Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted on Tuesday to celebrate the holiday of Kwanzaa, which was founded by a black nationalist convicted of torturing women.
“Happy Kwanzaa! To all those celebrating, Doug and I hope your week is filled with community and light,” tweeted Vice President Harris.
Happy Kwanzaa! To all those celebrating, Doug and I hope your week is filled with community and light. pic.twitter.com/z4AS1b6k4C
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) December 26, 2023
Harris, who was born two years prior to the creation of Kwanzaa, further tweeted that she celebrated the holiday when she was “growing up”. (RELATED: ‘Let Us Celebrate’ — Trump Rings In Kwanzaa)
Growing up, Kwanzaa was always a special time where we would come together to celebrate culture, community, and family.
Sending my warmest wishes to all who are celebrating in the United States and around the world. May your days be filled with love and light.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) December 26, 2023
President Joe Biden also acknowledged the holiday in a tweet.
To everyone celebrating, Jill and I wish you a joyous Kwanzaa.
In 2024, it’s our hope that we will all remember the wisdom of the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa, especially the values of unity and faith.
May your celebrations be filled with hope and light.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 26, 2023
The holiday was created in 1966 by Maulana Ron Karenga (born Ronald Everett) as a Pan-African celebration of black values, history, community and culture, according to the Smithsonian Institution.
Karenga was deeply anti-Christian and intended for the holiday to replace Christmas for blacks as he thought of Christianity as a “white” religion, a black community organizer in the Indianapolis Recorder wrote. Five years after founding Kwanzaa, Karenga ended up in prison on charges of kidnapping and torturing two women, a fact check from The Dispatch noted. He allegedly used a soldering iron, a vice and toaster as instruments of torturing the women.
These aspects of Karenga were alluded to in a Twitter thread by Saurabh Sharma, the president of the American Moment organization, when he wrote that the vice president was celebrating “a fake holiday invented by a communist fed, violent pervert, and convicted criminal Ronald McKinley Everett, also known by his adopted LARP moniker Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga.”
Good morning.
Today our half-Jamaican, half-Indian Vice President has elected to acknowledge a fake holiday invented by a communist fed, violent pervert, and convicted criminal Ronald McKinley Everett, also known by his adopted LARP moniker Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga.
Thread 🧵 https://t.co/4eC8PR2dSb
— Saurabh Sharma 🇺🇸 (@ssharmaUS) December 26, 2023
Karenga, however, has acknowledged that “Africans of all faiths can and do celebrate Kwanzaa” given that the holiday has acquired a cultural significance rather than a religious one, History.com noted. Thus, many adherents of Kwanzaa also celebrate Christmas, the outlet added.