Kwanzaa's Marxist Roots
Most people know little about Kwanzaa's past -- especially its roots in the 1960s' communist movement.
Bryan Weynand & James Heilpern
December 2006
On Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006, members of the Black Student Movement will gather for the traditional libation ceremony - a ritual which pays tribute to the contributions of deceased black Americans. One by one, each member will spill water from a ceremonial bowl on behalf of one of the night's honorees. The service, accompanied by a brief history lesson and feast, will mark the club's annual observance of the pan-African holiday of Kwanzaa during their final meeting of the 2006 calendar year.
But while the majority of its members know the basics surrounding the holiday, like most Americans they remain unaware of the specifics behind the annual seven day feast. While the ceremony will pay tribute to American heroes like Martin Luther King, Jr., Fredrick Douglass and Rosa Parks, the holiday itself has a darker history that strays considerably from simple reverence for past pioneers.
Society’s perception of Kwanzaa as one centered on honoring black heritage and culture is accurate in that many of the people who celebrate Kwanzaa, celebrate it in this way, including the BSM. The origin and truth of the holiday, however, have been lost in a myriad of politically correct myths and ignorant omissions surrounding an institution that at its core is fundamentally against the American ideals of racial integration and capitalism and is tainted by the violent past of its founder, Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga. A professor of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, Karenga is a convicted felon. Developing his views on humanity, politics, and religion while serving his prison sentence, his views leave him stranded far out of the mainstream, and that can be seen in the foundational principles of his crowning achievement: Kwanzaa.
Despite its reputation as a cultural appreciating, uplifting holiday celebration, Kwanzaa, as Karenga created it, is a proactive political institution seeking rectification and restitution for the exploitations and injustices perpetrated against blacks throughout history until the 1960s. Hidden in Karenga’s Seven Principles, each of which is masked by a Swahili label, are his blatantly Marxist and secular views.
The Seven Principles, celebrated individually during the seven days of Kwanzaa, consist, among others, of the principles of Ujima and Ujamaa. Swahili for “Collective Work” and “Responsibility and Cooperative Economics,” respectively, both principles are nothing more than heart-warming euphemisms for his call for a separate, communist black society. The second of the two principles, for example, aims “to build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit together from them.”
When asked to refute the criticisms of the holiday’s Marxist undertones, Tulivu Jadi, the Assistant Director of the African-American Cultural Center, of which Karenga is the director, was unwilling to address criticisms of the holiday’s ideology, but presented an apparent inconsistency when he added, “We stress the philosophy of the holiday. We don’t respond to [criticisms]. Those are diversionary questions that don’t give merit to the holiday.”
Karenga’s final principle of Imani, or faith, advises the black community to place faith in their race. Faith in God, however, is noticeably absent from his definition, further evidencing his well-chronicled secular worldview.
Karenga’s journey as a prominent black leader began in 1965 with the founding of the United Slaves, a Black Nationalist organization meant to rival the famously radical Black Panthers, which remains in existence today. When in 1971 he was convicted for the torture and assault of two of the organization’s female members he found himself residing in the California State Prison, and upon his release he assumed his current post at Long Beach.
This disturbingly violent past would be more easily forgotten if not for its reflection in the stated goals of Kwanzaa, which appear in the description of the symbolic flag of Black Nationalism. The red, black, and green color scheme originated in Africa, but was first introduced in the United States in 1920 by Marcus Garvey to represent the Nationalistic movement. The red was chosen to symbolize the shedding of blood in pursuit of Black Nationalism, the black was to symbolize the color of their skin, and the green the land that they seek to obtain for the black race.
The Kwanzaa Information Center characterizes the black struggle in this way: “We lost our land through blood; and we cannot gain it except through blood. We must redeem our lives through the blood. Without the shedding of blood there can be no redemption of this race,” and later calls the flag a “symbol of devotion for African people in America to establish an independent African nation on the North American Continent.”
Jadi attempted to distance Kwanzaa as a holiday from these goals, calling them instead “organizational aspirations,” but he stopped short of refuting them, simply refusing, as he did with the Seven Principles, to discuss them in the context of the holiday. The fact remains that the institution of Kwanzaa and the organization founded and directed by Karenga share leadership and resources. To separate their ideologies would be to distort the intent of the holiday.
Perhaps most interestingly was that Jadi denied Karenga’s role as founder of the United Slaves, saying that he was “never” involved, and stressing that “U.S. doesn’t stand for United Slaves.” This denial of what is historically accepted as common knowledge leaves in doubt the African-American Cultural Center and any of Karenga’s other affiliates’ ability to accurately portray the controversial holiday they created.
The Information Center’s description of the flag draws explicit parallels to that which many believe the Confederate flag represents: racism and disunity. It is then ironic that the display of the latter is not tolerated by many in this country, yet the former finds itself openly exhibited. One of the places this is especially true is on the Web site of UNC’s Black Student Movement, which shares the color scheme and displays the flag as its background.
That being said, no one is suggesting that the Black Student Movement shares Karenga's or Kwanzaa's sentiments. Their courage in standing against societal persecution has been an invaluable asset of UNC for decades, and to condemn the BSM for their annual celebration would be ignorant and foolish. Despite Kwanzaa's less than admirable past, the watered-down propaganda presented by the media is admirable. Reverence for history is increasingly rare in American society, and the intentions behind the BSM's planned libation ceremony are nothing but honorable and heartfelt.
“As the BSM, we want to represent everyone on campus - especially African-Americans,” said BSM president Renae McPherson. “Since many do celebrate it, the BSM acknowledges it as well.”
But, BSM education chairman Juanita Tolliver who is helping plan this year's event was emphatic that the presentation should not be viewed as an open endorsement of the holiday.
“[The libation ceremony on December 6] is not a celebration of Kwanzaa, but an educational meeting for our members.” She further emphasized that while in the past, the educational aspects of the club's annual observance has focused only on the basics, this year she hoped to incorporate more history on the holiday's origins and evolution.
“Clearly,” she admitted, “I'm a bit more ignorant on this matter and the professor's personal history than I previously thought.”
While education is the first step towards any change, in the future, neutrality will not be enough. Like the confederate battle flag, Kwanzaa is the byproduct of our nation's racist and divisive past. If we are to ever truly realize Martin Luther King's dream, we must confront these engrained prejudices wherever they appear, whether it be the KKK or the United Slaves.
It won't be easy. Our Constitution protects the speech of both the ignorant and the Ph. D, and decades of identity politics have produced dozens of untouchable subjects in the political arena. But Tar Heels have never been afraid to tackle the impossible, and the activists of tomorrow must now confront an enemy far more daunting then the institutional racism of the past: individual prejudices held by individual people of all races, nationalities and ethnicities, minorities included. As the self-proclaimed voice of the black population here on campus, the BSM has a choice to make this holiday season: openly confront all forms of racial intolerance, Kwanzaa included, or avoid the subject entirely.