"We have said that as African Americans, we are American by habit and African by choice. By this is meant that most of what we do and think has its roots in the social process that surrounds and seduces, informs and instructs us. And we do what we do often out of habit, i.e., in an unconscious and unexamined way...and each day we mindlessly and routinely follow (the values and practices of the dominant U.S. society) or reject them and self-consciously choose to be and bring forth the best of what it means to be African in the world." -DR. Maulana Karenga, "Choosing To Be African: Struggling And Striving Ever Upward, LA Sentinel, 10/29/15"-
AFRICAN BY CHOICE: Afrocentricity, Popular Culture, and Liturgical Year Journal (ABC) is a contribution to the daily quest of choosing to be African, to use the words of Dr. Karenga, "in a White-dominated world."
ABC's focus is that of discussing how West European popular culture, primarily U.S. popular culture, and the Western European Church calendar "surrounds and seduces, informs and instructs us" most often to our detriment on the one hand and, on the other, how we can effectively "reject" said detrimental ideas and practices and "self-consciously choose to be and bring forth the best of what it means to be African in the world."
Respectfully submitted: Rev. Joel Washington (Khunanpu Sangoma), 11/2/15
