Black Christmas under threat from the dollar
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 26/12/2003)
By any measure, Dr Maulana Karenga has pulled off a remarkable feat. In 1966,
he invented a seven-day festival of African unity.
Like a latter-day Malcolm X let loose in Santa's workshop, he blended African
harvest festivals with ancient Egyptian traditions and Black Power theology,
then bound the lot together with a smattering of Swahili rituals.
US Postal Service stamp
It is a wholly invented tradition - yet today, an estimated 18 million people
celebrate Kwanzaa. There are Kwanzaa postage stamps. This week, President
George W Bush will issue a formal Kwanzaa message to the nation.
Corporate America has caught on. For the duration of the holiday, from Dec 26
until Jan 1, stores will put on Kwanzaa displays, featuring African clothes,
perhaps, and a kinara - the seven-branched candlestick at the centre of the
festival.
You can buy your kinara from Avon, the catalogue giant. Hallmark sells Kwanzaa
cards and wrapping paper, there are Kwanzaa cookbooks, and - from Paramount
pictures - a "Rugrats" Kwanzaa cartoon.
Yet Dr Karenga - a former firebrand of the Black Power movement, now chairman
of black studies at California State University - is far from happy.
Dr Karenga has denounced what he dubs "the corporate world's move to penetrate
and dominate the Kwanzaa market".
Not only are big corporations trying to push small black businesses aside, they
are trying to subvert his invention from the inside, he complains.
"Manipulating the language and symbols of Kwanzaa, they will seek not only to
sell corporation-generated Kwanzaa items, but also to introduce a full range of
corporate products as necessary for the practice of Kwanzaa," he said recently
in a statement issued by the official Kwanzaa website.
Black people must build a "wall of resistance", and "refuse to co-operate with
the corporate drive to dominate and redefine it and make it simply another
holiday to maximise sales", Dr Karenga said.
Opalanga, the "project weaver", or organiser, of one of the largest Kwanzaa
celebrations, in Denver, said Kwanzaa was a victim of its own success.
Opalanga, who does not use a second name, is "disturbed" by mass-produced
Kwanzaa items. "We have to step up production of our own artefacts, if we are
not to be smashed by Avon, or Hallmark."
Kwanzaa is not intended as a religious alternative to Christmas, though some
black Christians shun it as a "heathen" celebration. To Dr Karenga, the problem
is the secular traditions surrounding Christmas, which he finds overwhelmingly
"European", from Father Christmas to mistletoe.
Prof Venetria Patton, director of African American Studies at Purdue University
in Indiana, agrees. She grew up in an America where the children on Christmas
cards were all white. To this day, if she takes her children to a Santa's
grotto, they invariably end up sitting on a white man's knee.
Prof Patton and her family celebrate all seven days of Kwanzaa, lighting the
"Mishumaa Saba", or ritual candles, offering libations to their ancestors, and
exchanging "Ziwadi", or educational gifts, usually books.
The rituals are invented, and Swahili may well not have been the mother tongue
of her ancestors, Prof Patton conceded.
Like almost all black Americans, she has no idea where her ancestors came from.
Slave traders did not keep genealogical records, and often jumbled different
ethnic groups together, so they could not plot revolts, she noted gently.
Prof Patton is not alarmed by the corporate world's new interest in Kwanzaa.
"It increases awareness of the holiday. It's like any other convenience. If you
use an Avon Kinara but keep focused on some of the fundamental principles of
Kwanzaa, I don't see a problem," she said.
Prof Patton will be giving her three children books wrapped in Kwanzaa paper
she bought at Wal-Mart, she admitted. "It's convenient. And I would rather
someone was able to have Kwanzaa wrapping paper from Wal-Mart, than have to use
paper covered in little white Santas."
.
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| User: "WH" |
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| Title: Re: The made up Holiday |
25 Dec 2003 04:41:03 AM |
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"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> skrev i meddelandet
news:20031224102930.15319.00001463@mb-m12.aol.com...
Black Christmas under threat from the dollar
By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 26/12/2003)
By any measure, Dr Maulana Karenga has pulled off a remarkable feat. In
1966,
he invented a seven-day festival of African unity.
Like a latter-day Malcolm X let loose in Santa's workshop, he blended
African
harvest festivals with ancient Egyptian traditions and Black Power
theology,
then bound the lot together with a smattering of Swahili rituals.
US Postal Service stamp
It is a wholly invented tradition - yet today, an estimated 18 million
people
celebrate Kwanzaa. There are Kwanzaa postage stamps. This week, President
George W Bush will issue a formal Kwanzaa message to the nation.
Anything for votes...eh pantyboy?
WH
.
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| User: "Ex." |
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| Title: Re: The made up Holiday |
24 Dec 2003 10:02:18 AM |
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And Happy Kwanzaa to you too Tony!
I'm quite glad to see you celebrating the festive rituals of other cultures!
It's quite a change, and a very pleasant one too! I had you pegged as a
'closet White Supremist' but I guess I was wrong ...
/ex
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20031224102930.15319.00001463@mb-m12.aol.com...
: Black Christmas under threat from the dollar
: By David Rennie in Washington
: (Filed: 26/12/2003)
:
:
: By any measure, Dr Maulana Karenga has pulled off a remarkable feat. In
1966,
: he invented a seven-day festival of African unity.
:
: Like a latter-day Malcolm X let loose in Santa's workshop, he blended
African
: harvest festivals with ancient Egyptian traditions and Black Power
theology,
: then bound the lot together with a smattering of Swahili rituals.
:
:
: US Postal Service stamp
: It is a wholly invented tradition - yet today, an estimated 18 million
people
: celebrate Kwanzaa. There are Kwanzaa postage stamps. This week, President
: George W Bush will issue a formal Kwanzaa message to the nation.
:
: Corporate America has caught on. For the duration of the holiday, from Dec
26
: until Jan 1, stores will put on Kwanzaa displays, featuring African
clothes,
: perhaps, and a kinara - the seven-branched candlestick at the centre of
the
: festival.
:
: You can buy your kinara from Avon, the catalogue giant. Hallmark sells
Kwanzaa
: cards and wrapping paper, there are Kwanzaa cookbooks, and - from
Paramount
: pictures - a "Rugrats" Kwanzaa cartoon.
:
: Yet Dr Karenga - a former firebrand of the Black Power movement, now
chairman
: of black studies at California State University - is far from happy.
:
: Dr Karenga has denounced what he dubs "the corporate world's move to
penetrate
: and dominate the Kwanzaa market".
:
: Not only are big corporations trying to push small black businesses aside,
they
: are trying to subvert his invention from the inside, he complains.
:
: "Manipulating the language and symbols of Kwanzaa, they will seek not only
to
: sell corporation-generated Kwanzaa items, but also to introduce a full
range of
: corporate products as necessary for the practice of Kwanzaa," he said
recently
: in a statement issued by the official Kwanzaa website.
:
: Black people must build a "wall of resistance", and "refuse to co-operate
with
: the corporate drive to dominate and redefine it and make it simply another
: holiday to maximise sales", Dr Karenga said.
:
: Opalanga, the "project weaver", or organiser, of one of the largest
Kwanzaa
: celebrations, in Denver, said Kwanzaa was a victim of its own success.
: Opalanga, who does not use a second name, is "disturbed" by mass-produced
: Kwanzaa items. "We have to step up production of our own artefacts, if we
are
: not to be smashed by Avon, or Hallmark."
:
: Kwanzaa is not intended as a religious alternative to Christmas, though
some
: black Christians shun it as a "heathen" celebration. To Dr Karenga, the
problem
: is the secular traditions surrounding Christmas, which he finds
overwhelmingly
: "European", from Father Christmas to mistletoe.
:
: Prof Venetria Patton, director of African American Studies at Purdue
University
: in Indiana, agrees. She grew up in an America where the children on
Christmas
: cards were all white. To this day, if she takes her children to a Santa's
: grotto, they invariably end up sitting on a white man's knee.
:
: Prof Patton and her family celebrate all seven days of Kwanzaa, lighting
the
: "Mishumaa Saba", or ritual candles, offering libations to their ancestors,
and
: exchanging "Ziwadi", or educational gifts, usually books.
:
: The rituals are invented, and Swahili may well not have been the mother
tongue
: of her ancestors, Prof Patton conceded.
:
: Like almost all black Americans, she has no idea where her ancestors came
from.
: Slave traders did not keep genealogical records, and often jumbled
different
: ethnic groups together, so they could not plot revolts, she noted gently.
:
: Prof Patton is not alarmed by the corporate world's new interest in
Kwanzaa.
:
: "It increases awareness of the holiday. It's like any other convenience.
If you
: use an Avon Kinara but keep focused on some of the fundamental principles
of
: Kwanzaa, I don't see a problem," she said.
:
: Prof Patton will be giving her three children books wrapped in Kwanzaa
paper
: she bought at Wal-Mart, she admitted. "It's convenient. And I would rather
: someone was able to have Kwanzaa wrapping paper from Wal-Mart, than have
to use
: paper covered in little white Santas."
:
:
.
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: The made up Holiday |
24 Dec 2003 10:22:09 AM |
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Ex."
wrote:
I'm quite glad to see you celebrating the festive rituals of other cultures!
It's quite a change, and a very pleasant one too! I had you pegged as a
'closet White Supremist' but I guess I >was wrong ...
Oh yeah, let's just have radicals going around creating holidays on a whim.
What a loser you are.
Tony
"Sometimes we don't need History at all."
Dani
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| User: "Ex." |
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| Title: Re: The made up Holiday |
24 Dec 2003 11:19:39 AM |
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"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20031224112209.04365.00001552@mb-m29.aol.com...
: >Ex."
: wrote:
:
: >I'm quite glad to see you celebrating the festive rituals of other
cultures!
: >It's quite a change, and a very pleasant one too! I had you pegged as a
: >'closet White Supremist' but I guess I >was wrong ...
:
: Oh yeah, let's just have radicals going around creating holidays on a
whim.
Jesus was considered a radical in his day too ... that's why the Jews nailed
him to a cross and let him die.
There's nothing harmful in Kwanzaa. It's a way to try and establish a
heritage for a people who were torn from their homeland to become the slaves
of a destructive and hateful group of people.
Merry Xmas!
/ex
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| User: "Never anonymous Bud" |
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| Title: Re: The made up Holiday |
24 Dec 2003 09:55:21 AM |
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While still snuggled in a 'spider hole', (TonyZ2001)
scribbled:
It is a wholly invented tradition - yet today, an estimated 18 million people
celebrate Kwanzaa.
WOW! (he said, facetiously) That's about 6% of the population of the U.S.
To reply by email, remove the XYZ.
Lumber Cartel (tinlc) #2063. Spam this account at your own risk.
This sig censored by the Office of Home and Land Insecurity....
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