The Black Informant

Jesse Lee Peterson, a man that I have mixed views recently voiced his opposition to the African-American holiday known as Kwanzaa. Before I get into his take on this issue, I must first take the time to say that most blacks in this country do not even celebrate this holiday. Here is a brief history of the founder of Kwanzaa, Ron N. Everett (a.k.a Ron Karenga):

Short excerpt. Please follow link for the rest of the story:

The inventor of the holiday was one of the few black “leaders” in America even worse than Sharpton. But there was no mention in the Times article of this man or of the fact that at that very moment he was sitting in a California prison. And there was no mention of the curious fact that this purported benefactor of the black people had founded an organization that in its short history tortured and murdered blacks in ways of which the Ku Klux Klan could only fantasize.

It was in newspaper articles like that, repeated in papers all over the country, that the tradition of Kwanzaa began. It is a tradition not out of Africa but out of Orwell. Both history and language have been bent to serve a political goal. When that New York Times article appeared, Ron Karenga’s crimes were still recent events. If the reporter had bothered to do any research into the background of the Kwanzaa founder, he might have learned about Karenga’s trial earlier that year on charges of torturing two women who were members of US (United Slaves), a black nationalist cult he had founded.

A May 14, 1971, article in the Los Angeles Times described the testimony of one of them: “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 Miss Davis’ mouth and placed against Miss Davis’ face and that one of her own big toes was tightened in a vise. Karenga, head of US, also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths, she said.” (more...)

All of us make mistakes from time to time, I do not hold that against him. What bothers me is that there is no record of Karenga expressing any remorse for these crimes. It almost appears that he trumped up this holiday only to cover up his real past. His jailhouse conversion was actually a conversion to Marxism.

The holiday in of itself is a mishmosh of various African celebrations that does a very poor job of celebrating real and authentic African culture. This holiday also illustrate the wide misconception that so many of us had growing up (if we are honest) that Africa is a nation and not a continent.

Here are some comments from Peterson and a local pastor:

Kwanzaa is an African American holiday that celebrates family, community and culture; and its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The word Kwanzaa is derived from a phrase that means first fruits.

Patterson said he has conducted research, attempting to find evidence to tie the celebration with African roots, but has found none.

“There’s no such thing as Kwanzaa. You can look up and down the coast of Africa and you won’t find it,” Patterson said. “It’s made up — a lie.”

Pickerington Pastor Alyce Hardin-Cook, one of the few African American pastors in Fairfield County, said she doesn’t encourage her church members to celebrate Kwanzaa.

“I don’t necessarily adhere to it,” said Hardin-Cook, pastor of Gethsemane United Methodist Church. “When we speak of Christmas our single focus and everything we do in our life is centered around Christ.

“Christianity doesn’t take away from our tradition, culture or heritage. It celebrates all that.” (more...)

If someone wishes to celebrate a holiday that is not Christian-based, that is their choice. But when a holiday is strategically placed to counter a holiday that takes the time to celebrate a major event in Christian history (notice, I did not say that Christmas was a Christian holiday–a quick look into the history of Christmas will prove this point), one needs to reconsider celebrating this holiday.

On one hand, Liberals see this as a wedge issue (a term that they love to use) to put black conservatives who happen to be Christian against the majority in the black community who lean towards the liberal ideology. This is why Peterson got so much press from his remarks. On the other hand, I believe that we will not see Kwanzaa becoming a hot topic because as I said earlier, most blacks do not celebrate it. Kwanzaa was birthed out of the black nationalism movement and has since lost a lot of steam in the black community.

Culture is something to be celebrated, not something to use as some political tool.

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