Posted on 12/30/2011 3:33:58 PM PST by SeekAndFind
A lone Christmas tree on a makeshift pedestal stands prominently in the center of Howard University's main quadrangle, which is uncharacteristically empty during the first week of December. Students rush by to make it to their exams on time, with the tree serving as a reminder of the holiday traditions that await them after their last final. But for one Howard student, this evergreen emblem doesn't represent the true essence of the holiday spirit.
"My mother, she was very hard on trying to make us celebrate Kwanzaa. She felt that it was more important than Christmas," Howard student Jasper Henderson told The Root. "Kwanzaa has more definition of life -- Christmas is just presents."
Not everyone feels the same as Henderson and his mom. According to an unscientific poll of 472 of The Root's readers, only 35 percent of respondents currently observe Kwanzaa, an African-American holiday based on seven principles that is celebrated over the last week of the year. Half of all respondents have participated in such celebrations at least once in their lives.
Kwanzaa, a holiday created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, black nationalist and current chair of Africana studies at California State University, Long Beach, seems to resonate most with the baby boomer generation and may be past its prime.
In fact, almost half -- 41 percent -- of all respondents born between 1946 and 1964 celebrate Kwanzaa, while those born in or before 1945 and in or after 1982 are least likely to celebrate the holiday. What's more, those born before 1945 are least likely to know someone who celebrates Kwanzaa, while those between the ages of 46 and 64 are most likely to know someone who celebrates the holiday.
(Excerpt) Read more at theroot.com ...
only elementary public school teachers.
That's odd.
The article fails to mention that Karenga served time in prison for brutally torturing women.
Hmmm...
I am at a loss for words.
The inlaws of Akeem Joffer whose queen happens to be their daughter kiss up to Zamunda customs. They are believed to celebrate Kwanzaa and decorate for it at McDowell’s hamburger restaurants across the country.
I have never met, nor known of anyone who celebrates Kwanzaa.
That line jumped out at me, too. If Christmas was never about anything but presents for this guy, then he needs more “life defining” than some phony festival invented in the 1960s.
And, apparently, the President...he issued holiday greetings to that effect.
It’s the saddest part of this article. May Mrs. H and her son learn the true meaning of Christmas ASAP.
Only “white” elementary school teachers.
Ronald McKinley Everett AKA
Maulana Karenga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga
Conviction for assault
In 1971, Karenga “was sentenced to one to ten years in prison on counts of felonious assault and false imprisonment”.[11] 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.
A May 14, 1971, article in the Los Angeles Times described the testimony of one of the women:
“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. They also were hit on the heads with toasters.”
Karenga explained his actions by saying that one of the women he had tortured had attempted to assassinate him, but he had no evidence.[11][12][13] He was imprisoned at the California Men’s Colony, where he studied and wrote on feminism, Pan-Africanism and other subjects. The Us organization fell into disarray during his absence and was disbanded in 1974. After he petitioned several black state officials to support his parole on fair sentencing grounds, it was granted in 1975.
I wouldn't say that. I've seen scores of Kwanzaa celebrating shoppers at malls across the nation, especially when the Michael Jordan shoes came out...........
Hate-whitey racists.
Who Actually Celebrates Kwanzaa?
Hate-whitey racists.
________________________________
Exactly!
That’s the Day of Airjordan, a little known ritual in Kwanzaa.
I just ran out of Qwanza wrapping paper this year ... it is always a hoot to get the Thank you letters after Christmas
TT
re: “I have never met, nor known of anyone who celebrates Kwanzaa.”
During all my years of teaching, I’ve only had two students ask me about why I never mention Kwanzaa - both were white kids. I just pretended I didn’t hear them and went on with the lesson and they forgot about it.
I think it is dying a natural death of irrelvancy. I have always had several black kids in my classes over the years and I’ve never heard them mention Kwanzaa or celebrating it themselves - ever.
I did have one fellow faculty member ask me what kinds of things I did to teach my students about Kwanzaa. I told her I didn’t do anything about it. I said my reasons have to do with its “founder”. Of course she didn’t know what I was talking about, so I asked her if I could give her a file about Kwanzaa. I told her that if after reading it and researching it that she still wanted me to do something on Kwanzaa to talk to me about it and I would discuss it with her.
She read the file and never talked with me about it again.
Great video. Four spectators, a dog, and a guy waiting for a bus.
Where were all the Qwanzoo floats?
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