Time to End the Kwanzaa Charade

One of the most ridiculous things manufactured in the history of time has got to be the phony holiday period known as Kwanzaa.

Now of course, people may celebrate as they wish, light candles, read poetry and feast as they desire; no one is against that. Unlike Hanukkah and Christmas, which both have deep roots in world history, and are considered legitimate holidays by most standards, the fictional holiday of Kwanzaa was manufactured in 1966 by Ron Karenga (formally known as Ron Everett).

The history of Karenga is troubling enough. See the Wikipedia entry about this violent, woman torturing ex-con here. It's not often that someone as despicable as Karenga gets rewarded by society by giving them credit for founding a holiday.

In order to understand the purpose of Kwanzaa, you have to look at what its creator intended. Karenga clearly has stated that it's founded on his view of the seven principles of "blackness". Karenga urges followers to uphold these principles as they correspond to Karenga's notion that "the sevenfold path of blackness is "think black, talk black, act black, create black, buy black, vote black, and live black."

Moreover, Kwanzaa was founded In 1977, in Kwanzaa: origin, concepts, practice, Karenga stated, that Kwanzaa "was chosen to give a Black alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society. Thus, the entire purpose of this holiday is really to create a separation between Blacks and Whites by inserting a new holiday, and calling Christmas nothing more than the holiday of the dominant or majority - basically calling Christmas the holiday of whites, or the master.

More insulting was Karanga's comments in 1967, when he publicly stated that "Jesus was psychotic" and that Christianity was a white religion that blacks should [turn away from/avoid]. Further alienating himself, he embraced Marxism, and socialist principles apparent in Kwanzaa.

Here are some additional statements from Karenga through this writings with sources.

Unfortunately, good sense doesn't always prevail, in one of his worst moments as President, in 2004 while trying to pander to African-Americans, President George W. Bush, publicly gave credibility to Kwanzaa through a Presidential address to practitioners of this phony holiday. Moreover, the United States Postal Service, under pressure from Black Leaders created a postage stamp recognizing Kwanzaa.

What's also disappointing about Kwanzaa is the fact that it's intent is to create separation in peoples, not unity at Christmastime. Kwanzaa is strictly a black holiday, created specifically for black people. While its true that Hanukkah is religious Jewish-based holiday, it transcends races and ethnic ties. Christianity, whether celebrated religiously or secularly is for all people.

A lot of people are getting caught up in this new tradition out of peer pressure, and undue influence. You might want to take a moment to remind people falling into this trap of what Kwanzaa is really about.

And as for Hallmark, and other calendar companies, maybe its high time to use alternative card and calendar companies that don't collaborate to infiltrate our society with Kwanzaa propaganda for greedy purposes.

Here are some other sources that may be useful:

Why Black Christians Shouldn't Celebrate Kwanzaa

The Difference between Christmas and Kwanzaa

A Case Of the Kwanzaa Blues (New York Times)

The Spirit of Kwanzaa - Mona Charon

Happy Kwanzaa - Paul Mulshine

Kwanzaa - Racist Holiday from Hell - Reverened Jesse Lee Peterson

The Fraud of Kwanzza - The Flopping Aces Blog

Challenging the Original Idea behind Kwanzaa - The finders fire

Interview between Pat Robertson and Jesse Lee Peterson - CBN

Comment of Bush's stupidity to recognize Kwanzaa from the White House - American View

Kwanzaa