"All about family and community: 5,000 people attend NYC Kwanzaa crawl, celebrating black culture

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, Brooklyn (PIX11) -- Happy first day of Kwanzaa! 

There is an annual event in Brooklyn celebrating black culture with an emphasis on the Kwanzaa principles of community, family, and cooperative economics.  

 It is the 6th annual Kwanzaa crawl. 

The celebration began with the lighting of candles, and the singing of the black national anthem. 

The organizers of the Kwanzaa crawl say this is a serious event meant to support black-owned businesses in Brooklyn. The crawl was founded by two Brooklyn sisters, Kristal, and Kerry Coddett back in 2016. 

“After so many consecutive killings of unarmed black men, we were in a state of hopelessness and frustration and darkness,” Coddett, the co-founder, told PIX11 News. “We thought what can we do to bring together our community,”   

Since its founding, this Kwanzaa crawl has raised more than $1 million to support black-owned businesses in Brooklyn and it has a Kwanzaa theme as explained by the emcee at the opening ceremony at Crown Hill Theatre. 

“Kwanzaa is all about family and community,” Rice, the emcee, told PIX11 News. “This Kwanzaa crawl represents cooperative economics Ujima, cooperative economics that we are better together than we are separate,” Rice added.  

More than 5,000 people are participating in the annual Kwanzaa crawl divided up into 55 teams and heading to 50 bars in Bushwick, Flatbush, Bed- Stuy and Crown Heights. 

“It is family. It is people I have known since I was a kid,” said Niama Sandy, the communications director. “It is incredible to see what everyone is doing to help the community,” she added. 

One of the bars on the pub crawl, Brooklyn Bank, was packed wall to wall with people less than an hour after opening at 3 p.m.  

“We’re celebrating being black and celebrating black culture and businesses,” Nine Simone said.