Kwanzaa Facts
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To understand Kwanzaa you need to think about what it would be like to be a Black parent raising kids in the US in the 60s and 70s. Your kids go nuts for Christmas and want gifts. Gimme gimme gimme! Then everyone gets drunk on New Years. How are these holidays as commercially pushed onto your family teaching any kind of good values?
I think that is a big part of the appeal.
(Of course there is another side to Christmas that isn't all Coca Cola Santa Claus and Black Friday fist fights.)
In the 70s and 80s Black Americans had amassed enough economic power that advertisers stopped ignoring us. No mater what color your skin the money's still green.
This mostly meant a proliferation of ads, especially billboards featuring a version of "Black Culture" filtered through an avaricious and distorted lens. In particular ads for cheap alcohol. Several Black pastors became famous and even got arrested for panting these billboards over.
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In the 70s and 80s Black Americans had amassed enough economic power that advertisers stopped ignoring us. No mater what color your skin the money's still green.
This mostly meant a proliferation of ads, especially billboards featuring a version of "Black Culture" filtered through an avaricious and distorted lens. In particular ads for cheap alcohol. Several Black pastors became famous and even got arrested for panting these billboards over.
But it was that feeling of an outside force coming in and imposing an image of who you were that people rebelled against.
Some people. Others embraced it. Culture is complex.
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But it was that feeling of an outside force coming in and imposing an image of who you were that people rebelled against.
Some people. Others embraced it. Culture is complex.
I remember the first time I saw a little Black girl in a toy commercial. I ran to get my mother. "Look mom look!"
It was a My Little Pony commercial and there was a very light-skinned little black girl with perfectly permed straight hair (why couldn't my hair do that) playing with the toys I loved. On TV!
Consider the mixed feelings this would cause for any sensible parent. Yes. You want your child to feel like they are a part of the world. But what will the world take from them?
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In the 70s and 80s Black Americans had amassed enough economic power that advertisers stopped ignoring us. No mater what color your skin the money's still green.
This mostly meant a proliferation of ads, especially billboards featuring a version of "Black Culture" filtered through an avaricious and distorted lens. In particular ads for cheap alcohol. Several Black pastors became famous and even got arrested for panting these billboards over.
@futurebird That was also the time of blaxploitation cinema, right?
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@futurebird That was also the time of blaxploitation cinema, right?
Yes. And that's a part of it too. Who gets to define us?
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Kwanzaa Facts
1. Kwanzaa is a made up holiday.
2. So is every other holiday.
3. Anyone can celebrate Kwanzaa.
4. It was created by Black, (mostly American and Christian*) people in the 1970s to celebrate Black history and the influence of African culture in the African diaspora and to assert the presence of Black people in US culture.
5. Most Black Americans don't celebrate Kwanzaa.
6. It is not a holiday tied to any particular religion.#2 isn't entirely true.
I'm a pagan, and follow the solstices and equinoxes. Those are celestial events that define the shortest day, longest day, and equal day/night across the whole earth.
The solstices and equinoxes predate, well, biologic matter.
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#2 isn't entirely true.
I'm a pagan, and follow the solstices and equinoxes. Those are celestial events that define the shortest day, longest day, and equal day/night across the whole earth.
The solstices and equinoxes predate, well, biologic matter.
Even the concepts of dawn and sunset are made up.
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Kwanzaa Facts
1. Kwanzaa is a made up holiday.
2. So is every other holiday.
3. Anyone can celebrate Kwanzaa.
4. It was created by Black, (mostly American and Christian*) people in the 1970s to celebrate Black history and the influence of African culture in the African diaspora and to assert the presence of Black people in US culture.
5. Most Black Americans don't celebrate Kwanzaa.
6. It is not a holiday tied to any particular religion.@futurebird Israel is probably involved
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@futurebird Israel is probably involved
I have no idea what you mean by this. But what I suspect you mean isn't good. However I won't make an assumption and will ask: What on earth are you talking about?
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I have no idea what you mean by this. But what I suspect you mean isn't good. However I won't make an assumption and will ask: What on earth are you talking about?
@futurebird I mean they sow division in America who knows what they are capable of
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@futurebird I mean they sow division in America who knows what they are capable of
@pheelinwhitney @futurebird what has this got to do with Kwanzaa?
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@pheelinwhitney @futurebird what has this got to do with Kwanzaa?
@gsuberland @futurebird its almost like zionists want people to stop celebrating Christmas, i mean they hate it, they're the ones who made the old song White Christmas that started the trend of removing Jesus from Christmas
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@futurebird I mean they sow division in America who knows what they are capable of
False, racist and antisemitic. It's racist because it implies that Black Americans can't come up with any new ideas without being puppeted around. Antisemitic because it implies that there is a Jewish conspiracy to "sow division"
It's just a needlessly ugly way to look at a holiday that is literally about unity.
If you feel like Kwanzaa is divisive that's from YOU. Inspect why you think that. I've invited you to join the celebration. Just say "no thanks" if it bugs you.
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@gsuberland @futurebird its almost like zionists want people to stop celebrating Christmas, i mean they hate it, they're the ones who made the old song White Christmas that started the trend of removing Jesus from Christmas
Kwanzaa literally starts right after Christmas. For Christians who celebrate the holidays kind of amplify each other.
It's never been a "replacement" for Christmas. The idea is kind of horrifying honestly.
