Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central towards the night before Kwanza,
Speaker 1: and all through the house everybody was asking, what is
Speaker 1: this holiday all about? Kwanza. It's the holiday your white
Speaker 1: friends think your Black friends celebrate. But if you'd like
Speaker 1: to know more about it, I'm happy to tell you.
Speaker 1: Starting on December twenty six, black families gathered for seven
Speaker 1: days to honor their African heritage and celebrate the values
Speaker 1: of the Black community like unity, self determination, and Beyonce.
Speaker 1: And some think Kwanza has ancient roots, and it does
Speaker 1: if you think doing the mashed potato smoking menthols on
Speaker 1: a shag rub is ain't you because Kuanza was actually
Speaker 1: created in nineteen sixties six by Molana Karenga. He was
Speaker 1: a Black nationalist leader who changed his birth name from
Speaker 1: Ronald because no one wants to celebrate something invented by
Speaker 1: a guy named Ronald. You would even bean my best
Speaker 1: friend if your named Ronald. I'm not even to come
Speaker 1: and see a birthday for it. After seeing the nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty riots in l A, Karina wanted away for African
Speaker 1: Americans to honor their African roots and reaffirm their cultural connections.
Speaker 1: So he created Kwanza, naming the holiday after the Swahili
Speaker 1: phrase matunda ya kwanza, which means first fruit and then
Speaker 1: adding an extra A reminds me of when I copy
Speaker 1: someone's homework but change a little bit so the teacher
Speaker 1: didn't know how cheated. Karina studied a variety of African tribes,
Speaker 1: pulled from their traditions and added thing about candles because
Speaker 1: candles were on celibaba and beyond each side of Kwanza.
Speaker 1: A candles lit that represents a different principle, unity, moda,
Speaker 1: self determination, coolgi could could gi chocolia? Who hey man,
Speaker 1: I don't know these words. I'm trying all right. Collective
Speaker 1: work and responsibility jima cooperative economics, Jama purpose Nia creativity,
Speaker 1: Komba faith Emani Animani the seventh night. People exchange gifts,
Speaker 1: and the gifts are often handmade. Why because Kwanza is
Speaker 1: meant to stand against the commercialism of Christmas and because
Speaker 1: handmade gives so much harder to regive. At first, Kwanza
Speaker 1: had a hard time catching on, in part because there's
Speaker 1: a lot of holiday competition during this time of year Christmas, Hanukkah,
Speaker 1: the Lexus, December to remember sales of it. Also, because
Speaker 1: seven days is a lot of time to spend with families.
Speaker 1: Even Jesus gonna only take three days in heaven when
Speaker 1: his dad before he came back to Earth because he
Speaker 1: needed a break. It also didn't help that Karenga himself
Speaker 1: wasn't the best dude. He spent some time in prison
Speaker 1: for abusing women. If Santa went to prison for smacking
Speaker 1: around Mrs Claude and then tried to come down my chimney,
Speaker 1: Rudolph wouldn't be the only one with a red nose.
Speaker 1: Kwansa didn't pick up seamen to the late seventies, when
Speaker 1: the black middle class began to grow and subourbon Black
Speaker 1: parents wanted to connect their children to their heritage, and
Speaker 1: of course, for there's black people with money, there's companies
Speaker 1: pretending to care about Black culture. So like every other
Speaker 1: major holiday, soon Quanza became commercialized. The Dream beer advertisements,
Speaker 1: Power Rangers, cell phone commercial, Sesame Street even light lady
Speaker 1: than the food networks, making kwands a case. At least,
Speaker 1: I think that's a case that looks like something you
Speaker 1: make when you're drunk. At four. I am point is
Speaker 1: Kwanza had a ride thirty years after its first celebration,
Speaker 1: ten million Americans were celebrating Kwanza. Even the US government acknowledges.
Speaker 1: Bill Clinton made the first presidential declaration marking the holiday,
Speaker 1: although I bet he was just trying to get another
Speaker 1: invites our Stenio and the US Postal Service even commissioned
Speaker 1: to Kuanza stamps. Check it out. It's the closest thing
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to reparations. But Kwanza's moment in the
Speaker 1: sun didn't last long. After the nineties, interest in the
Speaker 1: holiday decline, and now only four percent of Americans celebrated,
Speaker 1: which to me just reflects the changing of the times.
Speaker 1: Younger black people don't feel the need to have a
Speaker 1: holiday to affirm their blackness. From black culture is way
Speaker 1: more visible and easy to engage with Nowadays, there's black Twitter,
Speaker 1: black panther, slicked down baby hairs, and honestly, Kwanza is
Speaker 1: a complicated holiday. It's got a problematic beginning and can
Speaker 1: sometimes come off as African cosplay. But on the other hand,
Speaker 1: it brings families together, send us a black experience and
Speaker 1: as an excuse to have some good food. Not you,
Speaker 1: but maybe the best part of Kwanza is whether you
Speaker 1: celebrate it or not. You can pretend to celebrate it
Speaker 1: so my white friends will buy me gifts. Ha ha
Speaker 1: habari ganni y'all, Siri, what does the barighani mean? Oh?
Speaker 1: She a white lady. She don't know. Watch The Daily
Speaker 1: Show weeknights at eleven central on Comedy Central and stream
Speaker 1: full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a
Speaker 1: Comedy Central podcast