Cultural expression through gifts

By Pamela Glason Thornton
Staff Writer
Columbus Post

Gifts that have cultural ties continue to give long after the holiday. Within the African-American community, individuals have been making cultural statements through unique clothing and hairstyles for years.
“Some of us have made pilgrimages. People were wearing dashikis in the 50s and 60s. If I wore that to work, my supervisor would tell me that wasn’t appropriate for work. It didn’t interfere with my performance though,” said Nehefene Maluna Kwabena Nehursu, a retired educator. “Now, we have our own cultural events such as Kwanzaa, a cultural activity for black people. It gives them a chance to assimilate the festival of the harvest that comes at the end of the year.”
Within the retail marketplace, black-inspired products vie for the attention of consumers – youth and adults.
“’Uzuri’ means ‘beautiful’ in Swahili. I chose that name because I wanted to say that our kids are beautiful. My items are comparable to what you would find in a Target or a Kohl’s,” said Melissa Perkins, founder of Uzuri Kid Kids, a line of party ware/celebration products.
The party ware gives youngsters an opportunity to develop their own reason to celebrate.
Characters like Penny and Pepper help children celebrate birthdays, good grades or other events and reinforce the importance of accomplishments.
“It’s considered a party line, but it is for everyday because every day should be a celebration,” said Perkins.
Perkins and other African American artists assembled at the King Arts Complex for the Holiday Festival of Gifts, a venue for cultural shopping, at the beginning of December in preparation for the holiday season – Christmas through Kwanzaa.
The festival of gifts gave opportunities to acknowledge history and to nurture personal growth among family members.
The lack of positive images caused Perkins to develop the characters Penny and Pepper into a line of products in 2001.
“Really, you can’t go to a retail store and find images that are reflective of us,” said Perkins.
“I work on eternal, passionate works to give back to the community. And hopefully the audience will come,” said Aminah Robinson.
“The market is out there. Until African Americans start buying from each other, the market is never going to grow,” said Perkins, who distributes UzuriKidKids celebration products throughout the year at Carol’s Cakes in Bexley, The Yankee Trader and online at www.uzurikidkids.com.

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