 5 Writing Prompt | What intentional thing(s) will you do to build and develop the Black community?

Day 4 | Ujamaa | Cooperative Economics

Ujamaa gives honor to familyhood, shared work and wealth, economic self-reliance, and obligation of generosity. What does this mean exactly?

According to the good brother Malcolm X, it means: “The economic philosophy of Black nationalism only means that our people need to be re-educated into the importance of controlling the economy of the community in which we live…which…means that we won’t…have to be constantly involved in picketing and boycotting other people in other communities in order to get jobs.”

We often view cooperative economics through the lens of capitalism. We do it unknowingly and mainly because that is the economic system we know, operate in, and support with our labor, creativity, brilliance, and Black minds, bodies, souls, and spirits. Today’s writing prompt is built on a challenge to reimagine how we build cooperative economics.

Day 4 Writing Prompt | Let’s challenge ourselves to consider how a new economic model for the Black community could transform our lives.

• How could an economy that values community, equity, collaboration, and shared responsibility over market demand, personal gain, and incentives change how we work together, care for each other, and honor our bodies, minds, souls, and spirits?

• What would this new economy look like?

• How can you set up a small-scale new economy pilot among your network to help begin building this new economy?

  • Write it out.

  • Find some friends.

  • Test it out.

  • Share your experience using the hashtag #ujamaa4thesoul.

• Could it be scaled to help many others in the community? Shift the flow of capital (financial and social) so that it honors the principles of ujamaa?

Day 3 | Ujima | Collective Work + Responsibility

Kwanzaa Day 3 principle of ujima focuses on collective work and responsibility to make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and work together to build and maintain our community together.

Racism, sexism, ageism, etc., baked into the American system hold people in a vicious cycle of oppression, making it hard for them to get ahead and on their feet. This fact alone means that people need support.

Today’s Kwanzaa principle acknowledges that we must support our brothers and sisters.

Day 3 Writing Prompt | If we agree with this principle of collective work and responsibility, we must consider how we, as individuals, can support this principle.

What do you need to change, as an individual, to be able to support your community?

Once you’ve changed those things, what would you focus on to help the community and why?

Everything we experience in life is a part of our purpose - and our purpose is connected to this principle … because, as the Honorable Louis Farrakhan said years ago, what has your degree done for you lately? A degree is used as a metaphor here. What he really means is - how have your life experiences, education, values, etc., prepared you to serve the community?

Day 2 | Kujichagulia | Self-Determination

Kwanzaa Day 2 focuses on kujichagulia, which is the power to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Day 2 Writing Prompt | Using this principle as the foundation, answer the following questions:

• Who do you want to be?

• What life do you want for yourself?

• How can you create that life and define yourself to have what you want?

• Write a personal statement that defines who you are, what life you will create for yourself, what name you shall be called, and how you will create what you describe.

• How is who you are aligned with what you want for Black people and Black American culture?

• How can you contribute to supporting this vision for Black people?

Day 1 | Umoja | Unity

Umoja promotes unity - unity of self and community. Today, we will focus on self-unity.

This African proverb speaks to the unity we must have personally to ensure we show up authentically as ourselves - whoever that is at a particular moment. To achieve personal unity, you must have no enemies within - self-doubt, negative self-talk, valuing others over yourself, etc., are all internal enemies. It’s time to identify them and create a plan to eliminate them.

Day 1 Writing Prompt | Use the questions below to guide you to personal unity:

• What internal enemies do you need to fight to bring unity and peace within yourself?

• How will you eliminate these enemies?

• Who do you need to support you with this?

• What obstacles do you anticipate, and how can you overcome them?