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Do You Know the Real History of Kwanzaa? Here’s What It’s All About

Dec. 19, 2012 11:41am Billy Hallowell

If you were watching TheBlaze TV last week, you likely saw Glenn Beck’s satirical “Kwanzaa Edition” of “Jeopardy.” The general premise of the game show was to drive home the point that most people know little to nothing about the African holiday. While Christmas and Hanukkah are more mainstream, the celebration, which is only decades-old, is widely unknown by most Americans.

Unlike the Christian and Jewish observances, Kwanzaa is not religious in nature, although many incorrectly assume that it is. An official web site for the celebration describes it as “an African American and Pan-African holiday celebrated by millions throughout the world African community.”

This Is the History of Kwanzaa | Dr. Maulana Karenga

Photo Credit: AP

Thus, Kwanzaa (which is a word that comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya Kwanza,” which means “first fruits”) is a holiday that is predicated upon ethnicity, pointing to a vastly different lens through which the newly-minted tradition can be viewed.

Whereas Christmas focuses upon Jesus, the central figure of the Christian religion, Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem during the second century B.C. But Kwanzaa, in contrast, celebrates a people. As a holiday that is ethnically and not religiously based, it’s possible for Christians and people of other faith traditions to still partake in the celebration of culture.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Each year, from December 26 through January 1, a small portion of African Americans, descendants of Africa who reside outside of the continent and Africans observe the holiday. The general focus, as Patheos notes, is on “community, family, and culture.” Considering its root in the “first fruits” phase, Kwanzaa is set around the harvest festivals that were common in ancient Africa.

As Patheos notes, the festivities focus upon “Seven Principles. These include: ”unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith” — all elements intended to unite individuals in the African heritage. The outlet also explains some of the traditions that are undertaken to commemorate Kwanzaa:

As part of the celebration, family members decorate a table with special symbols. They usually begin with an African tablecloth, which they cover with a woven mat and a candleholder with seven candles. These candles represent the Seven Principles and are black, red, and green. The one black candle symbolizes the African people, the three red candles their struggle, and the three green candles their hopes for the future. On each day of Kwanzaa, one candle is lit.

Besides these objects, observers also decorate the table with ears of corn, a cup (for pouring a libation in honor of ancestors), books on African life, as well as African objects of art. Many families have striven to keep Kwanzaa simple and focused on internal values, apart from the commercialism and hectic activities often accompanying Christmas.

Like the ancient celebrations it is modeled after, the modern-day holiday, lasts for seven days (observing one principle each day). While reflective of past traditions, Kwanzaa is a modern-day phenomenon. Founded by Dr. Maulana Karenga, a professor and the head of the Department of Africana Studies at California State University Long Beach, it originated in 1966, during the Civil Rights movement in America.

Watch Karenga explain Kwanzaa and its central tenets in detail:

Despite the holiday’s relative newness, Karenga has noted that it is rooted in traditions that pre-cede Christmas and Hanukkah. Citing the fact that the aforementioned ancient festivals were and are often celebrated at the end of December and in January, the professor defends his choice to set Kwanzaa in its current time frame.

“Kwanzaa’s model is older than Christmas and Hanukkah and thus does not borrow from them or seek to imitate them in the or manner,” he told Beliefnet in a past interview surrounding this subject. “And it makes little sense to attribute Kwanzaa’s date of celebration to misconceptions about its replacing Christmas or Hanukkah when it is simply following a pre-established season for African first-fruit celebrations which precede both Hanukkah and Christmas.”

In the same interview, Karenga stressed unity and described Kwanzaa’s founding in a 1960s context, while also connecting its meaning to the importance of ancient and African culture:

“Of all the good which came out of the Black Freedom Movement, both its Civil Rights and Black Power phases, Kwanzaa stands as a unique heritage and cultural institution. It is this institution as a definitive and enduring carrier of culture which has kept the 60′s struggles and achievements as a living tradition.

But it also brings forth the whole of African history and culture as a valuable, ancient and enduring model of human excellence and achievement and uses this culture as a rich resource for addressing modern moral and social issues. It is in celebrating Kwanzaa and practicing its Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles, that our families and community are reaffirmed and reinforced and our lives enriched and expanded.”

While Karenga claims that 28 million people celebrate Kwanzaa across the globe, there are no definitive estimates, especially considering that those who partake are spread throughout the world. In 2010, researcher and professor Keith Mayes, author of the book ”Kwanzaa: Black Power and the Making of the African-American Holiday Tradition,” said that the holiday has leveled off in its support, as the black power movement has simmered.

“It just no longer shows up in some of the places that it did 30 to 40 years ago. You still have people who actually celebrate it,” Mayes said in an interview with Philly.com. “You have third generations of Kwanzaa celebrants…but Kwanzaa no longer has its movement which brought it forth, which is the black power movement. That movement has waned.”

Watch Mayes describe the holiday, below:

Mayes’ added that conservative estimates claim that only one to two million Americans celebrate the holiday. If Karenga’s own assessment is true — that 28 million people observe Kwanzaa — then that means that the vast majority of people taking part reside outside of the U.S., with only a small proportion of African Americans observing the cultural holiday.

TheBlaze reached out to Karenga’s office and e-mailed questions surrounding the founder’s faith and his response to critics who have a negative view of the holiday’s founding. Despite being told by a secretary that answers would be sent back, we have not yet received responses.

If you’re interested in learning more information about the celebration, which is related to an ethnic “struggle to achieve social justice and build a better world,” you can go to the official Kwanzaa web site. In a special FAQ section, Karenga answers a plethora of questions and criticisms, clarifying the meaning behind the festivities.

Carousel image courtesy of ShutterStock.com.

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Comments (124)

AMidnightRider
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:08pm
Has anyone else noticed that our school choir or band performances these days have at least one Hanukkah song, at least one Kwanzaa (or African / Swahili sounding song) and one “Winter Festival” type song (think Jingle Bells, or anything to do with snow), after all we don’t want to offend anyone. Which is why they also rarely get to perform actual Christmas songs that contain religious symbols or mention Christ.

Or may be I just see conspiracies everywhere these days ;-)

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- JRook
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:37pm
  And of course Christ was not born on Christmas Day, meaning that the choice of that date is also related to cultural of tradition. Let’s do some christian jeopardy …. why did early Christians choose December 25 as the made up day of Christ’s birth??
  
  Report this comment
- darkknight91
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:47pm
  Christmas is the catholic implementation of pagan traditions around winter solstice in an attempt to unite the Roman Empire. Same thing with Easter. It’s all rooted back to Babylon and Nimrod. Jesus was actually born in September. I don’t begrudge anyone that celebrates these holidays but I know where they come from and I know they’re nonsense. Also, Jesus wasn’t crucified on Good Friday and he wasn’t resurrected on Easter Sunday. It’s all nonsense perpetrated by Catholicism.
  
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- HellboundandDown
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:56pm
  grrr! all that inclusion just makes me hoppin’ mad. FAIL
  
  Report this comment
- REBELWITHACAUSE
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:00pm
  @JROOK… because they are a deceived people. Christ was born in the early fall, probably early September. Even one of our major American-cultural songs says so. Very little research proves he was not born in December, and especially not December 25th. Some research might show that Nimrod was born on December 25th. If people really knew where the customs and traditions of Christmas came from, and really believed God when he said “don’t do as the heathen” for they cut down a tree and deck it with silver and gold… Read JER. 10:first few verses, maybe they’d STOP recognizing and participating in these pagan customs. They are an abomination to God. If our creator wanted us to celebrate the day, he would have given us instructions on how to celebrate it. He instead, gives us his Holy Days to keep, with detailed instructions for each one, which picture his plan for all mankind. But very very few keep those days. Only God’s true church keeps those days. God says, “The whole world is deceived!” So, they continue to do what is right in their own eyes, and therefore, God will punish this nation(his chosen people) for their many sins. One day, they will know that a prophet had been sent among them, and that God meant what he said when he gave us explicit instructions and warnings… and we did not heed them. God have mercy on this nation!
  
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- The_Jerk
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:09pm
  Thank your ACLU. Actually, you can not thank the ACLU, you must thank the leadership of that organization.
  
  For that we must go to Rabbi Daniel Lapin, where, in “America’s Real War,” by Mutnomah Publishers, 1999 said: … The ACLU’s leadership is almost reminiscent of a temple board meeting.
  
  Report this comment
- mcsledge
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:16pm
  darkknight91 – Christ was born in April and died around the same time of the year.
  
  Christ died prior to the Jewish Sabbath, which began on Friday night, and was resurrected on Sunday allowing for three days (part of Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday) in the tomb (Biblically supported).
  
  Bible and revelation have made these truths known to us.
  
  Nice try though.
  
  Report this comment
- NSDQ
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:49pm
  Ok fine here ya go then JROOK
  “The Christian minority was greatly concerned with distancing itself from the larger, public pagan religious observances, such as sacrifices, games & holidays. This was still true as late as the violent persecutions of the Christians conducted by the Emperor Diocletian 303 – 312 C.E.
  This changed only after Constantine converted to Christianity. –Christmas may well have acquired some pagan trappings. But we don’t have evidence of Christians adopting pagan festivals in the third century, at which point dates for Christmas were established. It seems unlikely that the date was simply selected to correspond with pagan solar festivals.
  The Dec. 25 feast existed before 312—before Constantine’s conversion, at least. We have seen, the Donatist Christians in North Africa seem to have know it from before that time. Furthermore, in the mid- to late fourth century, church leaders in the eastern Empire concerned themselves not with introducing a celebration of Jesus’ birthday, but the addition of the December date to their traditional celebration on January 6″
  
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- NSDQ
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:51pm
  previous quotes from http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/christmas.asp
  
  Report this comment
- darkknight91
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:53pm
  Mcsledge, let me give you a free lesson in the faith you profess. Jesus was 33 1/2 when he was crucified. He began his ministry at 30 and it went for 3 1/2 years. If he was crucified in the Spring, he would have to be born in the Fall, therefore making his birthday in September when the sheep were still out at night. He was not crucified before the Sabbath, but the Hi Sabbath. They are two distinctly different days. It was Passover that week and it fell on Thursday. If he died the ninth hour (3 pm) on Friday and was resurrected before the sun came up on Sunday, how is that 3 days? The Jewish day ends at sundown (around 6 pm) and doesn’t begin until sunrise (around 6 am). According to your own beliefs, he was dead one day and 3 hours, and one night and a partial night because you have no clue what hour he was raised. Mary Magdalene arrived before sunrise Sunday and he was gone. He was crucified Wednesday and died at 3 pm and rose Saturday at 3 pm. 3 days and 3 nights. You’re buying into the catholic brainwashing. Nice try, though.
  
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- Keatonc33
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:56pm
  since when is evidence acceptance and “loving your neighbor” a conspiracy?
  
  Report this comment
- searcher619
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 4:24pm
  That must be locl cuz I don’t see that in my nephew’s school nor in the school my gf’s sons attend.
  
  Report this comment
- Thomas
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 4:44pm
  Sounds like the same doctrine as the Ku Klux Klan just the other side of the coin.
  
  Report this comment
- BODYBAG
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 7:48pm
  Needing to know the answers to the history of Kwanzaa has tortured my every waking hour.
  
  Report this comment
- hillbillyinny
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 8:55pm
  @jrook
  
  You’re a tool!
  
  What does it matter EXACTLY WHEN we memorialize something, especially when we don’t know the exact date? Jesus is the Light of the World, so memorializing His coming to His earth in the middle of the winter is VERY APPROPRIATE. If that date was chosen as a type of “baptism” of winter solstice celebrations, wise early church leaders, thank you!
  
  Many people in the past did not know exact dates of when they were born, sometimes even exact years! A date was chosen and their birthday was celebrated, and those who knew and love them gave thanks for there time here on earth.
  
  We Christians are the same way, we are celebrating the coming of our Savior, as a baby, as foretold in the Old Covenant (Testament).
  
  You, however, have free will not to believe, acknowledge or celebrate this memorial. That’s God’s first gift to you, free will. If you choose that gift, but not his second gift, Jesus who paid for the sins of all in the world, that’s your choice, but leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone. Just don’t click on the stories that you know you don’t really want to read.
  
  Wish you would believe, as God does not want any to be “lost,” you’re choice! (II Peter 3:9)
  
  Report this comment
- Wormwood12
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 10:03pm
  No one in school knows anything about the Christian traditians anymore. Christmas Day is Dec 25, the birthday of our Lord and Savior, exactly 9 months after the Annunciation (the day the angel Gabrial announced to our Blesed Lady she would be the Mother of God on March 25.) Those interested in the tradition of the Catholic church should read up on the fathers of our church.
  
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- glassaudioguy
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:36pm
  @Darkknight- a whole day and parts of two days would be considered three days according to the Jewish customs of that time. Sorry, but you’re wrong. BTW, I’m not Catholic, I’m Baptist.
  
  Report this comment
- careaboutUSA
  Posted on December 20, 2012 at 4:36am
  I come from South Africa, and have never heard of Kwaanza, it is a made up holiday,feast or call what u want, it’s an American made up event! No Kwaanza in Africa, sorry about that, but if it makes u happy,all it does is perpetuate the separation of the races in America!! What a pity , but it’s by design so that the Black leaders can keep the black Americans under their control by feeding them all that BS!!
  I feel bad there are so many decent black folks that want to join mainstream society, but are kept out by celebrating made up Kwaanza,as for the idiots that wear their pants under their asses , designs carved into their ****, they are keeping themselves out of mainstream society,and from advancing or getting a worthwhile job! I certainly would’nt hire them! Do u blame me?
  
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- chips1
  Posted on December 20, 2012 at 6:47am
  December 25th was the perfect day. All of the stores are closed anyway.
  
  Report this comment
- loriann12
  Posted on December 20, 2012 at 8:12am
  Have a Happy HanaRamaKwanzMas.
  
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Lion420
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:02pm
I can sum up kwanza in two simple words….RACIST BULL$**T

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- HellboundandDown
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:05pm
  as if you know any words that aren’t simple. Keep it real, stop parkin’ yore janky hoopty on Front Street.
  
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- kegbuna
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 5:17pm
  lion420: certified maniac
  
  Report this comment
RemoteCoderz
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:57pm
Happy Hanaramakwanzmis!

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- glassaudioguy
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:39pm
  I thought it was Ramahanukwanzmas… Did Glenn even play that this year? Haven’t caught every hour of every program but I’ve tuned in enough I should have heard it at least once.
  
  Report this comment
forthepeople
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:28pm
Since the dawn of history the black man has owned the continent of Africa – rich beyond the dream of poet’s fancy, crunching acres of diamonds beneath his bare black feet and yet he never picked one up from the dust until a white man showed to him its glittering light.
His land swarmed with powerful and docile animals, yet he never dreamed a harness, cart, or sled. A hunter by necessity, he never made an axe, spear, or arrowhead worth preserving beyond the moment of its use. He lived as an ox, content to graze for an hour. In a land of stone and timber he never sawed a foot of lumber, carved a block, or built a house save of broken sticks and mud.
With league on league of ocean strand and miles of inland seas, for four thousand years he watched their surface ripple under the wind, heard the thunder of the surf on his beach, the howl of the storm over his head, gazed on the dim blue horizon calling him to worlds that lie beyond, and yet he never dreamed a sail.” — Charles Darwin

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- willingtoupe
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:10pm
  Now that is some recitation. Great Bible verse!
  
  Report this comment
- HellboundandDown
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:00pm
  Abraham Lincoln Quote
  
  “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races – that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the ***** should be denied everything.”
  
  by:
  
  Abraham Lincoln
  (1809-1865) 16th US President
  Source:
  
  Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858
  
  Report this comment
- willingtoupe
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:12pm
  The Bible quotes recited above are implicit proof that a racist cannot exist without power.
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 5:35pm
  I heard HELLBOUND say, “i’m glad all the dirty negroes don’t get an opportunity to advance in America’s society”
  
  What? Nobody recorded it on tape?.. well it must be true anyway…
  
  Report this comment
- moonstruck2
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 6:04pm
  And yet they were kidnapped from their native land and people to be brought to america to do for others what charles Darwins people couldn’t do for themselves. Black People built this country,some slaves were put on loan to build the capitol buildings, the white house and other government buildings during that era. Whats the sense in going through the trouble to get permission from the african chiefs to build an outpost in the jungle to study the ways and culture plus the character of a people with the intent on finding a way to kidnap them with the least amount of trouble and learning their ways of bartering and thus presenting to the chiefs of that time an offer they couldn’t refuse.. First, they used muskets and firewater as their bargaining chips and before you knew it the African Chiefs wound up with the Bible and john hawkins got africas’ most precious resourse; Its People! You dont go through that kind of trouble to kidnap socalled savages and then bring these same socalled savages to a strange land to build a new world for a strange people if they were what charles darwin called them!!
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 6:31pm
  MOONSTRUCK…
  
  most of what you say is true, but don’t discount the fact that many of the slaves were sold to European traders by other Black tribes that had recently captured other Africans and desired to thin out the resistance to their own attempts at geographical dominance.
  
  Whites in America are primarily culpable for the abuse and indenturing of Africans, but Africans were the Capitalists that exploited each other to enable this abomination. To deny this fact is to deny history.
  
  Report this comment
- ShamanWorld
  Posted on December 20, 2012 at 6:55am
  Too bad your lies are just the white mans version of history. Let me shine some light on your dumb cracka self. First off, the first sailors to go around the world and back were black(Phoenicians/Carthaginians 1000-300BC)remember, Europeans still thought the world was flat only 450 years ago. Chris Colombus used maps from West African sailors to find the Americas that the black man had discovered thousands of years prior. Go google Amenhotep3 or King Tuts wall paintings. 96 percent of the 600 Pharaohs were black(some mixed, Afro-asiatic) men(they’d be black in the usa for sure. The his-story channel fools you white guys into believing your kind is responsible for advancing civilization. What about the dark ages in Europe when black north africans(moors) had to come to Europe and teach white people to bath and have sanitation and medicine? You white folks would love to erase that fact I’m sure. All your kids favorite animals at the zoo come from Africa. If God had of blessed the white man with Africa’s natural wealth and animals, the animals would be extinct already. You should thank God most Africans live WITH the land. White man destroys land and uses technology for killing and pillaging. That is your history white man copycat. Killing ant pillaging behind the rifle. Without guns the white man would be scared and the world would still be flat. PS All Greek, Spanish, Latin and Italian language were derived from the black/Phoenician alphabet. Yes black man created the alpha
  
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- katzkiner
  Posted on December 20, 2012 at 8:21pm
  Fly in the ointment: Dumb whites voted a black man president twice, what does that say about whites?
  
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forthepeople
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:27pm
From a civilization whom brought the world such great Inventions , Monuments and People , cannot think of any at this time give me a minute ……………………………..
Hang on I’ll think of something ?

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- willingtoupe
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:43pm
  Who brought mass pollution, endangerment and extinction of exotic animals, genocide displacements of people from their natural land to 1/2 way around the world, man made famine, malpractice and misapplication of Jesus religion? ….. Can’t think of any either…..I dunno
  
  Report this comment
- Keatonc33
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 2:57pm
  willingtoupe…. Spot on my friend!
  
  Report this comment
- BmanIII
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 3:14pm
  bet you are still thinking about it….
  
  Report this comment
- moonstruck2
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 6:24pm
  Thats because your wisdom and knowledge does not exceed the 33 degrees that were alloted to your race.. You see, we knew you were coming, therefore we buried our civilizations under the sands, in the oceans and covered them with water, even under the icecaps in the artic. All because you were not to build from our civilizations but for you to use what we had given you in order to rule and then we went to sleep in order for this 6,000 year old baby time to rule! And now that you have exhausted your 33 degrees of wisdom, The Sleeping Giant Is Now Waking from his sleep, and just as this 6 day old baby climbed out of its crib to create havoc all over the world while his parents were sleeping, when they fully awake you know what the parents are going to do; that baby is going to wish it had stayed in its crib!!
  
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willingtoupe
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:24pm
Add your comments

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- TheEDGE
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:58pm
  Merry Christmas!!!
  
  Report this comment
- katzkiner
  Posted on December 20, 2012 at 11:07pm
  Lay off the ganga and sippin syrup, it is warping your mind.
  
  Report this comment
HellboundandDown
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:23pm
the witty and irreverent crew @ the Blaze should do a wacky satirical roast of Mormonism. Now THAT would be hi-larious! Magick Panties, Space Battles between Jesus and his bro Lucifer (and the resulting curse of hideous hideous brown skin on the Switzerland types who won’t pick sides. I’m on team Lucifer!), planets full of Sexy Space Sister-wives, baptizing Hitler, American Indians and Native Mexicans as the lost tribes of Israel, Magick Swords, etc. Pure Comedy Gold.

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- tzion
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:36pm
  Actually, the Native Americans as lost tribes is a theory that predates Mormonism and was already being discussed at the time of this country’s founding. It is purely theoretical with little conclusive evidence either way but it is hardly a Mormon invention.
  
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- decendentof56
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:40pm
  The issue is….. what does Kwanzaa represent?
  You have shown yourself by using the progressive/liberal/socialist trick of changing the discussion from baseball to, say, oil changes.
  
  Kwanzaa represents the complete refusal of modern-day blacks in America to integrate into American culture. You can site many reasons for this refusal to ingrain themselves into this nation.
  
  Changing the topic is not addressing the issue.
  
  Report this comment
- LibertyGoddess
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:53pm
  Hellbound: 1. You wouldn’t hear the truth if it sat on your face. 2. All those nasty comments you made are made up by people outside of the LDS faith. Not one Mormon do I know claims any of those things. Then again, you knew that.
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 5:49pm
  yes, HELLBOUND…
  
  well done.
  avoid the intellectual arguments and dish all the cheap shots you can.
  well done, indeed.
  
  Report this comment
willingtoupe
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:23pm
Kwanzaa and Christmas both MADE UP jokes. Both are celebrated during the Winter Solstice time as well as Jesus not being born during this time… No where in the Bible was a commandment to celebrate his birth but his death for redemption of sin…Which many people in this comment subject needs for their racially charged comments pending.

But the difference between celebrating Kwanzaa and “Chrismas” , Kwanzaa was made up in America while “Chrismas” was a compromised holiday in the Roman Empire for the true White Pagan God worshipers that indulged in orgies, gay sex, and Caligula acts.

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4XGrace
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:19pm
Kwanzaa = Exclusivity + Exclusion, and therefore RACIST.
If there was ever a holiday that should be shunned, Kwanzaa is it.

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stopprintn
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:18pm
The 60s & 70s are explaind in this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiqmEibSY0I

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- Polarized America
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:10pm
  .
  not entirely, we still had the…” Clean For Gene ” movement
  
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chips1
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:14pm
If they think for one minute that I’m going to put a bone thru my nose and yell, “KONG!!KONG”, they have another think coming.

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- HellboundandDown
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:27pm
  you forgot to add #notracist and #sorrynotsorry. Also Rush Limbaugh would like his joke back.
  
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- willingtoupe
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:30pm
  I guess lip, privates, and tongue piercings and skin tattoos is where you draw the line then?
  
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- moonstruck2
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 6:35pm
  If your daughter comes home with a pierced tongue, you’d better ask her why; especially if she has a boyfriend!!
  
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- chips1
  Posted on December 20, 2012 at 7:03am
  I don’t even like pierced ears. I’ve only had two holes put in my body. One was a bullet and one was shrapnel. Didn’t like either one. I did get even, though.
  
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shorelineliz
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:12pm
Kwanza is ethnocentric and secular humanistic related. Whereas Christmas and Hanukkah center on the Lord God Almighty as the beginning and end of all life, happiness, joy, protection and prosperity. As long as we keep humans as the center of all things spiritual or powerful we are doomed. There can be no UNITY without keeping the Lord and his laws. We used to use the worship of the Good Lord up Above in all our celebrations as the starting point of what it means to be alive, to be human, as the basis for which we gathered, invoking His Name and His Blessing. Now we drivel on about humans and their rights and their equality and we sink lower and lower as a society. Coincidence? I think not.

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- willingtoupe
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:35pm
  You forgot to add Roman Empire Pagan Gods worshiping compromise to have it consolidated with the winter solstice celebration to keep the tradition of dedicating Orgies, gluttony, and gay sex as a tribute to the rebirth of the Sun.
  
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Hickory
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:11pm
Just another copy-cat activity. It really focuses on racism. All it lacks is a cross burning.

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- HellboundandDown
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:30pm
  oh, as if you don’t already celebrate Klansmas. Don’t be so silly.
  
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- bannedfromCNN
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:37pm
  Hey, but it beats worshiping insects and dirt.
  
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EscondidoFarmer
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:11pm
A couple years ago I first heard the word Kwanzaa and wondered what the world it was so I did a little research. Ron N. Everett, a black racist, assumed the name Maulana Karenga to make it sound more officially African. He is chiefly known as the creator or inventor of Kwanzaa, a fake African holiday that was contrived in 1966. He was sent to prison in 1971 along with two pals for torturing two women in LA and emerged from prison in 1974. Unbelievably, he got himself a position as chairman of the Department of Black studies at Cal State Long Beach. Kwanzaa is celebrated from the day after Christmas thru January 1. It even uses a seven pronged candle holder to make it appear more official. Karenga concocted some lingo and just plain mumbo-jumbo to make it look like something out of Africa instead of from L A County California. He also uses two ears of corn on the celebration table but corn or maize as it was known, wasn’t even known at all in old Africa. He also uses Swahili names to label things to promote his hoax and fake history. Yep, the Easter Bunny still lives and is an old tradition from northern India, right!

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- willingtoupe
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:53pm
  Yup Great summary, infact REAL AFRICANS in Africa are offended by this holiday.
  
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- moonstruck2
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 6:52pm
  Since Bro. Ron Karenga probably wont read this post, i’ll answer for him.. First of all WHO SAID SO? your research is so flawed that you should be ashamed of yourself corn (maize) has been in Africa longer than white people have been on our planet.. Our brothers, the socalled native americans introduced it to the first european settlers and showed them how to grow and cultivate it that it is part of the Thanksgiving tradition of the europeans giving thanks to the indians from keeping them from starving to death; and thats the thanks we get!!
  
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Walkabout
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:10pm
Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 as the first specifically African-American holiday

Maulana Karenga is an African-American professor of Africana Studies, activist and author, best known as the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of Kwanzaa. Karenga was a major figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s and co-founded with Hakim Jamal the black nationalist and social change organization US, which means “Us Black people

In 1971, Karenga “was sentenced to one to ten years in prison on counts of felonious assault and false imprisonment”.One of the victims gave testimony of how Karenga and other men tortured her and another woman. The woman claimed to have been stripped and beaten with an electrical cord. Karenga’s former wife, Brenda Lorraine Karenga, testified that he sat on the other woman’s stomach while another man forced water into her mouth through a hose.

Karenga explained his actions by saying that one of the women he had tortured had attempted to assassinate him, but he had no evidence.

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adouglass1
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:09pm
Kwanzaa go take a flying keep out the window and take obummer with you on your way down grab Pantsy Pelosi and crappy Reid and ***** as well lol

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TheEDGE
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:02pm
Kwanzaa. LOL!!!

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copatriots
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:00pm
When this holiday was introduced into American culture, it was intentional to take another swipe at minimizing the true meaning of Christmas.

Otherwise, Kwanzaa is not all that unique as most agricultural-based cultures had a first-fruits festival.

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JQuentinEvermann
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:00pm
If there were a celebration that recognized and promoted White culture, or European culture, or European-American culture it would be classified as racist and celebrants would be considered guilty of promoting hate crimes.

This is the litmus test by which I judge anything cultural. So this, by its own definition, is a racist celebration and I refuse to acknowledge its legitimacy.

Also, it was founded by a convicted rapist who had Black Panthers murdered for not being radical enough.

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lel2007
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:59am
Is there anyone out there that gives a flying —- about kwanzaa? A show of hands please.

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- chips1
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:24pm
  Sorry!! I can only hold up one finger to Kwanzaa!
  
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- Stoic one
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 1:35pm
  I am on the middle with the finger thing.
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 5:39pm
  I don’t know…
  Don’t really care…
  
  If folks celebrate Kwanza, then my message to them is “Happy Kwanza”!
  I hope they respect me enough to wish “Merry Christmas” in return.
  
  If not, i’ll feel sorry for them but forgive them anyway.
  
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Waterlylys
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:58am
Many, in fact, most of my Black friends do not celebrate Kwanzaa. One mother said, “It’s pagan to it’s core, it’s divisive, and has no place in our home.” She is not a Christian and follows no other religious tradition. Of the African’s I know, only one family celebrated it for a few years and then decided it had nothing to do with their African roots (they are Kenyan), but is purely American and political. None of my other friends who are from the various countries in Africa celebrate it and to a person say that it is a Black American political celebration.

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The_Jerk
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:56am
“Kwanzaa” How trite an issue.

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TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:56am
Kwanzaa is not a religion nor is it a cultural movement, although it does camouflage itself as so when it is to its benefit to do so. Kwanzaa is a political movement, Black Liberation Theology Marxism to be exact. A tool used in the public arena, government (public) schools to indoctrinate our children in the battle for their minds and for us Christians…their Souls.

The goals of the Radical Marxists of Kwanzaa are to remove Christ and Christianity from society to be replaced with the Worship of Self and Man with Government as god. In cases where this is not attainable they seek to subordinate Jesus, Christmas and Christianity through Diversity and Social Justice programs.

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Twinspeedr
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:55am
Funny, I see the term Social Justice listed multiple times in the FAQ pages for the “official” Kwanzaa site, hmm…

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banjarmon
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:46am
Did you see the BIG HAM to the right of the pineapple?

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- jungle J
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:57am
  hate defines you and is your guide.
  
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- JQuentinEvermann
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:15pm
  @Jungle, you must be a sad and unfulfilled person to find hate in humor. The girl looks like she has 40 footballs stuffed down a pair of leggings and all you can do is hate the person that finds humor in reality.
  
  How can you be so intolerant?
  
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- banjarmon
  Posted on December 19, 2012 at 12:48pm
  @ JQuentinEvermann
  
  Thanks for seeing the humor! ; )
  
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