Kwanzaa.
Yay.
Or, as my late, brilliant, fearless, funny father-in-law called it, KWANZAAAAAAA.
Look, if you're someone who celebrates Kwanzaa, reading this, more power to you. Still, for the many people (including the demographic this holiday was really created for), this feels like another way to pander to people while taking away from Christmas.
Again, if you like it, like Marc Lamont Hill, I have no issue with you celebrating.
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But deep down, doesn't it just feel like another opportunity for Hallmark to sell more cards? Or for politicians to push an agenda?
I dunno ...
Kwanzaa is 100% a real holiday. The proof is that we (Black people) observe and celebrate it. ALL holidays are invented/made up. Just because White people didn't create it doesn't make it less real.
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) December 27, 2025
Sure sure.
That being said, the guy who created the holiday, Maulana Karenga, was bad news. I'm not even kidding.
Wonder if Marc knows that; someone might want to educate him on this fact if not.
From the LA Times:
That’s when I learned that Karenga had been convicted of heinous felonies. Though he denied the allegations, in 1970 he and three other members of the US Organization, a black nationalist group based in Los Angeles, imprisoned and assaulted two female members. Trial testimony revealed that the women had been whipped with cords, beaten with batons, and seared with irons — while naked — in an effort to elicit confessions that they were conspiring against him. Those confessions never materialized. Karenga served a few years in prison and later went on to get his doctorate and teach.
My stomach lurched as I read about the trial and his conviction. Karenga was found guilty of violence against black women. How could Kwanzaa’s inventor be that person? What did it mean about the celebration I had embraced? Why did no one talk about his history? And I couldn’t help but wonder if Karenga’s history was elided because Kwanzaa’s viability was deemed more important than black women’s safety.
So a bad guy accused of imprisoning and assaulting two women created a fake holiday in the 60s to close the gaps for African Americans.
Alrighty then.
Hey, I get it, the holiday isn't meant for me ... but when the people the holiday was created for think it's fake and claim nobody celebrates it?
Yeah:
I don't know ONE black person who celebrates Kwanzaa... and I've been black my whole life. ✌🏾 https://t.co/yd4lM1Ieq1
— Kathy Barnette (@Kathy4Truth) December 27, 2025
Again, to each his or her own, but let's at least stop pretending this is a sacred holiday.
Looking at you, Kamala Harris.
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