OxBlog

Friday, December 26, 2003

# Posted 10:23 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

KWANZAA IS UN-AMERICAN: Only a black person is allowed to say that. Which is why the NYT found a black op-ed writer who wanted to say that.

Her argument is extremely persuasive. Why should black Americans search for a mythical African past when they have so much to celebrate about their American heritage?

After all, what is more quintessentially American than a downtrodden people's legendary struggle to win those rights reserved for all mankind by the Declaration of Independence? As the NYT op-ed notes,
Indeed, their [i.e. African-Americans'] goals — self-determination, individual rights, social mobility, the franchise, majority rule, religious freedom — had little counterpart in the African tradition. They demanded their American birthright. They panned for gold. They pioneered the West. They educated their children in Europe. Few returned to Africa.
Black Americans have much to resent about their treatment throughout the centuries. Yet their struggles have defined what it is to be American for all of us, both black and white (and every other color). That is something we can all celebrate.
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