Taking Pride In a False Heritage

The holiday of Kwanzaa will soon be upon us. This seven-day feast (Dec. 26-Jan. 1) was created in 1966 by Professor Ronald Everett of Cal State Long Beach. After the Watts riots in Los Angeles, Everett sought out ways to reconcile the black members of the community (a commendable goal) and combined elements of several African harvest celebrations, such as those of the Ashanti and the Zulu.

In time, as we know, the holiday gained traction in the popular media as a warm fuzzy occasion for family get-togethers. It’s rooted in the seven sacred principles of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. Several American presidents have issued official proclamations. Hallmark sells Kwanzaa-themed greeting cards that emphasize these principles, conveying a message of dignity and empowerment to an oppressed people.

At least, that’s the sanitized version of the story.

Peruse the Official Kwanzaa Website, and it praises the “values of African culture.” But what is that, exactly? Could it be that the fifty-four nations of Africa constitute a single monolithic civilization with a shared ethos and customs?

I wonder, has anyone ever dared to make such sweeping generalizations about the countries of Europe? Do they sing “God Save the Queen” in the opera houses of Lisbon, or can you order bratwurst at the cafes on the Champs-Élysées?  Yes, these countries participate in the European Union; yes, most have adopted a common currency with the Euro; but they jealously guard their individual identities and traditions. Belgians don't celebrate Oktoberfest, and Bastille Day isn't a big deal in Italy. People don't say "I'm European;" They say "I'm German."

For the average uninformed American, this attempt to construct a generic continent-wide “African” culture might seem harmless and reasonable.  And besides, if it instills ethnic pride in the heart of the believer, what's the problem?  The problem is that the fairy tale comes from a man who holds himself out as a distinguished scholar of such things, and the assertion only comes across as self-serving and deceitful. The peoples of Africa have never been unified, and it’s simply dishonest to suggest otherwise.

Everett calls it a “pan-African” holiday. Are you sure? In truth, large-scale observances on the continent are rare. In many isolated tribal areas, far from the big cities, the people don’t even know or care who their national leaders are. Candidates don’t solicit their votes, and even the most violent rebels don’t bother them. They speak hundreds of languages, practice hundreds of religions, and know little or nothing of the world beyond their own village. Why should they look to an American to tell them how to be “African?”  Kwanzaa means nothing to them.

So exactly what aspect of Kwanzaa is distinctly African, that it should hold special significance for Africans, or for Americans descended from the continent? Why should they set aside their centuries-old customs and embrace a new holiday brought by a foreigner? Hard to say.

Let's start with the name of the holiday: The term Kwanzaa (“first fruits”) comes from Swahili, which Everett calls “the most widely spoken African language.” Not quite: Swahili is common in only a few countries, all of which have at least one other major language. And they’re all on or near the east coast, whereas almost all American slaves (the ancestors of most American blacks) came from the west. Further, the language isn’t uniquely African; over half of the vocabulary is borrowed from other languages, including English and French. But the biggest portion is from Arabic (which, by the way, happens to be the most widely spoken language in Africa).

So how about the date? This celebration is ostensibly a harvest festival, but no farmer anywhere on earth gathers crops in December. Could there be some significance in African history or custom, such as the birth of a king, the founding of a nation, the exaltation of a deity, a military victory over an invading army?  Such, after all, is the stuff of national holidays. Well, how ’bout it?

Nope. No connection of any kind.

Central to the Kwanzaa celebration is a family meal, where the table is decorated with an ear of corn for each child in the household. But given the great diversity of crops that are cultivated on the continent, why corn? This grain has absolutely no cultural significance in Africa.  It’s indigenous to Mexico, and no place else on earth, introduced to the continent by white foreigners!  As recently as 1939, by one account, the citizens of Northern Rhodesia complained of corn as a strange, foul-tasting “European” food.

And then there’s the flag. Again quoting the website, “The colors of the Kwanzaa flag are the colors of the Organization Us, black, red and green.”  Never heard of Organization Us? It’s a Black Nationalist group, established by Everett in 1965 as a rival to the Black Panthers. In 1969 the two groups battled for control of the Black Students Union at UCLA, and engaged in a shootout in the school’s cafeteria. By the time the fight was over, two students lay dead. (Again, no historical "African" connection.)

Everett envisioned Kwanzaa as a black family’s alternative to Christmas; he says it’s a white man’s holiday, based on a white man’s religion, robbing the black man of his true heritage. He’s misinformed: Medieval art depictions notwithstanding, Jesus and his early followers were anything but Caucasian. While the apostles evangelized Asia and Europe, John Mark (author of the second Gospel) established a congregation in Alexandria, in the first century. Some of our greatest theologians (Tertullian, Clement, Origen, Cyprian, Athanasius and Augustine) likewise served as leaders of African churches in the first few centuries. The Islamic invaders, who (unlike the Christians) gained most of their early converts by sword, didn’t arrive until about six hundred years later. Oddly enough, Everett fails to denounce this foreign imposition on African culture and identity.

Everett is correct to point out that the spiritual meaning of Christmas is largely overshadowed by the crass commercialism of American retailing. We exploit this holy observance as an excuse to take time off from work, overspend, overeat, go into debt, and indulge all manner of carnal pleasures. Yes, guilty as charged, all around. But is he truly offering something better? Take a closer look at Kwanzaa: the commercial exploitation of the holiday increases with each passing year. In fact, Everett's own businesses are among the greatest beneficiaries of this merchandising.

But even as he denounces Christmas as an offensive holiday, he fashioned his own by co-opting Christmas (as well as Christian and Jewish) symbols. After all, a proper celebration requires a wine glass that greatly resembles a chalice that might be used for the Lord’s Supper, and a seven-stemmed candlestick that could easily be mistaken for a menorah. Families exchange gifts as they would on Christmas morning. Again, nothing distinctly "African" here.

Still looking for an "African" connection?  I found one: Among the seven sacred principles, ujima (collective work and responsibility) was a cornerstone doctrine of the Marxist Tanzanian dictator Julius Nyrere as he seized the property of thousands, compelling them to toil on collective farms. Under his presidency, the nation declined from being the continent’s largest exporter of food to the biggest importer. He retired in 1985, finally admitting that his strategy failed. Which it always does. Marxism promises to liberate, but instead it invariably enslaves.

As an interesting side note: All seven principles were embraced by the Symbionese Liberation Army, a militant gang that went on a crime spree in California in the 1970s. They fancied themselves defenders of the oppressed black man, but mostly they kept themselves busy by robbing banks and terrorizing the populace.

I am often mystified when I hear black folks, people who already live in the freest and most tolerant country in the history of the planet, seek “liberation” by clinging to their African roots. The more I study the history of the Dark Continent, the more I see patterns of hatred, racism, ethnic cleansing, and exclusion. (Somehow these things are evil when brought by white people, such as in Bosnia.) They’ve waged war among themselves for thousands of years, without the interference of white outsiders. Even today Hutus and Tutsis routinely massacre one another for sport. Genocides have wiped out millions in Rwanda and Ethiopia, and warlords rule in Somalia and the Congo. Rarely do they raise principled arguments over political issues; it’s the Capulets and the Montagues, war for war’s sake, ancient rivalries where no one remembers what they were fighting about in the first place. Where democracy and tolerance do exist, even nominally, it's almost always due to the influence of foreign colonists (such as in South Africa).

Many American blacks continue to resent the exploitation of their ancestors through the slave trade, blaming Whitey for their plight (hence the need for cultural observances such as Kwanzaa).  But they seem to forget: these atrocities were made possible, not by mass abductions, but by perfectly legal purchases. They weren’t kidnapped by foreigners, they were disowned and sold out by their brothers. Later, many freed slaves returned to their ancestral homeland and founded the nation of Liberia. Here they quickly established a corrupt system of minority rule and excluded the natives from participation in government affairs. (Which, they're quick to point out, was evil when the Pilgrims did it.)

The deeper I delve into the origins of Kwanzaa, the more it seems indistinguishable from the personality of Dr. Everett, who exalted himself a few years back by inventing an African name meaning “master teacher.” Technically the keeper of its orthodoxy is the National Association of Kawaida (African culture) Organizations, and its official publications are produced by the University of Sankore Press. This might sound impressive until we consider that both of those organizations were established by (and continue to be headed by) Everett himself.  Further, the publishing company is named for an institution that doesn’t exist.

Black Nationalists preach the superiority of all things African, that theirs is the true master race (even though, curiously, there is no such thing as an "African" race), believing that black folks should separate themselves from non-blacks and only patronize black-owned businesses. (Funny thing, I thought the protests of the civil rights movement were intended to oppose such segregation and put an end to these abuses.) I wonder, what might be the political implications if white people attempted such a thing today?  Imagine a White Students Club, or a White Congressional Caucus.  What would Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson say?  Wait, I think I know the answer to that one.
 
From his prison cell in Birmingham, following his arrest for an “unauthorized” peaceful demonstration, Dr. King penned a rambling letter that (partly) opposed the ideals and methods of Black Nationalists:

I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. 

The liberation movements of the 1960s, whether based on race or gender or political philosophy, all seem to have one thing in common: In order to feel good about themselves, they must insult those who don’t neatly fit in.  And then, perfectly consistent with human nature, they become the very things they despise: Anti-racism crusaders end up fostering racism in the opposite direction. Men hate women, and women hate men. Arabs hate Jews, and Jews hate Arabs. The original intent may have been noble, but after a while it degrades into a battle of us-versus-them and nothing changes; they subjugate the very people they came to set free.

Early in my career, when I joined the Retail Clerks Union, they promised to protect me from the evil capitalist pigs who signed my paycheck.  Instead, their many regulations (not my employer) prevented me from getting raises or promotions. The National Organization for Women disowned Laci Peterson, because her unborn son (in their view) didn't qualify as a real "person" whose murder should be considered a crime.  For many years the NAACP couldn't manage to applaud Gen. Colin Powell for his many achievements, because his political leanings weren't "black" enough.

Huh?

Ultimately the tragedy of Kwanzaa, or of Black Nationalism in general, is that they will never accomplish the ends they seek. No one has ever truly empowered a downtrodden people by inventing a false heritage for them. No society has ever advanced itself by embracing a self-identity based on eternal victimhood. And will they ever reconcile with the white population of our nation? Their fiery rhetoric and exclusivist teachings seem to imply that they don’t even desire to try.

Their loss.