African Journey in the Park gives back to the community

By RICHARD A. ROSS

	TRR photos by Richard A. Ross L. Monique, left,  was the Mistress of Ceremonies for the 4th Annual African Journey in the Park. L. Monique is a poet/ spoken word artist/ producer and founder of Smokin’ Spoken Productions Poetry Collective. Oliver King is an actor, director, dancer and producer. René Robinson is head of the Student Activity Center at Sullivan County Community College and one of the original members of Kwaanza Seven. (Click for larger image)

LIBERTY, NY — The brilliant sun shone down on the Fourth Annual African Journey in the Park, sponsored this year by the newly formed United Business Community Coalition of Sullivan County (UBCC) and Kwaanza Seven. The festivities included a parade by members of the original Liberty Marching Band, poets, dancers, rappers and singers.

Organized many years ago by Geneva Williams and Christine King, the African Journey in the Park was revived four years ago by Kwaanza Seven, an organization founded on the principles of Kwaanza as a way of giving back to the community. According to Kwaanza Seven original member Carolyn Woods, “The event helps to raise money for Kwaanza Seven and UBCC, which then turn around and offer college scholarships to local children.”

This event focused on the Kwaanza principle of Ujima (oo-JEE-mah), collective work and responsibility. Woods said Ujiman means to “build and maintain our community together and to make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together,” she said.

	Original members of the Liberty Marching Band appeared in the parade of the Fourth Annual African Journey in the Park in Liberty on August 23. The band, which used to march in many Liberty parades, is undergoing a revival with twenty new young people from Liberty and Monticello. They will be practicing in the round room of the Oracle Bookstore. (Click for larger image)

L. Monique, a poet/spoken word artist and founder of Smokin’ Spoken Wordz Productions, was the Mistress of Ceremonies. Her recitation of “King Dreams,” written to commemorate the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luthur King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, interwove King’s words with L. Monique’s interpretation of the dream’s yet unfulfilled state. The following are several lines from her powerful narrative:

Here I Am!

Het-Heru

Here I am before you

Descendent of the first mathematicians

Daughter of master physician, first genius

–Imhotep

Supreme architect of the first pyramid

-still doing the math…

I have a dream today

That the wars will end

Wars on communism, wars on drugs

Black men, black children, terrorism…

While those of us who have stopped looking

Hold these truths to be self-evident

And really can see

With all three of our eyes

We are not forgetting the prize

We are living the dream

So join me when I say

Harambee!

Let us pull together-y’all.

Other artists who appeared included Main Street Dancers Tishana McCullough, Christian Giuta and director Sherma Williams Alexander; The Up State Rukkus/Sue Cummings; The Ramos Sisters; and Oliver King. Performing songs were Docriss Koi and Different Elements and the chorus from Daytop Village, and a fashion show from the Nubian Quilthouse featured models from the Delaware Valley Job Corps.