A Happy Harris Kwanzaa

The Kamala Harris Happy Kwanza video. It’s nauseating, it comes across as insincere, of course it does, it’s her, but is she telling the truth? Don’t laugh, stranger things have happened. Before you assume that the curmudgeonly Limey has finally succumbed to an excess of Christmas booze, remember that although on our side of the aisle we acknowledge the power of stories, we know our stories must be based in fact, so let’s look at the facts.

Kamala Harris was born in California in 1964. Kwanza was invented in 1966. So, purely chronologically it’s possible.

Kamala’s father is Donald J Harris, a Jamaican born economist. Her late mother was Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian born biomedical scientist. They met at UC Berkeley in 1962. Donald was the speaker at a meeting of the Afro-American Association (AAA) which Shyamala was attending. They married the next year.

The AAA went on to be involved in the formation of the Black Panthers and Black Studies as a discipline. They were also involved in the early development of Kwanzaa.

It entirely possible, given that her parents were involved, or at least associated with, such a group, at such a time, that the shiny new holiday was indeed celebrated in the Harris household when Kamala was a little girl. I’d go as far as to say it’s more likely than not.

This means we have to face the possibility, indeed likelihood, that Kamala Devi Harris is, in fact, telling the truth. I’ll give you a moment…

 

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OK, having digested that unappetising bit of gristle, let me reassure you that she’s still as fake as a three-dollar bill.

Although it is quite likely that when she was young her family celebrated Kwanzaa in some form, her description of that celebration really doesn’t ring true. She talks of a multigenerational celebration, with the children sitting on the floor while the “elders” discuss the seven principles of Kwanzaa, like some Disneyfied village in a nice safe suburb of Wakanda. No doubt Morgan Freeman will play her grandfather in the biopic.

Who were these elders? Kamala’s paternal grandparents lived in Jamaica and her maternal ones in India. Her Jamaican grandparents were old school, well to do Jamaicans with no tradition of Kwanzaa or its principles. Her Brahmin Hindu grandparents were even less steeped in the ancient traditions of newly made-up Berkeley crap. Perhaps those discussions among the elders of her fond recollection were, in fact, her grandmother giving her father a clip round the ear and asking “What is this Kwanzaa rubbish you’re talking?! Wash your face an’ get ready fo’ Church!”. Although I’ve seen no evidence that her paternal grandparents visited America for the holidays.

When she was four/five her family did spend some time in Lusaka, capital of the newly independent Zambia, where her maternal grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, had been seconded by the Indian government to help deal with refugees from Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Zambia is staunchly Christian. Any wise old African elders she may have met in Zambia would have no knowledge of Kwanzaa, understandable considering it has been invented thousands of miles away a handful of years before. I doubt her high caste Hindu grandfather would have encouraged his grandchildren mixing with “the natives” anyway. P.V. Gopalan, contrary to what Kamala has said, was not involved in the Indian independence movement. He may well have sympathised, but he was a thoroughly conventional functionary in the Indian Civil Service under the British Raj and made a smooth transition to being the same thing in the civil service of the new Indian Republic. I doubt very much a member of the highest Hindu caste would have had much time for a faux African Hanukkah.

When her parents divorced in 1971 Kamala lived with her mother; but did also spend time with her father. It’s possible that Kwanzaa was a feature of her later childhood, especially if she was with her father around New Year.

Everything we know about her childhood suggests strongly that the image of a wholesome family Kwanzaa, with snowy headed elders imparting wisdom stretching back to the depths of the late ’60s to a bright-eyed young Kamala owes more to her imagination than it does to fact. Who knows? She may well even believe it, that doesn’t make it fact.

If the Biden/Harris “win” doesn’t get overturned we can expect a lot more of this invented Harris heritage over the next few years. Especially if her father passes away (and he’s eighty-two now). It’s noticeable that she talks more of her safely dead mother, who cannot contradict her statements, than her father, who is certainly not afraid to do so. I hope you enjoy this little piece from November.

Kamala Harris’ Father Slams Daughter For Stereotyping Jamaicans | MassCentral

Coming after her squirm inducing mockery of Hanukkah with her distinctly secular husband, this Kwanzaa fantasy does not bode well. If the gruesome twosome take office, sooner or later she’ll summon up the courage to push the silly old bugger down the stairs, like some inconvenient old patriarch in a Mexican soap opera. Then we can expect the snowballing economic, social and geoploitical horrors to be joined by the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour being shunted off stage in favour of a Frankinstein’s monster of a festival of fakery.

Happy HanuKwanzaamass everyone!