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In celebration of Kwaanza we are giving e-awards to the people we thought best symbolized the seven principles of Kwaanza.

Umoja: Unity. To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Barack Obama has united the Civil Right generation with the Hip Hop generation, united blacks, whites, asians and latinos and brought together a divided nation under the banners of hope and change. Barack Obama gets our Umoja award.

Kujichagulia: Self Determination. To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

P Diddy. Say what you want about Diddy but he works hard and is determined. This year he ran a clothing line, a fragrance, multiple TV shows, ran a record label, acted in an award winning TV movie and found time to blog against Sarah Palin and for Obama. Diddy has also done a good job naming himself(over and over).

Ujima: Collective Work & Responsibility: To build and maintain our community together and to make our Brother’s and sister’s problems, our problems and to solve them together.

Al Sharpton: From his defense of Sean Bell and Michael Mineo to his involvement in the historic election, Al Sharpton has made his brother’s and sister’s problems his own and has maintained a roll as a community organizer.

Ujamaa:  Cooperative Economics. To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them.

Oprah Winfrey has taken Ujaama to a new level. Owning her own TV show, book club, putting out her won Broadway musical, Oprah not only has made a whole lot of money but she has done a lot to improve the image of the black community.

Imani: Faith. To believe with all our hearts in our parents, our teachers, our leaders, our people and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Reverend Joeseph Lowery. While he never go the attention that Medgar Evars or Martin Luther King had, Reverend Joeseph Lowery was a major part of the Civil Rights Movement. Lowery’s faith drove him to help start the Montgomery Bus Boycott and lead the Selma to Montgomery march. he has continued his activism til the present day, criticizing President Bush at Coretta Scott King’s Funeral His faith will be rewarded on January 20th when he gives the benediction at Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Kuumba: Creativity. To do always as much as we can, in the way that we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful than when we inherited it.

Whether it be through his eccentric yet trend-setting fashion choices or his risky musical choices, Kanye West has shown that he is truly a risk taking, fearless artist

Nia Purpose. To make as our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

For his whole life Colin Powell has been dedicated to serving his country. As a soldier, as a general and later as Chief of Staffs and Secretary of State. Powell has never strayed from his purpose, giving an eloquent endorsement of Barack Obama