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Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, a weeklong celebration running through January 1 that observes seven principles and African traditions. Newsday has information on some events, including the American Museum of Natural History's Kwanzaa Fest! that we mentioned earlier. CityRoom's Sewell Chan writes about Kwanzaa's history in the city and adds, "As a child growing up in Queens, I remember attending Kwanzaa celebrations at the American Museum of Natural History with relatives and friends who, like me, were Chinese-American. The holiday seemed fun and inclusive (and, I admit, a bit exotic), and I eagerly committed to memory the Nguzo Saba, or seven principles, of Kwanzaa: umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity) and imani (faith)."
Celebrating Kwanzaa Around NYC
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Kwanzaa was the creation of Ron Karenga, who also formed a violent black nationalist group, Us, which was involved in the murder of two members of the Black Panthers, who were rivals with Karenga in the late 60s. The Panthers referred to him, as a "bourgeois cultural nationalist".
It doesn't stop there.
In the 70s, Karenga spent time in prison for torturing and assaulting two African-American women from his organization. From the trial, the LA Times reported:
"Deborah Jones, who once was given the Swahili title of an African queen, said she and Gail Davis were whipped with an electrical cord and beaten with a karate baton after being ordered to remove their clothes. She testified that a hot soldering iron was placed in Ms. Davis's mouth and placed against Ms. Davis's face and that one of her own big toes was tightened in a vise. Karenga also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths, she said."
Why does anyone give Kwanzaa any credibility, a silly feast celebrating a non-existent harvest, founded by a misogynistic racist who has no respect for his own kind?
I never really knew about those principles- and I still don't, I guess, because I really only act on about .75 of them(out of 7) on a daily basis. But I can state that if I tried just a little harder, my life would probably not be filled with as many unread books. These are principles to run a country by.
Are there like special foods one should eat each one of the days? You know like typical African American foods and such. Does anyone have a list of them?
I can understand the "K" standing for KFC, and the "w" as in .......... , but the "a's" are throwing me off. Help me out trying to understand this glorious holiday built on being black and proud.
People don't eat zebra, do they?
@thefacts: why focus on the founder instead of the goodwill that the principles offer?
@rfive, because this is a total fabrication. We celebrate Christmas to recognize 2000 of Christian observance, and Hanukkah to recognize thousands of years of Jewish observance. Kwanzaa recognizes one racial group and has no historical basis. It was begun by one person. Yes, it's a great idea, but I find it odd that it is given the same treatment as Christmas and Hanukkah. Kwanzaa is not the same as these other two holidays. Why doesn't Diwali get the same mass attention?
#4: Well, for one thing, if Kwanzaa ("first fruits") celebrates the African harvest, why is it held on 12/26, when the African harvest time is more like 8/26? He's off by at least four months. Can't he count?
Secondly, if Karenga is such a pan-Africanist, why did he change the spelling of 'kwanzaa' from the accepted Swahili spelling of 'kwanza'? Doesn't he think that the Africans know how to spell correctly?
Thirdly, why is it not celebrated in Africa?
I'm sorry, Karenga was a jive-ass, if not outright schizophrenic and sociopath, and anything to do with him is tainted and should be shunned. Why would anyone want to be involved with anything this sadist has to offer?
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I don't give a shit about karenga, nor do I care about kwanza(a). at least not enough to do the simple research to find out dirt on him or the principals. its just pretty sad that you & r1b choose to shit on what others celebrate for little good reason other than your little egos.
you are both a little pathetic.
I doubt either of them care if you find them to be pathetic, Rfive. Sorry if you were feeling empowered for a moment there.
I really don't get it. Is this some African Holiday or celebration, which I doubt because all dem tribes over there don't agree with each other as to where the sun rises? Or is it a bunch of the bros sitting around the hood in Bed Stuy making up some bullshit holiday sharing forties?
I've honestly never met a black person who celebrated Kwanza, and never met a black person who knew much about it. It's probably referred to by PC white-guilt type of white folk trying to be sensitive,thinking it's collective black thing, when it's really not.
The only made up holiday any of the black people I know celebrate is Festivus.
Rfive apparently has a ton of white guilt!
Another BS holiday to sell greeting cards and shit people don't need with money they don't have.
Keep those retail sales #'s up folks! The child-labor factories in China and Vietnam are idle!
#7 Contrary to your misapprehension, I didn't need to do research on Karenga. I am old enough to remember Karenga's jive-ass's antics. The Panthers and other civil rights activists in the 60s despised this racist. I remember the Panthers dismissing him and his programs as "bourgeois cultural nationalism", removed from the stuggles of the American working-class black experience. They likely would say the same about you, my boogie friend. The other inconsistencies of kwanza are self-evident. Perhaps if you knew more about your history, you would share the same sentiment.
If you seem to put such import on the 'holiday', let me ask you a simple question: What have you done lately to observe it?
I'm dreaming of a non-white Kwanzaa.....
I'm still pissed there are no kwanzaa lights on the Empire State building.
This holiday is stupid b/c it "is a total fabrication"
Umm...see every single holiday we celebrate jackass. Just b/c people have been celebrating a fabricated holiday for 2000 or 5000 years doesn't make it any less silly or stupid.
Passover: celebrating the slaughter of thousands of innocent Egyptian babies for the benefit of us, the Jews! God loves us and hates everyone else enough to inflict mass murder for our benefit! Hurrah! Let's eat!
Yeah, now that's a valid holiday...sheesh,
#17 Why do you distort?
Even we Gentiles know that Passover doesn't celebrate the slaughter of innocent Egyptian babies, instead it celebrates the passing over of the Jewish children from the wrath of God.
The Egyptians died because they held the Jews in slavery and this tenth plague would lead the Jews out of slavery to the Promised Land, something Martin Luther King alluded to in his famous 1963 "I have a dream" speech. That is: "It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity."
Now, if you have a problem with Dr. King, that is something else.