Obama takes break from imperialism to extend Kwanzaa greetings

The Obama's (source: infotainment news)

Editor's note: I feel kinda weird posting a pic of a beautiful Black family and then criticizing the Black man of the (white) house but duty calls. GI
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These statements are obviously more symbolic than meaningful. His 2010 message is very short. If you remove the obligatory description of Kwanzaa its a whopping two sentences long. Very short for a professor president. The 2009 statement was more substantive and George Bush's 2008 statement is the only one that actually mentions African culture (Bush could care less about Kwanzaa which just goes to show you that the messages don't mean much). [1] 

The point of Kwanzaa is not that we are all Americans but rather that we celebrate and honor our African heritage. But this statement pretty much sums up Obama's limitations. He did a similar trick in Ghana. The transatlantic slave trade suddenly became the Jewish Holocaust.[2] Likewise Kwanzaa gets reduced to "American" and "American" really means white. And if we are all just an undifferentiated mass of "Americans" then African Americans have no special grievances. 

Second, the implication is disingenuous. Obama doesn't serve the interests of Americans. He serves at the behest of wealthy elite white people like all other presidents.That formula will never change until we, African Americans, get up the courage to build a viable third party. 

African Americans imagine that jazz concerts[3] at the White House or official Kwanzaa statements means that we are "in," that Obama's ascendancy is an indicator of black progress. But I think his presidency has been harmful in the sense that we are more likely to condone things like grossly belligerent foreign policy objectives and we concede any sort of progressive domestic agenda for fear undermining the first black President.[4]

 NOTES

[1] Obama 2009, Bush 2008 Kwanzaa statements.

[2] Obama discusses the African American experience of slavery with Anderson Cooper in Ghana.
[3] YouTube - The First Lady Introduces the White House Jazz Studio

[4] This paragraph was inserted on 28 December after the original post. kzs

Statement by the President and First Lady on Kwanzaa

Michelle and I extend our warmest thoughts and wishes to all those who are celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season.  Today [26 December] is the first of a joyful seven-day celebration of African American culture and heritage. The seven principles of Kwanzaa -- Unity, Self Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith -- are some of the very values that make us Americans.

As families across America and around the world light the Kinara today in the spirit of umoja or unity, our family sends our well wishes and blessings for a happy and healthy new year.

source: The White House

tags: kwanzaa, barack obama, afrocentric, ancestors, ghana, slavery

Also dig:

• Its better late than never: Obama issues a Kwanzaa statement
• "Can we be a free people while taking on the values of the people that enslaved us?"
• Is Kwanzaa Still Important? | TheLoop21.com by Mark Anthony Neal