When I was a little girl I use to love the smell of a Christmas tree and hated the scratchy feel of angel's hair on my skin. The smell of Christmas in the air was always an indication that something good was about to happen. I live in a large family, which was not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but we found enjoyment in the celebration of this special day. After or before sitting down to eat, my family, or some members, always made the trek to midnight mass or other Christmas celebrations. The celebration I refer to of course is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Besides the smell of pine trees and black cake there was the feeling that we owed something to someone greater than ourselves. This feeling was obvious as family members dressed for church, sang carols or simply gave thanks for another year. I still remember those times and to this day the smell of pine trees brings the memory racing back. Many of that has changed and while I no longer celebrate the holiday I still give thanks for the birth of Jesus Christ and for my family and friends.

My reason(s) for no longer celebrating the holiday are many but for now I will say that my number one issue is the commercialization of the holiday. The other issue that is disturbing to me is the political correctness that has infused itself into our lives during this time of year. Before, it was simply Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah and now its Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Ramadan etc. I take issue mostly with Kwanzaa because once again blacks have decided to segregate themselves from the rest of society. The "holiday" was made up (I think many blacks will say created) in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga. According to Dr. Karenga, Kwanzaa was created to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture. I'm not sure how Africans feel about this idea but I would venture to say they are not too thrilled about it. The celebration, after telling you not to mix the Kwanzaa holiday or its symbols, values and practice with any other culture, focuses on seven principles for the seven days of celebration.

The seven principles are defined and presented with their Swahili name. It goes something like this: Self-Determination - Kujichagulia; Unity-Umoja; Collective Work and Responsibility-Ujima; Cooperative Economics-Ujama; Creativity-Kuumba; and Faith-Imani. All very fine and noble principles but do we need a whole new "holiday" to celebrate and practice them? My answer of course is no. Writer Debra J. Dickerson in a New York Times Op-ed piece said it best when she said, "More important, insofar as Kwanzaa negates the quintessential Americaness of the slave-descendent, it is an affront to the heroism and enunciated goals of our oppressed ancestors. They demanded to be considered and treated, as Americans, not as Africans." How true indeed, hence my discomfort with this "holiday." And we know why white America has bought it hook line and sinker, its called white guilt.

It seems that there are two forces acting here. One is liberal whites who feel guilt at the drop of a pin and two is the group of blacks who make segregation the hallmark of their daily lives. The principles that have been outlined by Dr. Karenga are principles that have been in the black community before 1996 because they were put there by all the people who came before us. The people who were beaten, forced into subhuman lives, people who bandied together to say no more. Once again Ms. Dickerson is right when she says, "The ultimate cop-out of Kwanzaa and other Afrocentric artificialities, is that they devalue (my emphasis) and even negate the lives blacks actually live." Can it be said any better?

I do not celebrate Kwanzaa and I will not celebrate Kwanzaa and as to the principles - I try to live them everyday.