NASSAU COUNTY CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC.
"The government is us, we are the government, you and I." Teddy Roosevelt
|
NASSAU COUNTY CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC. "The government is us, we are the government, you and I." Teddy Roosevelt |
|
December 31, 2006
Kwanzaa
A celebration of culture or a holiday of hate?
What is Kwanzaa?
While many have heard of Kwanzaa, few understand what the actual "holiday" stands for. It has been called a celebration of African culture that embodies the Swahili traditions. The name "Kwanzaa" is Swahili and stands for "fresh fruits of the harvest". On the surface, it would appear that this 'holiday" is nothing more than a secular cultural celebration with historical significance. The truth of "Kwanzaa" is actually a reflection of the man who created it, Ronald McKinley Everett.
History of the founder
In 1965, Ronald McKinley Everett a leader in the black separatist movement & disciple of Malcolm X broke from the "Black Panthers" and founded the "United Slaves Organization". In 1969, Members of the United Slaves were linked to the murder of two black panthers. In 1971, Everett was convicted of felony assault and false imprisonment for torturing two female members of the United Slaves. At the time of his trial, a Psychiatrist's report noted the following; "This man now represents a picture that can be considered both paranoid and schizophrenic with hallucinations and illusions, inappropriate affect, disorganization, and impaired contact with the environment...a danger to society who is in need of prolonged custodial treatment in prison." Everett served 4 years in a California prison. At the time of his release, he changed his name to Maulana Ron Karenga ("Master teacher" in "Swahili) and embraced Marxism.
In 1975, Everett reorganized the United Slaves as "The Organization US". He obtained several degrees in black studies and became chairman of the black studies department at California State University, Long Beach from 1989 to 2002. In 1995, he drafted the mission statement for the Million Man March sponsored by racist Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and was an invited speaker at the event.
Holiday of Hate
Everett created Kwanzaa in December of 1966. He based Kwanzaa on his philosophy of "Kawaida" which includes the hatred of whites. His hatred is not limited to whites but also Christians and Jews. The teachings of Kwanzaa clearly mock those of faith. The Kinora is a mockery of the Menorah.
"Belief in spooks who threaten us if we don't worship them and demand we turn over our destiny and daily lives must be categorized as spookism and condemned." Kawaida Theory, 1980, pg 27.
"...it is a simplistic and often erroneous answer to existential ignorance fear, powerlessness and alienation. An example is the Hebrew myth of the six-day creation and the tower of Babel, or Christian myths of resurrection, heaven and hell;" Kawaida Theory, pg 23.
"...it often denies and diminishes human worth, capacity, potential and achievement. In Christian and Jewish mythology, humans are born in sin, cursed with mythical ancestors who've sinned and brought the wrath of an angry God on every generation's head. ... If a mythical being has done, does and will do everything, what's our relevance and role in the world?" Kawaida Theory, pg 24.
"Thus if persons want to fast or pray, read numbers, stare at stars, chant spookistic slogans or anything similar, they may, but is imperative that they not add these to or pretend they are a part of the principles and practices of Kwanzaa." Kawaida Theory, pg 15.
The Reason for Kwanzaa
"... it 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." pg. 21, Kwanzaa: Origin, Concepts, Practice, 1977
"Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing family, community and culture among African American people as well as Africans throughout the world African community." "The Official Kwanzaa Website"
"Thus the core principles of Kwanzaa are the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) which I developed and proposed during the Black Cultural Revolution in the Sixties as a necessary minimum set of principles by which Black people must live in order to begin to rescue and reconstruct our history and lives. The Nguzo Saba are thus, social principles dealing with ways for us to relate to each other and rebuild our lives in our won image." Kwanzaa: Origin, Concepts, Practice 1977, pg14
The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa
Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles of Blackness, which are reinforced during the seven days of Kwanzaa:
1) Umoja (Unity)
"To strive for and maintain unity
in the family, community, nation and race."
"...unity means a
oneness, a similarity and sameness that gives us an identity as a people, an
African people." Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and
Culture, p 44.
2) Kujichagulia (Self-determination) "To define ourselves, name
ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves instead of being
defined, named, created for and spoken for by others."
"The principle and practice of self-determination expresses and supports the
concept and practice of Afrocentricity. Afrocentricity is a quality of thought
and practice which is rooted in the cultural image and human interests of
African people." p 50.
3) Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) "To build and maintain our
community together and make our sister's and brother's problems our problems and
to solve them together.
...is commitment to active and
informed togetherness on matters of common interest. It is also recognition and
respect for the fact that without collective work and struggle, progress is
impossible and liberation unthinkable." p 51.
4) Ujamaa (Cooperative
Economics) "To build
and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them
together."
*"The fourth principle ... is essentially a commitment to the practice of
shared social wealth and the work necessary to achieve it." p 55.
5) Nia (Purpose) "To
make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in
order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
The assumption here is that our
role in human history has been and remains a key one; that we as an African
people share in the great human legacy Africa has given the world." p 58.
6) 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." p 61.
7) 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."[1]
"For in all African spiritual traditions, from
Egypt on, it is taught that we are in
the image of the Creator and thus capable of ultimate righteousness and
creativity through self-mastery and development in the context of positive
support." p 65.
Kwanzaa Pledge of Allegiance
"We pledge allegiance to the red, black and green, our flag, the symbol of our eternal struggle, and to the land we must obtain; one nation of black people, with one God of us all, totally united in the struggle, for black love, black freedom and black self-determination."
The Truth behind Kwanzaa
The “Holiday” of Kwanzaa is nothing more then a false celebration predicated on hate and separatism built on the foundation of human secularism. It’s the angry ramblings of a violent felon, who seeks to perpetrate division among the American people in furtherance of his desire to build a separate nation within a nation. Stand up for unity and let others know the truth behind Kwanzaa.
[1] The principles of Kwanzaa are the same as those of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a terrorist organization which "kidnapped" Patricia Hurst in 1974-Kwanzaa; Holiday from the FBI, Ann Coulter, December 27, 2006.
Information obtained from the following sources:
http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga