Am I My Brother’s Keeper ?
UJima – Collective Work and responsibility- To build and maintain our communities together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and solve them together.
Ujima reminds me of the saying “To whom much is given, much is required.” This helps us understand that we as a collective are responsible for our achievements and our setbacks. When I think of collective work I immediately think of the UnderGround. The Underground, if you haven’t already watched it you should! It is a HULU series, that recalls the many atrocities that Africans brought to America faced as they fought their way north to be free. Of course, the infamous Harriet Tubman was the highlight of the film but what stuck out to me the most was the endurance of the runaways and how the teamwork it took to gain their freedom. It was definitely not a one-man job. There was a point in the show that the slaves made it to freedom, but knew it wasn’t enough for them to be free, they knew they had to go back and escort more slaves to freedom. The already freed runaways felt as if it was their obligation to their people to go back and free them despite their many encounters with death they had already faced. I chose the word obligation to explain their efforts because at what point do we hold ourselves accountable for our brothers and sisters?
Ujima also brings to mind a more personal experience. Ninth street in Wichita, Kansas. If you are familiar with the area that I am talking about then you already know that in the early 90s it was a Hell of a place to be. Ninth street was known as the infamous “Crack Alley.” There was never a right time to walk down a street free from old syringes, used condoms, and noticeable drug addicts looking for their next trip. Nevertheless, that was the place that we called home.There was a lot of history on Ninth street, primarily because it was the home of a few generations but my family decided one day it would be the last generation that grew up in what they would describe as dyfunction. My Aunt, who had struggled with drug addiction herself, decided it would be a great idea to help others work towards sobriety. She wanted them to have what she had, which was a supportive family, and a positive environment so that they too could improve their quality of life. With the help of her husband, brother-in- law, and sister, A drug program expanded into a Sober living Home for women with children, a Day program for youth that offered after school programing and tutoring services, a summer youth program so that teenagers had a way to earn a positive income, a drill team that brought all of the children in the community together to participate in drug free youth activities and spread the word to "Just Say No" through drill and step to other children in the city , a dance hall for youth to keep them out of the street on the weekends, a meeting hall so that people in search of safe place free of drugs an alcohol could gather for the holidays (Put Down The Pipe) and a Summer Bash thata envied the entire community out to enjoy fun, music , entertainment and laughter in a sober environment to end summer on a positive note !
As you can tell sober was the BuzzWord; primarily because through a careful assessments ;drugs and alcohol had been identified to be the root cause of many of the problems that was plaguing the community and its people. My Aunt had a vision, but she needed the buy in from the community and her family as well. Together as a team they tackled not only a drug problem that had affected my family and my block, but a problem that seemed to had affected every home in the community. As the word spread about the work they were doing on 9th street , more people flooded in wanting to be a part of the collective effort to build more safer communities for the people and drug free environments for the children. This is a clear example of Ujima; making our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and solving them together.
The measurement of a nation’s growth is never determined by individual success, it is measured by the growth of the collective. Ujima teaches us that individually we can work to solve problems but unless we learn to work together, we will always be in the same boat. There is no such thing as a silo in group work. It took us working together to persevere through the most heinous act known to man, therefore it will take us working together to build the resilience to preserver onward. Like Neo said “ I’m a movement by myself, but we are a force when we're together… You make me better.”
Ask yourself :
When is the last time I help out a friend or stranger?
Do my efforts extend outside of myself and my own needs?
Am I solving a problem that may be the answer to someone’s problem?
Do I have a story of triumph to share that may benefit another?
Am I my brother’s keeper?
