Today is the first day of Kwanzaa!  This is my first year celebrating so I am really exciting about learning more about this celebration. Today Umoja is the focus which means unity; to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.  As I think about blacks as a people, I know that we have a very rich history and we are a great people. We were stolen from our continent our land was pillaged and taken over we were made slaves when we were brought to America and other countries. The effect of slavery and colonialism has broken our families, our race and our traditions. Today it seems as if we are a people far removed from many of the values and traditions of our Motherland. What has taken place of those traditions? On the surface our traditions have been replaced with those of our captors.  Our holidays erased and replaced, our values substituted with those of the slave master and our love for ourselves turned into hate from what we naturally are which is why many industries generate billions of dollars yet we do not have a stake in them. Our families were ripped apart and sold and that has had destructive effects even in 2011. How can we unify our families and our communities today?