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Habari Gani! What’s the news?

Imani! No, not that Imani, silly!

Well, as Kirk Franklin said, “Cause you know I got faith, yeah yeah!”

Like I said in the original Imani post, it makes sense that this would be the last principle. We started with the Unity and solidarity amongst the disabled community. We worked our way through action principles. And now we end with faith. Faith that the work we have done will bear fruit.

As a disability activist, faith is a necessity! It can get so frustrating at times because you put in all this work. You talk until you are out of wind. And still, it seems no one is listening. No one is paying attention. You might want to quit. But no, Imani! Faith! Faith that we are reaching at least one person. And that person will reach another. Then faith that our work, as activists will make the changes we want to see, if not for us, then for the next generation.

Now, go enjoy your karamu!

Harambe! Heri Za Kwanzaa, disabled-ly. Thank you for celebrating with me. I hope you have a happy and prosperous new year.

I say: Habari Gani! What’s the news!

You say: Ujima!

Ujima is the third day of Kwanzaa. It means “collective work and responsibility.” You can read more about it here. I think the disabled community does a good job at Ujima. The idea is to build and maintain the community together and share in each other’s problems, solutions, tears, and successes.

Yeah, we are experts on this one.

On any given day, you can peruse Disabled Twitter threads and see calls to action for help. You will see community members supporting other members with advice, financial help, links to resources, just good ole fashioned friendship.

Ujima, disabled-ly means we know the power in numbers. For many of us, social media was the first time we experienced the principle of Ujima. This is because for many of us, we live in or lived in an inaccessible society - be it physical barriers, social barriers, etc. Social media opened up a community to us and we don’t take it for granted.

So, of course when given the chance we will share in our brother’s/sister’s ups and downs, as they will share in ours.

Habari Gani? What’s the news?

Ujima, Disabled-ly!