Photo: REUTERS

Kwanzaa Day 4

Principle #4 Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) commits us to the principle and practice of shared work and wealth. It stresses our kinship with others and the environment and appreciation for the need for a just and equitable distribution of the good for everyone so that all can live lives of dignity and decency.

This principle urges us to build and maintain our stores, shops, and other business and to profit from them together. This principle teaches us an ethics of shared work and shared wealth and calls on us to engage in economic practices that are constantly concerned about satisfying our needs without exploiting or injuring others and the world.

I think about our Native brother and sisters at Standing Rock. They have the right to control and benefit from the resources of their land.  It has been beautiful to watch their act of activism and defiance in choosing the earth over profits.

Because it all boils down that we all have the right to live lives of dignity and decency.  Whether you are in Standing Rock or Flint. Whether you are in Ferguson or Charlotte.  Our economic practices should never be about satisfying our needs at the expense of others.