As Christmas celebrations throughout the world wide web came to an end earlier this week, Twitter aimed to be culturally sensitive by continuing the holiday season and paying tribute to the first day of Kwanzaa. However, the social media giant flubbed the acknowledgment presenting a kinara design two candles short and using the wrong colors.
What in the Kujichagulia!!!!
READ MORE: Kwanzaa and the seven principles
The holiday Kwanzaa seven-day festivity that means “the first fruits.” Created by scholar Dr. Maulana Karenga, it seeks to pay homage to African-Americans’ legacy and roots through the following of the Nguzo Saba, a system of principles that reflect ideas that Blacks should aspire to for healthy community.
The ritual around the holiday centers on the lighting of seven candles (three red, one black and three green) on a kinara, each representing a Nguzo Saba principle. Seven principles of the Nguzo Saba are as follows: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
According to the Huff Post, Twitter fumbled and the created emoji of the kinara that they used to represent the holiday. It not only had only five candles, but they even got the color wrong, using a blue candle instead of a black one.
“This was an error. We have now corrected and uploaded a new emoji that is a more accurate rendering of the Kinara. Just a note that it may take a few hours for the change to appear live on all devices globally,” Twitter said in a statement.
The Hill details how attentive and passionate Twitter users took to the platform to call them out on their mistake, but in a rare shift on social media behavior, those same critics came back and gave props to the team for correcting their mistake.
Wait. The #Kwanzaa is wrong.
There are seven principles. ?
— ? (@CharleneCac) December 26, 2019
Looks like someone at @twitter actually listened and updated the kinara. Look at that.
— ? (@CharleneCac) December 27, 2019
While Twitter did mess up the emoji, they correctly tweeted the principles on their @BlackBirds account, which is a dedicated employee resource group that celebrates and encourages diverse perspectives.
This is a time of honoring African Americans’ ancestral roots. Today (#Umoja) is all about striving for and maintaining unity in the family, community, nation and race.
Day 1 is followed by:
Kujichagulia
Ujima
Ujamaa
Nia
Kuumba
Imanipic.twitter.com/8skI0A2wD4— Twitter Blackbirds (@Blackbirds) December 26, 2019
READ MORE: Get your ‘Kwanzaa’ on correctly: Here are the facts you need to know
Kwanzaa begins every year on Dec. 26 and takes place over the following seven days. The holiday was created in 1966 by Karenga to also promote unity among Black people in the United States and the greater African diaspora. Karenga is the chair of Africana studies at California State University, Long Beach. The celebration has expanded from the United States to some parts of Africa.