To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together..
This is Karenga’s original idea of Ujamaa taken from his 1997 book on Kwanzaa, Kwanzaa, a Celebration of Family, Community and Culture.
"The fourth principle is Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) and is essentially a commitment to the practice of shared social wealth and the work necessary to achieve. It grows out of the fundamental communal concept that social wealth belongs to the masses of people who created it and that no one should have such an unequal amount of wealth that it gives him/her the capacity to impose unequal, exploitative or oppressive relations on others" pg. 55.
What others say about what Ujamaa means to them:
From the Chicago Sun-TimesTo build and maintain business enterprises and profit from them together. This principle is the "Made in America" tag. It's supporting neighborhood businesses. It's choosing which salesperson gets your commission for a big purchase like a major appliance or car."
Rites of Passage.org - "Out of the fundamental concepts of "African Communal Living" comes the fourth principle of Kwanzaa. In a community or family, wealth and resources should be shared. On the national level, cooperative economics can help African-Americans take physical control of their own destinies. On this day, ideas should be shared and discussed for cooperative economic efforts to provide for needs as related to housing, education, food, day care, health, transportation and other goods and services."
From the "Afrocentric Experience" website - "On this the fourth and middle day of Kwanzaa, we celebrate Ujamaa, Cooperative Economics. Let us strengthen our resolve to build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together...However, our community exists not only in the "real" world, but in cyberspace too. Here, sites established by Africans, throughout the Diaspora, exchange not only information, but goods and services on a global scale. In the true spirit of Ujamaa, these sites are always eager to publicize each other’s addresses."
Of course, there are many, many other examples of the fourth principle of Kwanzaa, Ujamaa, that can be found. Most understand that this princple was created by Karenga for blacks to build business for blacks and by blacks. And even today, most who celebrate Kwanzaa, share the same purpose and understanding of Karenga that this principle is stressed primarily for black people.
