The Myth that is Kwanzaa

Well, here is my novella for the year:

Now that Kwanzaa has sufficiently passed, I thought it might be a good time to review what Kwanzaa is really about. Kwanzaa, by definition of Wikipedia, “is a week-long secular holiday honoring African-American heritage, observed from December 26 to January 1 each year, almost exclusively by African-Americans in the United States of America. Kwanzaa consists of seven days of celebration, featuring activities such as candle-lighting and pouring of libations, and culminating in a feast and gift-giving. It was founded by black nationalist Ron "Maulana" Karenga, and first celebrated from December 26, 1966, to January 1, 1967. Karenga calls Kwanzaa the African American branch of "first fruits" celebrations of classical African cultures.”

Although it sounds like a great benign holiday reminiscing back to the African continent, a good commentary by Ann Coulter brings out many of the uncirculated facts about the establishment of Kwanzaa that might make some of the celebrants reconsider their honoring of an essentially bogus holiday, which has no roots in any African celebration itself. As Wikipedia reports, “In the book Kwanzaa (2005), author Sara McGill states, "there are many people of African descent who do not know the purpose of Kwanzaa or how to celebrate it. Others refuse to celebrate Kwanzaa because it is not a true African tradition." (Jackson, p. 2). Black civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson wrote, "the whole holiday is made up! You won’t find its roots in Africa or anywhere else."[13].” Peterson also writes that “When once asked why he designed Kwanzaa to take place around Christmas, Karenga explained, “People think it’s African, but it’s not. I came up with Kwanzaa because black people wouldn’t celebrate it if they knew it was American. Also, I put it around Christmas because I knew that’s when a lot of bloods would be partying.” Karenga has explained that his creation of Kwanzaa was motivated in part by hostility toward both Christianity and Judaism.” [Click here to continue reading Peterson’s commentary on how Kwanzaa has infiltrated some of the black community and is affecting their religious beliefs in a negative way.] William J. Bennetta also supports Peterson’s take on Kwanzaa taking from the other religious holidays—Christmas and Hanukkah—and secularizing them: “Kwanzaa is supposed to be celebrated from 26 December through 1 January: It competes with Christmas and Chanukah while incorporating some echoes of both, e.g., gift-giving and a ceremony built around a seven-holed candle-holder that recalls Judaism's seven-branched menorah.”

In Wikipedia’s entry about Kwanzaa, it acknowledges the controversy surrounding the holiday and its founder: “There has been criticism of Kwanzaa's authenticity and relevance, and of the motiviations of its founder, Karenga. The origins of Kwanzaa are not secret, and are openly acknowledged by those promoting the holiday.[12] Some criticize Kwanzaa because it is not a traditional holiday of African people, and because of its recent provenance, having been invented in 1966.”

In Coulter’s aforementioned commentary, she discusses the dubious beginnings of the holiday, by a “black radical FBI stooge, Ron Karenga, aka Dr. Maulana Karenga. Karenga was a founder of United Slaves, a violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers and a dupe of the FBI…. United Slaves were proto-fascists, walking around in dashikis, gunning down Black Panthers and adopting invented "African" names. (That was a big help to the black community: How many boys named "Jamal" currently sit on death row?) Whether Karenga was a willing dupe, or just a dupe, remains unclear.”

These statements about the colorful history—including time in prison—of Kwanzaa’s founder, Ron Karenga, have been corroborated by different sources. “In 1971 Karenga, Louis Smith, and Luz Maria Tamayo were convicted of felony assault and false imprisonment for assaulting and torturing two women from the United Slaves, Deborah Jones & Gail Davis….At Karenga's trial, the question arose as to Karenga's sanity. It appears that Karenga may have had a mental breakdown due to the stress of dealing with the violence and murders surrounding his United Slaves (US) organization and the Black Panther Party (BPP). His behavior became bizarre. And, at his trial, a psychiatrist's report stated the following: "This man now represents a picture which can be considered both paranoid and schizophrenic with hallucinations and illusions, inappropriate affect, disorganization, and impaired contact with the environment."[1] Karenga was an intelligent man with tremendous creativity, but apparently was unable to deal effectively with his troubled past and the possibility of imprisonment. "The psychiatrist reportedly observed that Karenga talked to his blanket and imaginary persons, and he believed he'd been attacked by dive-bombers. He was sentenced to one-to-ten years in prison on counts of felonious assault and false imprisonment."[2]” [source: Wikipedia]

The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa have also been called into question regarding their real meaning. They are celebrated as the following:

• Umoja (Unity) To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
• Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
• Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.
• Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
• Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
• Kuumba (Creativity) To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• Imani (Faith) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
  

Coulter states that their foundation came from the Symbionese Liberation Army: “Coincidentally, the seven principles of Kwanzaa are the very same seven principles of the Symbionese Liberation Army, another charming invention of the Least-Great Generation. In 1974, Patricia Hearst, kidnap victim-cum-SLA revolutionary, posed next to the banner of her alleged captors, a seven-headed cobra. Each snake head stood for one of the SLA's revolutionary principles: Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumba and Imani – the same seven "principles" of Kwanzaa.” Karenga uses Swahili terms to embody his principles which correspond with his “Path of Blackness,” which is detailed in his Quotable Karenga: “The sevenfold path of blackness is think black, talk black, act black, create black, buy black, vote black, and live black”….Karenga’s Kwanzaa celebration consists of seven “principles.” They are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination – code for “buy black”), Ujima (collective work and responsibility – groupthink), Ujamaa (cooperative economics – socialism), Nia (purpose) Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith – in man, not God).” [source: Peterson]

This holiday was apparently not created in the best interest of the black community. It is based in the views of a man who espouses hatred towards “God, Christians, Jews, and blacks – yes blacks,” according to Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, who is a black man himself. It has tried to pry black people away from celebrating Christmas in its fullness by diluting it with a false secularized cultural holiday with no real basis. It encourages potential racist beliefs by separating blacks out for their own holiday to further isolate themselves in the American culture that they live in. I hope that this posting will help anyone—including blacks—not to give credence to a holiday that is considered racist, a hoax, and false throughout.