Happy Kwanzaa.
There is no more perfect way to mark the beginning of the New Year than by reflecting on Kwanzaa’s 7th principle – Imani – which means faith. It is by faith that we survived 2025, and by faith we will get whatever needs to be fixed in 2026.
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Every year, I search for a creative slogan, a simple phrase that will instill in me and others a sense of hope and a belief that the best is yet to come. In 2024, I believed we would thrive in 2025, and in 2023, I knew we would have and do more in 2024.
These quirky little slogans rest in the belief that living in faith helps us to trust that we can and will overcome the daily challenges and obstacles we’re bound to face, no matter the day or year. This is only my commentary and in no way compares to the sermons preached from pulpits by faith leaders across the country who reminded us throughout this tumultuous year that it’s faith that will see us through.
The reality, truthfully, is that the majority of us did not thrive in 2025. We lost jobs, lost homes, and lost hard-won and long-overdue civil rights. We’ve been insulted, ignored, and maligned by policies and executive orders that seek to erase our history and silence our voices.
At times like this, I embark on a journey of rediscovery of our Black History that reminds us, not just me, of how exceedingly far we have come by faith. We are spiritually gifted with an innate ability to see beyond the here and now, and unlike in the film “Get Out” (2017), we refuse to allow our minds to be drawn into the horrific ‘Sunken Place’ where all hope is lost, and fear and uncertainty thrive.
This year, we reminded ourselves that whatever we need, we already have. We walked away from corporations that embraced the dissolution of DEI and echoed our support for Black-owned businesses in our communities and online. We filled the empty pews of churches that demonstrated a mission to use their tithes and offerings to feed the hungry, clothe the needy, support HBCUs, and pave the way for higher education for college-bound students. At the same time, their preachers fearlessly and fiercely spoke truth to the perceived powerful.
We volunteered and gave to non-profit organizations and supported for-profit entities, including The Washington Informer. We gave high-fives to politicians, lawyers, and community leaders who led marches, challenged policies, and fought cases that were just unfair and wrong.
We did much more than survive 2025. Our amazing Washington Informer journalists and photographers were committed to telling the story.
It is evident that we will fix in 2026 whatever appears broken—not because the road will be easy, but because faith has never failed us. Faith carried our ancestors through bondage, carried our parents through segregation, and carried us through a year that tested our patience, our pockets, and our peace. Imani reminds us that faith is not passive; it is active. It moves us to speak, to serve, to organize, to tell the truth, and to stand firm even when the odds are stacked high.
So as we welcome a new year, we do so clear-eyed but unshaken, realistic but resolute, tired yet determined. Whatever was delayed will be restored. Whatever was denied will be challenged. Whatever was damaged will be repaired. And whatever tries to break us will only strengthen our resolve.
By faith, it will be fixed in 2026.