By A. Peter Bailey
(Trice Edney Wire) – Those people, who for whatever reason, are nervous about or hostile toward the celebration of Kwanzaa (Dec. 26 – Jan. 1) among an increasing number of Black people, need to chill. They are way off the mark.
Christmas, as celebrated by Christians is – or at least is supposed to be – a religious celebration, whereas Kwanzaa is a cultural celebration. Both have a strong spiritual element.
It is not the fault of Kwanzaa celebrants that too many people treat Christmas more like a cultural celebration than a religious one. That is something that Christians have to deal with, the re-taking of their religious celebration from the merchants who regard it as an opportunity for dollar bills to be rained upon them.
The mission of the seven-day Kwanzaa celebration is to encourage Black people, no matter what their personal religious beliefs, their personal political beliefs, their nationality or their ethnicity, to strive for individual and group achievement and excellence.
The seven principles of Kwanzaa pertain to the family, the community, the nation, and the race. They are unity (Umoja); self-determination (Kujichagulia); collective work and responsibility (Ujima); cooperative economics (Ujamaa); purpose (Nia); creativity (Kuumba); and faith (Imani).
Dr. Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 as a call for both reflection and action. It has remained just that for the past 59 years. As more and more of us commit ourselves to its principles, there will be a much-needed psychological change among significant numbers of our people. After a while, the major holdouts will not be those people who have religious concerns about Kwanzaa, but those pathetic secular types who are vehemently opposed to anything that has a Black perspective. Many of them prefer to remain exotic pets of White folks. This is fine because such accommodationists are irrelevant to Kwanzaa’s overall mission.
Happy Kwanzaa!
Journalist/Lecturer A. Peter Bailey, is a former associate editor of Ebony Magazine and former editor of Blacklash, the news letter of the OAAU (Organization of Afro- American Unity), founded by Malcolm X. This article was previously published in 2013.
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