Should Kwanzaa stay in Black neighborhoods?

Guest Editorial

Immediately following Christmas this year will mark Kwanzaa's thirty eighth anniversary. From Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, millions of African Americans, like myself, will start their week-long celebration by greeting families and friends with the Swahili term Harbari gani! which means What's happening!

Kwanzaa, which means "the first fruits of the harvest," was founded in 1967 by Dr. Maulana "Ron" Karenga, then chairman of the African American Studies department at California State University at Long Beach. Thought to be a Black version of Christmas, Kwanzaa is neither a religious holiday nor a substitute for Christmas. It is a spiritual and cultural holiday whose seven principles of unity (umoja) , self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamma), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba) and faith (imani) represent and reaffirm traditional African American values that extends to all Americans.

The practice of Black economic power and self-reliance have kept the holiday of Kwanzaa financially afloat. Unlike Christmas, which is characterized by rampant commercialism and the accumulation of material objects, Kwanzaa's emphasis is on human relationships and on the spiritual ties and responsibilities that African Americans first have to one another, and then to the larger society.

However, gifts, called zawadi, do play an important role during Kwanzaa. Gifts exchanged are either handmade or purchased from African American vendors in keeping with the fourth principle of Kwanzaa known as cooperative economics.

As a small but thriving business, Kwanzaa keeps Black dollars afloat longer in African American enclaves across the country than any other national holiday. Because its products, like the kinara (the candle holder for seven candles, one black, three red and three green), the Kikombe Cha Umoja (communal unity cup), the Mkeka (place mat) and the bendea (the African American national flag) can only be found in neighborhood Afrocentric curio shops. African American consumers shop there instead of outside their communities. On the whole, these small African and African American owned businesses profit modestly from Kwanzaa items because they are sold only in abundance during a specific time of the year.

Because African American businesses in this country are plagued with financial instability due to racial and economic disparities, the commercial spread of Kwanzaa in stores like Target and Wal-Mart would keep the Kwanzaa dollars afloat, many argue, but these small African American businesses would not financially profit from this sort of commercial popularity.

With the majority of Black dollars already floating out of the community and into store chains like Target and Wal-Mart, we would see the rapid displacement of small African and African American owned businesses. This Kwanzaa holiday, I'll head out to the neighborhood store to purchase my red, black and green candles for the kinara, because I know that the strength of the U.S. economy is found in its multicultural small community owned businesses that reflect our nation's diversity.

[Author Affiliation]

Rev. Irene Monroe teaches religion and is the Center Associate of Multicultural & Spiritual Programming at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill.