INLAND EMPIRE
ABOUT BEI
The Black Equity Initiative (BEI) is a coalition of Black led organizations formed in 2014 with a shared desire to improve the Black community through empowerment, education, and policy change.
Within the Black Equity Initiative is the Black Equity Initiative Funds with Grantees. The Black Equity Fund is a regionally-focused, culturally-rooted group of Black-led organizations developing a shared agenda for policy and systems change that lifts Black communities across the Inland Empire.
Values & Principles
Nguzo Saba
The Nguzo Saba (the Seven Principles) are based on a set of universal principles that people of all cultures must adhere to in order to develop, function, and advance as a society. As organized and arranged for Kwanzaa, these values reflect a focus on communitarian ideals, the ethics of sharing, Ubuntu – I am because we are, and such, representing the best of African thought and practice.
During the week of Kwanzaa, families and communities come together to share a feast, to honor the ancestors, affirm the bonds between them, and to celebrate African and African American culture. Each day they light a candle to highlight the principle of that day and to breathe meaning into the principles with various activities, such as reciting the sayings or writings of great black thinkers and writers, reciting original poetry, African drumming, and sharing a meal of African diaspora-inspired foods. The table is decorated with the essential symbols of Kwanzaa, such as the Kinara (Candle Holder), Mkeka (Mat), Muhindi (corn to represent the children), Mazao (fruit to represent the harvest), and Zawadi (gifts). One might also see the colors of the Pan-African flag, red (the struggle), black (the people), and green (the future), represented throughout the space and in the clothing worn by participants. These colors were first proclaimed to be the colors for all people of the African diaspora by Marcus Garvey.
Founder: Dr. Maulauna Karenga