The RaceDoctor Speaks!

The RaceDoctor reflects on a fading black cultural nationalist holiday in "post-racial" America
I recently saw and article that discussed the fading of Kwanzaa. I personally always thought that this holiday was great in concept, like so many ideas having to do with “black folks getting their act together. (How many times have we heard “if we could just all [partially self sacrificing and largely unrealistic idea goes here] black folks could support each other the same way the [better off ethnic group – Jews, Asians, etc – goes here}. Followed by the plaintive lament: But we just can’t all get on the same page!

So Kwanzaa always seemed like one of those great ideas: black folks gathering with family, friends, and often strangers, reveling in our bolstered sense of common history, destiny, and distinctiveness. A touching vision, no? No wonder Hallmark made a bunch of money on earth toned cards based on the idea.

But I just never knew actual human beings who really lit the candles, gathered each day to talk about the ideas, and re=changed their lives based on a daily mediation on those Swahili words.

But the concept was very cool.

But now I read that the holiday is fading. That participation is down from a once high of 20 million (quite skeptical of that I am) to just over one million. And that Hallmark, the bellwether of cultural trends, has downsized their Kwanzaa line.

But hey, we just elected That Black One for President. 232 Years of unbroken white rule is coming to an end. So even if the holiday was more theoretical than real, I decided to do my best to revive it. So in the spirit of blah blah, as the spirit moves me, I will briefly blog about the implications of some of the Kwanza ideas in “post-racial America" for black folks and everyone else.