SOWONDE KEEPS KWANZAA ALIVE
It’s been a rough go, but the 19th annual Community Kwanzaa is happening Saturday. The 18th was also a struggle … as was the 17th … 16th… and 15th …pretty much almost all have been clearing the pole vault bar using a toothpick.
But Askari Sowonde, again, manages. The 33-year Vallejoan can’t help herself. She digs down deep into her artistic side instilled by her mother and forges through the barriers because her roots tells her to.
“Say it loud, I’m black and proud,” smiles Sowonde, sitting comfortably at home late last week. With most of the pieces in place for the 6 to 9 p.m. “edutainment” set, the Baltimore native takes a breather.
First, the money. Though Jim Kern at the museum “has been amazing,” there are costs involved, Sowonde said.
Sponsors? Better odds of representatives from Weight Watchers showing up at Nathan’s July 4 Hot Dog Contest on Coney Island.
“It’s always hard to get funds to support these ‘black projects,’ which is frustrating to say the least,” Sowonde said.
Yes, she believes, since it is an event celebrating African American history, money from whites is unlikely.
“For some black folks, it’s not their thing so they just didn’t want to support it,” Sowonde said. “I have no idea why they wouldn’t.”
Some might be unaware of what Kwanzaa is, Sowonde said, as schools are “starting a little bit” to include it in curriculum. As for African American homes, “the conscious parents” teach their children.
According to history.com, Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, created Kwanzaa in 1966. After the Watts riots in Los Angeles, Karenga searched for ways to bring AfricanAmericans together as a community. Karenga combined aspects of several different harvest celebrations based on seven ideals for seven days, including: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics; purpose, creativity, and faith.
“It is my mission that they (audience members at the museum) take something away and pass it along to their children and use it in their daily lives,” Sowonde said.
Kwanzaa is held “is to honor us,” Sowonde said, and not compete with other holidays, but provide African Americans with an option.
Sowonde had been hosting a Kwanzaa in her home for several years until a fateful meeting with the late Dan Robeski, executive director of the defunct Fetterly Playhouse for the Arts in Vallejo Plaza.
“We were sitting on the curb on Georgia Street and he said, ‘Askari, if there’s anything you want to do, I want to help you,’” Sowonde said.
Though Sowonde was unsure of moving it out of her home, Vallejo poet Lerecia Davis told her, “Mama Askari, it’s time for you to take it to the community.’”
“I stepped out on faith and I don’t remember how many seats were at the Fetterly, but they were filled,” Sowonde said, hosting the event at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum the last 11 years.
It was exhilarating to realize there were complete strangers supporting her efforts in that first year, Sowonde said, “and not looking at it as ‘some Voodoo devil stuff,’ that it’s truly the celebration of us and celebration of who they are.”
Sowonde thought she would do the event a second year at the Fetterly and move on. What she did was move on to the third year.
“People kept asking when the date was” of the upcoming December Kwanzaa, said Sowonde. “I decided I’d keep it going while at the same time thinking every year, ‘How do I get the funds to produce this?’ It has been a struggle, especially when you sit back and see others receiving funds to produce events in the community.”
Sowonde said she can’t see herself not producing a Kwanzaa celebration.
“It’s the artist that drives me to do what I do,” she said. “If I can’t do what I’m created to do, I’m dying inside. I get a lot of joy doing this. It’s uplifting.”
Uplifting … entertaining … and yes, educational, Sowonde reiterated, which is why she asked Kori McCoy to speak. He is the brother of the late Willie McCoy, the 20-year-old shot and killed by police at a Vallejo Taco Bell drive-thru earlier this year.
Sowonde called Kori McCoy “a wonderful young man and a passionate speaker. His voice needs to be heard and the public needs to hear from their perspective.”
Discussing the McCoy shooting and the Vallejo police is part of the “education” segment of the event, Sowonde acknowledged. Other participants include Phillip Wilson, Miss Mayla J, The MLK Project, Unite Vallejo, and Eloise Quinn with neo soul, dance, poetry, and gospel included in the festivities.
Yes, said Sowonde, some of it is some serious talk.
“These events are about the real things that are happening. I don’t want to do ‘pop, pop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is,’” Sowonde said, emphasizing that she wants blacks to start making some noise in these divisive times.
“Why are we so quiet? Have we gotten to the point where we’re that passive? Are we that comfortable?,” Sowonde said, blasting local elected officials and pastors for also not voicing their concerns.
“Why aren’t they saying anything about what’s going on their community? That’s the question,” Sowonde said.
The 19th Annual Kwanzaa is Sat., Dec. 28, 6 to 9 p.m., Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, 734 Marin St., Vallejo. Admission $10 adults, $5 child to 17 years old. For more, visit vallejomuseum.net.