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There are few living people who can say they created a holiday celebrated by millions of people, and one of them was at Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery on Sunday afternoon.
Maulana Karenga, a professor of Africana studies at California State University in Long Beach, created Kwanzaa in 1966 and remains its most prominent advocate.
The holiday includes seven days, one for each of seven key principles. Sunday recognized ujamaa, or cooperative economics, and Karenga was in Rochester to share his vision at the invitation of the Rochester Kwanzaa Coalition.
As he explained it, Kwanzaa transcends African culture to celebrate the universal: “the celebration of Kwanzaa is about embracing ethical principles and values ... so the goodness of the world can be shared and enjoyed by us and everyone.”
But at the same time, it is more specifically a celebration of African culture, broadly. Questions about whether white people can celebrate Kwanzaa are improperly cast, Karenga said — the celebration is of black people, not Kwanzaa.
That makes the holiday an opportunity for cross-cultural appreciation as well as soul-searching within the black community.
“What does it mean to be the fathers and mothers of human civilization? What does it mean to be the sons and daughters of the holocaust of enslavement?” Karenga asked of the audience. “What does all that mean? We have to discuss that.”
The values that come from asking those questions — the seven principles — form a moral code based on love for oneself and others, shared responsibility and a distaste for injustice, Karenga said.
“These principles, practiced throughout the year, ensure that Kwanzaa is not only a season of celebration but also a living and lived tradition,” he said.
Karenga is no stranger to upstate New York — Buffalo has one of the country’s most active Kwanzaa celebrations and the founder attends it every year, according to Kiah Nyame, a member of the Rochester Kwanzaa Coalition.
Jahmal Golden, 20, has been an admirer of Karenga’s since he was a child and was eager to see him speak in person.
“(Kwanzaa) transcends when it was created and reflects our current experience,” he said. “I love that he was here to bring that to us today.”
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