Conservatives on social media slammed Vice President-elect Kamala Harris after she posted a video conveying Kwanzaa wishes to African-Americans. Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration of African-American culture and is observed from December 26 to January 1.
On Saturday, Harris wished the African-American community on Kwanzaa and said that she had fond memories of the celebration from her childhood. She also said that her family would be celebrating the holiday over Zoom.
"Our Kwanzaa celebrations are one of my favorite childhood memories. The whole family would gather around across multiple generations and we'd tell stories and light the candles," the vice president-elect said.
Harris has a mixed ancestry — Jamaican-born father and Indian-born mother. She spent her childhood in California and Montreal, Canada. Several users noted that Harris was born in the year 1964 in Oakland, California, and questioned how did "multiple generations" of her family take part in a holiday that African-Americans began observing from 1966. According to African Studies professor Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa was a way for African-Americans to "celebrate themselves and their history."
However, conservative users on Twitter slammed Harris over the wishes with some saying that the holiday is not observed in Africa.
"As some one who was born & raised in Africa I can tell there is no such thing as Kwanza. Kamala knows nothing about it because she is an Indian Jamaican who grew up in Canada," one user replied to Harris' tweet.
One user also said that Kwanzaa was not observed in Jamaica — the home country of Harris' father.
"We 'Jamaicans' do not celebrate Kwanzaa. Also, being first-generation myself, I'm confused as to how you could celebrate with multiple generations. This is such a fake post, I understand it's intent, but please do not be fake about it. Just say happy Kwanzaa," a Twitter user said.
Another Twitter user said: "Why would a Tamil family celebrate Kwanzaa in Canada? This seems to be much more likely to be a case of you listening to Tupac in College than grounded in reality."
