Tuesday, December 27, 2011

I define myself, we define ourselves.

Habari Gani,


It's my 41st celebration of Kwanzaa. My parents began celebrating our celebration in their church in 1970 in Brooklyn New York. As a child I knew nothing different. We celebrated with some Jewish friends during Channukah, we celebrated the birth of The Christ on December 25th and my father, Rev. Dr. Samuel Varner schooled' me early on that this was the day that most Christians celebrated his birth as it was set by early church leaders, but not the actual date of The Christ's birth. We looked at it as we did with our birthdays, while the date of birth may occur on a Thursday, we would celebrate it on Saturday. Then on December 26th we began celebrating the African aspect of the Americas. On New Years eve we had a Night Watch service to bring in the New Year worshiping before we went partying.


While in grade school I learned that Kwanzaa was a very niche celebration and I never expected all people of African descent to celebrate it. It was very underground. I truly enjoyed the festivities and congregagtion as we celebrated in New York and also in Columbus Ohio where the community was very vibrant in it's celebration. My dad and mom were frequently interviewed and I remember a number of debates over the celebration. While in Columbus my parents invited Maluna Ron Karenga to our racially mixed church and he spoke of Kwanzaa and the other activities the US organization was involved in. While he noted that Kwanzaa wasn't associated with any particular belief system, he reveled in meeting numerous Pastors who began adding elements of the celebration into their winter church activities. I fondly remember a public debate set-up by a major Black church in Columbus Ohio which pitted my father against the church's pastor on the topic "Should a Christian celebrate Kwanzaa ?" The moderator opened with "Kwanzaa or Christmas Dr. Varner ?" My father replied "Both. The more important celebration is one's personal walk and relationship with our Savior. That's something to celebrate. Then as you celebrate other great things in your life such as the 4th of July, your birthday, or a graduation add Jesus to your invitation list. It will make the celebration sweeter." He then gave a history lesson on Christmas and how the early Christian church debated and even outlawed the celebration at times. He ended by saying "I'm proud of my African heritage and I celebrate that, and I of course invite my Lord and Savior into all of my celebrations." The debating pastor then took the mike and said "Well then. It looks like there isn't anything to debate. Praise the Lord Church." We then went early into the social hall and fellowshipped together.


We never really discussed with my classmates our celebration of Kwanzaa. It was a special event that was shared amongst the like-minded. I revel in the performances of Tony West and Imani Dancers in the late 70s and early 80s. We gathered, we interacted, we broke bread, and then we partied. I persoanally loved meeting and flirting with the girls and listening to the DJs play this new Rap music along side Disco, Soul, and Oldies. There were no fights, no problems, and lots of supervising eyes.


In College in the late 80s I shared with anyone I saw who seemed to be a celebrant that I too celebrated, yet remained silent to anyone else. I learned that anyone who seemed to publically embrace Kwanzaa or seemed interested in other African centered information was labeled as a radical, a White-hater, and UnAmerican. I always found it interesting that my ancestry which included Irish, Indian, and African had all received difficulty in their interactions in America. To wear a badege that said "Kiss Me...I'm Irish" was cool, but to wear a badge which displayed the Red, Black, and Green colors would bring difficulty and discomfort.


In the 1990s I then began encountering people who demeaned the celebration by making sure I knew that "Karenga was a racist, a communist lover, was anti-American, and was abusive towards women." To them any association with Kwanzaa was foolish and perhaps even anti-Christian. The interesting aspect of these conversations was that they were normally initiated by other Blacks or people of African descent. Here in Hampton Roads Virginia things were even different in the Kwanzaa attendants. In Columbus Black Americans, Caribbean and Hispanic Blacks, and Blacks from Africa all came together for these celebrations. In Hampton Roads only a few native Africans participated, and the Caribbean/Latino community seemed unintrested at best.








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