For the third year in a row, President Trump’s White House issued yet another brief Kwanzaa greeting that constituted just five sentences.
“Melania and I send season’s greetings to those observing Kwanzaa both in the United States and around the world,” the greeting began.
“For more than 50 years, this weeklong celebration has been used to honor the heritage and culture African Americans share around the country and worldwide,” it continued. “Every aspect of American life has been enriched by the countless contributions of African Americans. Kwanzaa is an opportunity to foster deeper cultural understanding and build stronger bonds of mutual respect and friendship between all Americans.”
“We hope the light of the Kinara fills your homes with hope and joy, and we send our best wishes for a New Year filled with good health and much happiness,” it concluded.
This year’s Kwanzaa greeting had one slight departure from the previous two years in that it recognized the holiday as something celebrated “worldwide.” Compare this year’s statement with last year’s:
This annual celebration of African heritage, unity, and culture is a special opportunity for many to reflect on their shared ancestry and values. At this time, our Nation joins in honoring the important contributions of African Americans to the strength and success of the United States. As families, friends, and communities gather this week to light the Kinara, we join in sending our best wishes for good health and happiness in the New Year.
As the years have pressed on, some have resigned themselves to the possibility that President Trump might never go beyond giving Kwanzaa so much as a wink and a nod in recognition. In 2017, some media outlets lamented how Trump’s recognition of Kwanzaa seemed to depart from those of President Obama.
“President Donald Trump’s first White House statement honoring Kwanzaa left out language celebrating African-American culture that had become a staple of former President Barack Obama’s comments about the holiday,” wrote Newsweek in 2017. “Trump’s three-sentence statement, issued Tuesday, contained similar language to Obama’s previous remarks but included little of Obama’s emphasis on the broader values of African-American heritage.”
Simultaneously, The Root said of Trump’s statement: “Three sentences. … Three lousy sentences.” Splinter got mathematical, noting that Trump’s Kwanzaa statement was the shortest of any president. “For comparison, [Bill] Clinton’s first Kwanzaa statement was 143 words long — more than twice as long as Trump’s remarks,” the outlet noted. “President George W. Bush’s 2001 Kwanzaa statement was 172 words long. And in 2009, Barack Obama issued a statement with 196 words.”
Invented in 1966, the actual number of people who celebrate Kwanzaa has been hotly contested for several years. The founder has claimed that as many as 28 million people celebrate it; the African American Cultural Center once claimed 30 million. However, in 2004, a survey for the National Retail Foundation discovered that only 1.6% of those surveyed in the United States celebrated the holiday. Even one of Kwanzaa’s most prominent public proponents, researcher and professor Keith Mayes, has admitted that the holiday’s popularity has seriously waned since the 1960s and 1970s.