Resent the hell out of it all you want, but in terms of the percentage of Americans who celebrate it, Kwanzaa does appear to be akin to Hanukkah. In terms of raw numbers, they are in fact comparable. This isn’t to overstate the importance of Kwanzaa. But if you are going to throw around that Kwanzaa isn’t important because “nobody celebrates it,” well, be prepared to be consistent with what “nobody” celebrates.
I think a good parallel to Kwanzaa is historically black universities. Most African-Americans do not go to historically black universities. Plenty of African-Americans think they are a silly idea, unnecessary in the current age, etc. If you asked your black friend at work, he or she probably wouldn’t have much to say about them. For most African-Americans, it’s just not a part of their life. But in other communities- especially in places with a strong African-American community, historically black universities are an important part of their identity and culture. And they do represent some important things about not just African-American culture, but American culture in general.
And a lot just depends on where you are. If you live in New Orleans, you’d conclude that Mardi Gras is the most important American holiday and everyone celebrates it. If you live in Boston, you’d think that white people really, really, really value St. Patrick’s day. If you liv ein Honolulu, neither one will be a blip on your radar and you’ll probably think white people mostly like Chinese New Year. Likewise, if you hang out in upscale black communities, you probably won’t have to look too far to find someone who values Kwanzaa. If you live in a place with a smattering of African-Americans who don’t really share many cultural institutions, you probably won’t find Kwanzaa celebrants.
My horse in this race is that I’m unconvinced that the statistics are what rub people the wrong way about Kwanzaa. Nobody gets all squeely about Earth Day or how much we half-ass Labor Day or how if you ask a random person on the street about Flag Day, they, they probably won’t be able to give an explanation of what it is.
I’m pretty sure the lurking motivation behind a lot of this, which is probably unconscious, is the feeling that the content isn’t worthy.
Again, look at all this shit we throw at African-American naming traditions. If you name your kids Kareem and Aisha, you are being pretentious by taking African names when you only have a tenuous connection to Africa. If you name your kids Ailika and Taliquo, you are accused of choosing names that are not “authentically” African. If you choose names like D’Shawn and Shaniqua, you are “making up” names.
I think the grudge against Kwanzaa stems from the same impulse. Anything black people do to try to talk about their identity is too African, or not African enough, or to new, or too American, or not American enough…in the end, the story is that we’d just rather they shut up about their identity, name their kids “Jennifer” and “Greg” and keep pretending like they don’t have a culture or a history.
