Kwanzaa Celebration Raises Questions About African Cultures

"Prejudice" was the first word that Eva Tompkins learned to spell when she moved from South Carolina to Harlem. She first encountered racism at her Harlem high school. Then came the difficulties of finding a job in Midtown when employers were only hiring "white ladies."

"I didn't know what prejudice was before that. But it was in Harlem that it really hit me." She paused pensively, listening to a steelband's vibrant calypso music at the New York Public Library's annual Kwanzaa celebration, held at the library's Harlem branch. "But this was the '50s, before Kwanzaa was founded. Now, we've got this holiday. Kwanzaa has this way of smoothing things over from the past and making them better."

Kwanzaa's palliative effect may have been Tompkins' reason for celebrating, but she was far from the only one on Saturday afternoon with an impassioned connection to the holiday. Tompkins, alongside nearly 400 other Harlem residents, attended the library's Kwanzaa celebration. Sponsored by State Senator Bill Perkins, the event featured poetry readings and songs performed by artists and members of the community.

"We're trying to focus on coming together again—family, friends, and neighbors—in a celebration of culture," Perkins said. "This is about our history, a way of understanding self-identification and who came before us."

Perkins' explanation for the event is reminiscent of Dr. Maulana Karenga's own reasons for founding Kwanzaa in 1966: He strove to bring together black communities affected by racial injustice and alienated from their African heritage. But the idea of African heritage itself is contested, since some argue that it should comprise a wealth of cultures.

Can Karengas's mission of bringing together all black cultures be sufficiently accomplished through the week-long celebration? Though Saturday's Kwanzaa event was a time for celebration, the question continues to challenge the rationale of the holiday.

"There's only one race in the black culture," Maxine McCrey of West Harlem explained. "We're all black people. Whether we're Mexican blacks, Jamaican blacks, from the continent itself, it doesn't matter."

Yet others noted the inherent difficulties of observing a holiday intended to incorporate so many cultures. "One day, one holiday may not do it," Reverend Dr. Emeka C. Nwigwe said. "We need at least three holidays to reach all the cultures within the African American culture."

Alma Dew agreed, pointing to the necessity of creating more types of such days to honor various black cultures. "I think we got cheated on holidays," Dew said. "We deserve parade. What we need is a national holiday for black people as a whole."

Yet the solution to Dew's suggestion is not that simple, as Debra J. Dickerson points out in a December 2003 New York Times article entitled, "A Case of the Kwanzaa Blues." She, like many of Saturday's attendees, discusses the diversity of African cultures and traditions. She argues that having a holiday commemorating one African heritage makes little sense.

John Doe underscored Dickerson's point, asserting that Kwanzaa cannot be considered a celebration of one "African" culture. "If you listen to the musicians right now, they're playing calypso music," he said, referring to Saturday's steelband. "That music is from the Caribbean. And there's so many other types of cultures out there. You can't just group all of these people up and call them 'African.'"

Denise Outram acknowledged the problems posed by having a holiday that includes all black people. But she also recognized one of Kwanzaa's highlighting features: its emphasis on unity. "When we do come together, it's a time when people can in fact embrace diversity," she said.

The concept of unity is an important one for Kwanzaa observers. When Karenga founded Kwanzaa, he established the seven principles—Nguzo Saba—each of which is celebrated on one of the seven days of Kwanzaa. The holiday's first principle is Umoja, or unity.

Residents acknowledged this principle's particular salience in light of the crumbling economy. "During these times of economic difficulty, Kwanzaa is important now more than ever because of the principle of unity," McCrey said. "The cause of unity makes us stronger. It gives us strength."

"I've been recently laid off," Outram said. "But Kwanzaa brings you away from feeling sorry for yourself. Kwanzaa is a message, an answer to the problems that everyone's suffering from."

Attendees also attributed Kwanzaa's increasing importance to the victory of President-elect Barack Obama. "Obama's presidency underscores the meaning of Kwanzaa because it reminds us of that culture and history," Perkins said.

While the event provided a sense of solidarity, contradictory notions were presented as the Kinara was lit for Kwanzaa's second day, which represents the principle of kujichagulia, or "self-determination." The principle stresses the need "to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves."

Whether these myriad cultures and individual identities within black culture will ever be reconciled with Dr. Karenga's emphasis on the "African" culture as a whole is unclear. But to the Harlem residents on Saturday, the importance was placed on a sense of togetherness.