I beg people not to accept the seasonal ritual of well-timed charity on Christmas Eve. It’s blasphemy.

Kozol is condemning charity that is punctual, ceremonial, and self-congratulatory—especially the kind that peaks at Christmas and then recedes—because it can function as a moral alibi rather than a commitment to justice. Calling it “blasphemy” frames the issue in religious-ethical terms: a sacred season associated with compassion is, in his view, profaned when generosity becomes a once-a-year performance that leaves structural poverty intact. The quote presses for sustained solidarity and political responsibility (schools, housing, wages, health) rather than episodic giving that soothes the giver’s conscience while normalizing deprivation the rest of the year.