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 I've gotten into heated debates about Kwanzaa, the holiday created in Los Angeles in 1966 at the height of the Black Power movement by an African studies professor and self-described "cultural nationalist" named Ron Everett, a.k.a. Dr. Maulana ("master teacher" in Swahili) Karenga.
At the time, Karenga's stated purpose was to create "an oppositional alternative to the spookism, mysticism and non-earth based practices which plague us as a people…" and "to give a Black alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society."
Karenga created his holiday during a violent era; sixteen months after the Watts Riots and sixteen months before the assassination of Dr. King - at a time when the group he also founded, the United Slaves Organization ("US"), was considered more radical than the Black Panthers. For its detractors, Kwanzaa represents both racial separatism and religious rejectionism. As a child of the 1970s and '80s, whose absent Congolese father dismissed it (by telephone) as a fake-African affectation; and whose Caribbean mother adored Muhammad Ali and wore her Angela Davis soul fro, but found Kwanzaa no fit companion for Jesus and Christmas, I never felt compelled to celebrate Kwanzaa.And yet, I recognize Kwanzaa's place in propelling Black America through the crucible of post Jim Crow America. It was a protest holiday 347 years in the making. Kwanzaa fit the "take no more stuff" era of the late '60s and '70s - the Age of Vietnam and the Black Man with a capitol M; of Ali, Malcolm X (whom Karenga has described as a major influence.) Its growing popularity tracked the upward curve of Black self-confidence. It was Aretha Franklin and James Brown over "White Christmas" and "Jingle Bells." And it had all the attitude of the last generation of Blacks to see the back of a bus. If Karenga hadn't invented it, somebody else would have had to. Forty-one years later, Kwanzaa has gone mainstream, complete with themed Hallmark cards and the ultimate stamp of institutional approval: the specialized postage stamp. It's embraced by mall greeters and elementary schools and written into the politically correct holiday script (something other holidays, like the Muslim Eid, have yet to accomplish). Even Karenga's early message: "think black, talk black, act black, create black, buy black, vote black, and live black," has softened. On the official Kwanzaa web-site, www.us-organization.com, the call is for this year's holiday to "be engaged as an ancient and living cultural tradition which reflects the best of African thought and practice in its reaffirmation of the dignity of the human person in community and culture, the well-being of family and community, the integrity of the environment and our kinship with it, and the rich resource and meaning of a people's culture." To be sure, many who celebrate Kwanzaa remain hardcore, but the context for Black America has changed as our community has become more ethnically, geographically, religiously, linguistically and economically diverse. Still, there are ways that all of us can live the seven principles of Kwanzaa, for the benefit of all of us, whether we actually celebrate the holiday or not: For unity (umoja), we can band together to create safety in numbers for those brave enough to help law enforcement solve crimes, and we can demand that police reciprocate by treating us with respect. For self-determination (kujichagulia), we can stop waiting for someone else to clean up and build up our neighborhoods, and do it ourselves. For collective work and responsibility (ujima), we can vote consistently, and use our votes to hold our leaders accountable (or to vote them out if they fail us.) For cooperative economics (ujamaa), we can spend our money wisely, and only with businesses that give us good service and that sow seeds back into our communities. For purpose (nia), we can encourage – or at least stop hating on -- people who look like us who are trying to advance, even if they didn't get there through us (national politics included)… For creativity (kuumba), we can create and support media outlets that accurately depict and proactively inform us, and leave the B movies and insult music alone. For faith (imani), we can pray for one another often – or if we're not religious, we can just do the right thing. Happy holidays … and happy Kwanzaa … to all.
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