|
|
|
NUBIAN ARTS
THE 4th ANNUAL HAPPILY NATURAL DAY 
Richmond, VA-USA: The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) will present the Fourth Annual Happily Natural Day –
“In the Spirit of Marcus Garvey,” Saturday, August 26, 2006, 12 noon to 7:00 p.m., Muhammad’s Mosque #24, 104 Cowardin Avenue. Hosted by the Prosser-Truth Division #456, Happily Natural Day is a not for profit festival in observance of African Heritage Month. It is proudly dedicated to raising Black consciousness and breaking down inferiority complexes in the African community. Happily Natural Day has evolved into the mainstay of the Second Annual Black Freedom Weekend, with satellite programming that includes an “Ancestral Libation Ceremony” giving honor and praise to those freedom fighters who came before us, to be held Friday, August 25, 2006, location TBA, and a “Raising Black Consciousness Seminar” featuring pro-conscious lectures and workshops exclusively, to be held Sunday, August 27, 2006, Nubian Village Academy, 2022 Sledd Street, Richmond Virginia. All events are open to the public and the suggested donation is $10 per person which covers all three days. Children under 12 are admitted free. Happily Natural Day is a means through which people of African descent can raise their collective consciousness and awareness by uniting in the effort to demolish the inferiority complexes that have developed throughout the African Diaspora due to our ever-present war with the ideology of white supremacy. It is also an opportunity for other cultural groups and ethnicities to be enlightened. As a celebration of Black conscious-ness, Happily Natural Day recognizes the importance of raising Black consciousness and African awareness throughout the Black Diaspora to combat the debilitating psychological effects of white supremacy on African people worldwide. Happily Natural Day is designed to help counteract the damaging mindsets that have been created by conformity, assimilation and acceptance of and to the tenets of white supremacy in the United States and abroad. Join us for this 3-day celebration/lecture series with emphases on Black consciousness, natural hair care and holistic health, spoken word poetry, hip-hop, and neo-soul edutainment. Special guests include M’Bwebe Aja Ishanji of Da Ghetto Tymez and ConsciousHipHop.com; Umar Abdullah Johnson, Garveyite and Certified School Psychologist; and, Malaika Tamu Cooper, founder of the Baltimore Natural Hair Care Expo and Dreadz & Headz. Special musical guests include the A-Alikes; P.O.W.; Reality Speaks; Dead Prez; Jhunnipuz Elite Poetry Organization; Derek 320; and many more. If you have any questions or would like more information on Happily Natural Day and Black Freedom Weekend, please contact Duron Chavis, 804-622-9364. Also, you can log on to happilynaturalday.com for vending fees, directions and sponsorship opportunities. WHY CONTRIBUTE TO HAPPILY NATURAL DAY? Happily Natural Day, hosted by the Prosser-Truth Division #456 of the Universal Negro Improvement Association & African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), is one of Richmond Virginia’s most important African-centred cultural events. On August 27, 2006, we will celebrate the Fourth Annual Happily Natural Day: “In the Spirit of Marcus Garvey”. This event will take place from 12 noon until 7 pm. People of African descent will converge on Richmond, Virginia this summer from all points to celebrate self-love, Black consciousness and race pride through workshops, lectures, spoken word poetry, and soul music with a singular purpose: to raise the consciousness of those in attendance for the upliftment of the Black community globally. We must be self-determining and in that spirit Happily Natural Day raises the banner emblazoned, LOVE YOUR NATURAL SELF!! For without love of onself, one can never determine one’s destiny and without self-love one is left at the whim and mercy of others and that, my friend, is a path African people can no longer tread. As a member of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League founded by the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, it is my duty as the founder and organizer of Happily Natural Day to continue the work championed by Garvey to instill self-love and race pride into the hearts and minds of Afrikan people. I believe that the inferiority complex identified and challenged by Marcus Garvey, and later investigated by Dr. Kenneth Clark during the Civil Rights movement, is the greatest impediment to our freedom as African people. One of the greatest aspects of Happily Natural Day is the fusion of liberation music and consciousness-raising information. Over the last three years, our festival has hosted scholars such as Dr. Llaila Afrika, Neely Fuller, Senghor Baye-El, Rev. Phil Valentine, Bobby Hemmit, Malaika Tamu Cooper and artists such as, Jhunnipuz Elite, Raw Dialect, Afi, Iman Shabazz, Heru, Liani Mataka, Oktbrwrld, Queen Sheba, Olu Butterfly, Black Anger, and Men Maa Aim Ra. By providing our audiences with these vital elements in one setting, we allow pro-African conscious messages to permeate the psyche of those in attendance through a wide range of artisticand academic forms. Happily Natural Day is an incubator for the revolutionary spirit in us; it inspires us to love ourselves; it awakens the sleeping giant that beckons us to buy Black; or to be the next Harriet Tubman, Steve Biko, Sojourner Truth, or Gabriel Prosser. Historically this society has sought to stifle those voices of Black consciousness and freedom. However, this generation has a renewed thirst for the revolutionary spirit that can only be quenched by conscious programming, like Happily Natural Day. At Happily Natural Day we identify with natural hair as a statement. Locks, Afro’s and braids are socio-cultural symbols that can be used as public proclamations of self-love and connection with one’s roots as a person of African descent. It is an understatement to say that the hair care industry has grown fat off the inferiority complex associated with wearing nappy hair. We urge our African brothers and sisters to go natural, embrace themselves and discard the false ideals of the European status quo. We encourage the masses to proudly express your natural beauty from the inside out, and love yourself as The Creator made you. We raise the question of why is nappy hair taboo? For what reason is something so seemingly innocent as the natural hair texture of a person of African descent deemed socially unacceptable even among African people themselves? Once these answers are understood, proper reasoning will take precedent and self-love will rule, and self-determination will surely follow. As a focal point of our festival, we invite natural hair care specialists and natural health practitioners to teach participants how to take care of themselves naturally. For this reason, Happily Natural Day is more than a hair show. The context in which our programming approaches culture, beauty and natural hair is difficult to capture solely on a runway. Happily Natural Day is committed to redeveloping the maximum human potentiality of people of African descent through cultural information and musical inspiration. At Happily Natural Day the emphasis is put on living a natural pro-African lifestyle holistically, not just superficially through a hairstyle alone. As we embark on our fourth year, your contribution will help make the festival even more dynamic. With your continued support and generosity, Happily Natural Day will again be a resounding success. NUBIAN ARTS Vol.1  
|