From a longtime African-American reader of NRO (I know because he’s been sending me smart emails for years):
I was born and raised in Chicago, not the Caribbean, but I consider Kwanzaa a load of pseudo-African rubbish, cobbled together in 1966 by an ex-convict with a lavish imagination and time on his hands. It has nothing to do with any established African cultural or religious tradition, and it wouldn’t matter to me if it did, because I’m not African–I’m American. My folks came over from Africa, to be sure, but I came from Chicago. My beloved sister celebrates Kwanzaa, God bless her, but I can scarcely think of it without sneering. Puhleeze!