Kwanzaa Quandary
Kwanzaa, a celebration of family, community and culture, occurs each year on the seven days between December 26 and January 1. Specifically, Kwanzaa was founded "to reaffirm the communitarian vision and values of African culture and to contribute to its restoration among African peoples in the Diaspora, beginning with Africans in America and expanding to include the world African community" according to its founder, Ronald McKinley Everett (aka Ron Karenga).
At the heart of Kwanzaa are the Nguzo Saba, also established by Ron Karenga. They are seven principals "by which Black people must live in order to begin to rescue and reconstruct our history and lives. The Nguzo Saba are thus, social principles dealing with ways for us to relate to each other and rebuild our lives in our own image." Here is how he explains each:
Umoja (Unity) - To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) -To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) - To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) - To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
Nia (Purpose) - To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
Kuumba (Creativity) - To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
Imani (Faith) - To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
In a word Kwanzaa is a celebration of ethnic separatism. Karenga writes that " Kwanzaa is clearly an African holiday created for African peoples." So it is that Europeans, Asians and all peoples from other regions of the world are excluded from Kwanzaa.
Not explicit in the Faith principal is also the rejection of a faith in God as a weakness. Rather, the Nguzo Saba is a codex of humanistic principles for improving life without God. Karenga writes that "if persons want to fast or pray, read numbers, stare at stars, chant spookistic slogans or anything similar, they may, but is is imperative that they not add these to or pretend they are a part of the principles and practices of Kwanzaa." So it is that peoples of all religions of the world are also excluded from Kwanzaa.
All this makes Kwanzaa an odd sort of celebration. Most celebrations are either religious in nature without regards to nation or national in nature without regards to religion. In Kwanzaa we have a celebration without nation or religion. In fact, Kwanzaa rejects both!
This, to my way of thinking, makes Kwanzaa an unhealthy celebration for travelers on Spaceship Earth. Indeed, the principals behind the Kwanzaa celebration are in no way better than should the Aryan Nation hold a seven-day Kristallnacht celebration in support of white supremacy and Christianity.
There. Quandary resolved.
It is only a matter of time until persons of African heritage will be as ambiguous in our nation's culture as persons of, say, my own German heritage. It is only a matter of time until all Americans become multiracial and multicultural "mutts" not unlike our president-elect. I have zero problems with that. And, if a citizen wishes to express pride in their heritage or their religion as an American citizen, I have zero problems with that. But, with Kwanzaa and its separatist roots, I do have a problem and will not join in.
I'll hold out for an African-American celebration.
At the heart of Kwanzaa are the Nguzo Saba, also established by Ron Karenga. They are seven principals "by which Black people must live in order to begin to rescue and reconstruct our history and lives. The Nguzo Saba are thus, social principles dealing with ways for us to relate to each other and rebuild our lives in our own image." Here is how he explains each:
Umoja (Unity) - To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) -To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) - To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) - To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
Nia (Purpose) - To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
Kuumba (Creativity) - To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
Imani (Faith) - To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
In a word Kwanzaa is a celebration of ethnic separatism. Karenga writes that " Kwanzaa is clearly an African holiday created for African peoples." So it is that Europeans, Asians and all peoples from other regions of the world are excluded from Kwanzaa.
Not explicit in the Faith principal is also the rejection of a faith in God as a weakness. Rather, the Nguzo Saba is a codex of humanistic principles for improving life without God. Karenga writes that "if persons want to fast or pray, read numbers, stare at stars, chant spookistic slogans or anything similar, they may, but is is imperative that they not add these to or pretend they are a part of the principles and practices of Kwanzaa." So it is that peoples of all religions of the world are also excluded from Kwanzaa.
All this makes Kwanzaa an odd sort of celebration. Most celebrations are either religious in nature without regards to nation or national in nature without regards to religion. In Kwanzaa we have a celebration without nation or religion. In fact, Kwanzaa rejects both!
This, to my way of thinking, makes Kwanzaa an unhealthy celebration for travelers on Spaceship Earth. Indeed, the principals behind the Kwanzaa celebration are in no way better than should the Aryan Nation hold a seven-day Kristallnacht celebration in support of white supremacy and Christianity.
There. Quandary resolved.
It is only a matter of time until persons of African heritage will be as ambiguous in our nation's culture as persons of, say, my own German heritage. It is only a matter of time until all Americans become multiracial and multicultural "mutts" not unlike our president-elect. I have zero problems with that. And, if a citizen wishes to express pride in their heritage or their religion as an American citizen, I have zero problems with that. But, with Kwanzaa and its separatist roots, I do have a problem and will not join in.
I'll hold out for an African-American celebration.
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