Republican lawmaker's 'racist' anti-Kwanzaa post slammed by his own constituents

The Kwanzaa holiday is now officially in full swing, but one Republican state senator from Arizona is publicly railing against it on social media.

In a December 26 post to his X account, senator T.J. Shope — who represents parts of Pinal, Pima and Maricopa Counties — slammed Kwanzaa as a "fake anti-American, anti-Christian 'holiday' celebrated by our governor," and included a photo of a Kwanzaa display at the state capitol in Phoenix set up by the office of Arizona Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs.

The Phoenix New Times reported that Shope's tweet has been panned by African American leaders from his district. This includes the Afri-Soul Education Center (ASEC) owner Darlene Little, who set up a Kwanzaa display at the Arizona state capitol last year. One of the Black-owned businesses the ASEC incubated has its own Kwanzaa display at the capitol to commemorate this year's holiday.

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“It’s just informative for people who want to hear it,” Little said. “Nobody makes you go. Nobody makes you listen.”

Kwanzaa was invented in the 1960s by Black separatist Maulana (formerly Ron) Karenga, who currently chairs the African Studies Department at Long Beach State University in California. Karenga wrote that he wanted to "give Black people an alternative to the existing holiday of Christmas and give Black people an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society." The holiday runs between December 26 and January 1, and celebrates principles like creativity, faith, unity and self-reliance.

Darlene Little wrote off Shope's comments about Kwanzaa, saying that he was entitled to his opinion and that modern society means that the Black community no longer needs whites to "co-sign" or even understand their traditions. But Patience Ogunbanjo, who runs the food truck Lasgidi Cafe, said the senator's tweet was "a bit prejudiced" and "could be defined as racist."

"It reflects the misunderstanding of the profound culture and the cultural significance of Kwanzaa for a lot of African Americans, not only in Phoenix, not only in Arizona, but across the United States," Ogunbanjo said.

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Click here to read the Phoenix New Times' full article.