According to several vendors and volunteers, “Kwanzaa West” held in the city of Fort Worth was a tremendous success. With only one month of planning, the event pulled in more than 30 vendors and much like “Kwanzaa Fest,” which is held in Dallas each year, the Kwanzaa West crowd was also “come and go,” however, committee members say 600 to 700 people attended the event.

“We thought the crowd would be smaller based upon our late start, but we have been impressed with these numbers, which tell us that we should not wait until the last minute to get started for next year,” said committee member Johnny Lewis.

The event held December 22-23, marked the re-beginning of an event, which made its first debut in December 1993. The brainchild of Debra Peoples, a founding member of the African-American Summit, it was last held in 1996. The African-American Summit brought together many community leaders who organized protests of the Tarrant County court system after a member of a White racist skinhead gang received a light sentence for brutally shooting a Black man to death. The skinheads murdered the man as he sat on the back of a pickup truck drinking with a few White neighbors.

Ms. Peoples and other leaders of the Summit organized a huge protest in downtown Fort Worth where an estimated 10,000 people, representing many races and organizations came out to show outrage at the sentencing. The court system reversed its decision and the skinhead was given a much stiffer sentence. After attending Kwanzaa Fest held in Dallas, Peoples felt such an event might be a good way to help Fort Worth’s small Black business owners increase their exposure and possibly sell their wares.

“I think everybody should thank Debra for her foresight and her thoughtfulness in getting us to do this wonderful event. Everybody loved what was happening in Dallas, with John (Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price who founded Kwanzaa Fest in Dallas) and what they were doing there. So, Debra felt that the people of Fort Worth might come out to show their appreciation and support Black vendors as well. And it worked, people came out in record numbers. However, when we lost our mother, it was such a devastating thing for our family that we could not continue doing a lot of the community things we had done in the past, at least not until we got through that. But we’re back now and many of the original members who worked with us in the past who understood and were patient are back together to make it happen again,” said Judge Maryellen Hicks who is also Peoples’ sister. Other committee members are Willie Starr, Rev. William “Buck” Cass and Sonia Williams Babers.

Sponsors of this year’s event were the African-American Summit, KKDA/ K104 Radio, African-American News & Issues, African-American Catholic Diocese, African-American Fire Fighters and the Black Bookworm bookstore.

The event also helped to launch some new artistic talent as a signature logo for Kwanzaa West was debuted by young artist Marques Hunt. Hunt, who says he was inspired by the idea of the event, drew what many Kwanzaa West committee members believe captured the essence of what they were hoping to accomplish. “This is so wonderful, I love it. This young man has really gone beyond what we wanted. I had no idea that he had this kind of talent, but I love it,” said committee member, Beverly Dunn.

Hunt, 22, says he hasn’t given the rendering a name yet, but the idea came after doing some serious soul searching. “Looking at my people as whole, like the roles of the males and females and I drew it such as the man being the strength behind the family and the backbone. If you look at the drawing the male is the one that’s really holding things together. And the female is represented as an angel, because she’s comfort, love, stability and support. That is the support of the whole rendering and they join together around the Kwanzaa candle,” he said.

According to Hunt, this will be his first Kwanzaa celebration. “Back where I’m from, in Miami, Florida, they never celebrated. Of the seven principals “Imani” (faith), is the most inspiring to me, because without faith you have no drive and very little ambition to achieve your goals,” he said. Immediately after the event, committee members agreed that for next year they would begin Kwanzaa West organizing meetings in February allowing plenty of time to do it even better in 2002.