An Ignorant White Woman’s Kwanzaa Poem

Kwanzaa

It all starts
with Africa–
source of humanity
and civilization.

My ancestors left.
They created new views
and principles. How well
did they serve us?

Our skin became
pale as we kept
multiplying and dividing–
multiplying and dividing,
like doing so would
get us somewhere.

From my fractured
and broken ancestry,
I look in the windows.
I am ignorant and white.
Looking in on Kwanzaa, from the
outside I try to hearken back.

It has been
too long and I am
too pale. I look with guilt.
I hope no one sees me.
To know I’m disrespectful,
culturally appropriative,
or insensitive would kill me.

So I retreat
this isn’t my holiday.
I want to support Kwanzaa,
but I am just an
ignorant
white
woman.

So I will try to live the
principles.
Unity
Self-Determination
Collective work and responsibility
Cooperative Economics
Purpose
Creativity
and Faith.
In all my communities
I will grow and knit these principles into them.
Perhaps eventually the world can be healed
and knit back together
into Africa
where it all began.