Holidays at the Umoja Village

The Umoja Village Shantytown is commemorating the holidays this season with two events. Each event is open to the public and will be held at the Umoja Village, 6201 NW 17^th Ave. on the corner of 62^nd St. and NW 17^th Ave. in the Liberty City section of Miami.

On Monday, December 25, 2006 beginning at 5:00PM, Umoja Villagers will commemorate the Christmas holiday with a dinner and Christmas tree. Residents will leave their wishes on the Village Christmas tree. Friends and supporters are asked to remember those less fortunate during the holiday season and deliver a donation any time this week.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006 marks the opening of the seven day Kwanzaa celebration. Each of the seven days corresponds with a principle of Kwanzaa, and the first principle is "Umoja," or unity, the shantytown's namesake. On Tuesday, come celebrate "Umoja" at "Umoja." At 6:00pm, renown local Kwanzaa expert Altine Baki will lead Kwanzaa's opening ceremony at the Umoja Village Shantytown. Bring yourself, your family and good spirits to learn about Kwanzaa, the Umoja Village and what Unity is all about.

The Umoja Village Shantytown was founded on October 23, 2006 in response to gentrification and the housing crisis in Miami-Dade County. Fed up with government corruption and support for wealthy developers at the expense of low-income people, Take Back the Land used the Pottinger Settlement to establish the shantytown. Today, the Umoja Village houses and feeds approximately 40 people for free.

 We welcome the entire community to join us for the beginning of Kwanzaa and the celebration of the principle of Unity. In that spirit, we ask supporters to unite with us in opposing the city of Miami ordinance designed to make the shantytown illegal, setting the stage for a raid. The final vote on the ordinance is set for January 11, 2007. Visit takebacktheland.blogspot.com to sign our support petition and get the number to the city commissioners to call in your opposition to the ordinance.

 We also ask that this holiday season, you consider making a generous donation to Take Back the Land. You can deliver water, clothes, canned meats, fresh food, batteries, candles, mattresses or anything else you think we might need to the village. You can also make financial contributions with checks made out to 'Take Back the Land' or visit our paypal site at:

 
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=afrimax%40niainteractive%2ecom&item_name=Take%20Back%20the%20Land%20Donation&item_number=TBtL_1&no_shipping=1&return=http%3a%2f%2ftakebackth eland%2eblogspot%2ecom&cn=Special%20Comments&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

 
Thank you for your support and we look forward to greeting you on liberated land.

 
forward,

 
Max Rameau
Take Back the Land
A project of the Center for Pan-African Development
Takebacktheland.blogspot.com