Kwanzaa

[msgadget]

Will you be celebrating it this year? Why or why not?

[propagandafreegal]

1. It just doesn't really speak to me... nm

[msgadget]

2. Me either, I could never get into it and

I had no idea it was controversial until I read this review of http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400048575/qid=1103907139/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-3614663-4879914">A Right to Be Hostile: The Boondocks Treasury:

"The second review takes Mr. McGruder to task because Huey Freeman (named after Huey Newton, co-founder of the Back Panther Party) was upset about missing Kwanza--a holiday created by Dr. Karenga, founder of United Slaves (US). The reviewer is correct that US and the Party were enemies, and courtesy of J Edgar Hoover's FBI, US was outfitted with equipment & weapons, with the goal of destroying the Party. Karenga was (and probably still is) a dangerous, unsympathetic character. Nevertheless, I know many people who celebrate Kwanza for the message it carries--despite Karenga."

Naturally I was prompted to some research and I'm glad I did. After reading the following I've vowed never to feel guilty over skipping this 'black' holiday again.

"Who was Ron Karenga?

Glad you asked.

He is a convicted felon – sentenced five years after inventing Kwanzaa for torturing two black women by whipping them with electrical cords and beating them with a karate baton after stripping them naked. He placed in the mouth of one of the victims a hot soldering iron, also scarring her face with the device. He put one of her big toes in a vise, and detergent and running water in both of their mouths.

But that wasn't the beginning of the bizarre and violent behavior of Karenga, the patron saint of Kwanzaa – not by a long shot.

Just about the time he was dreaming up this new holiday, he was also inventing a new political movement on the campus of UCLA. That movement was called "black cultural nationalism." His group was called United Slaves. And it was defined mainly by violent confrontations with the Black Panthers at UCLA. Two of his followers shot dead two members of the Panthers in 1969."


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25998|Did you have a happy Kwanzaa?>


"It is a fact that Kwanzaa was invented in 1966 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.

In what was probably ultimately a foolish gamble, during the madness of the '60s the FBI encouraged the most extreme black nationalist organizations in order to discredit and split the left. The more preposterous the organization, the better. Karenga's United Slaves was perfect. In the annals of the American '60s, Karenga was the Father Gapon, stooge of the czarist police.

Despite modern perceptions that blend all the black activists of the '60s, the Black Panthers did not hate whites. They did not seek armed revolution. Those were the precepts of Karenga's United Slaves. United Slaves were proto-fascists, walking around in dashikis, blowing away 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?)"


http://www.anncoulter.org/columns/2002/122402p.htm|Kwanzaa: A Holiday From the FBI> (by ANN COULTER!)

[Kahuna]

4. What a treasure you are, Msgadget. Thanks for the background..

information. :yourock:

[msgadget]

7. Thank you, Kahuna, but I found it disturbing that the holiday

was hailed by the president at the same time it was lambasted by conservative journalists. When you search for information the majority of the sites will be conservative leaning. Naturally, I'm even more turned off by the very idea because it seems manipulation by some damned body.

OTOH, even though the founder is a freak, the principles are admirable and the right LOVES to poke holes in every good thing we try. If only someone else had proposed it...

[Kahuna]

3. Not me. I've never been into it...

It's very contrived, IMHO.

[Pithy Cherub]

5. Uh, no.

It has spiritual concepts but I just don't feel it...

[Chovexani]

6. I don't celebrate it.

It feels contrived to me, and it doesn't speak to me spiritually or otherwise. As someone who practices Earth-based spirituality I celebrate the Winter Solstice at this time of year instead.

I wasn't aware of the controversy surrounding it, but that gives me even less reason to celebrate it.

[msgadget]

8. How does earth-based spirituality work, Cho?

[Chovexani]

11. It depends on who you ask.

There are many, many paths. But one thing they all have in common is an intrinsic understanding that we are all connected, and we all are connected to the Earth. Different Earth-based spiritualities honor/celebrate this connection in different ways. But that is really the common thread, a deep respect for the planet and seeking a greater understanding of our connection to it. No Popes or dogma. It's "grassroots" spirituality, pun intended. :)

[FrenchieCat]

9. Celebrated it a couple of years....

by going to a Kwanzaa celebration at a friends'. Actually, it was very nice. We had all of the youngsters each take a turn and articulate what they had done in the past year to improve over the prior year. It was very interesting to hear them talk about school and such. The next year....my kids were quite pumped in what they were going to say.....

Apart from that, the rest is kind of humdrum...to me, anyways.

[Swamp Rat]

10. Sure! I'll celebrate anything!

I'm from New Orleans. :D

:toast:

[msgadget]

12. That's why I'm scared to travel your way!

Do y'all really celebrate EVERYTHING? :)

[TheDonkey]

13. I celebrate it

you can seperate the good fromthe bad in the holiday. If you take the good it is a really fun and empowering celebration.

[msgadget]

14. Excellent point, Donkey.

I don't have a problem with that perspective at all. :party: