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   From: noddy093@comcast.net   
      
   Christmas was originally a Pagan holiday.   
      
   Except we didn't/don't count the shopping days until....   
   Blessed Be   
      
   --   
   robw   
      
   "sing while you may"   
                             edward kaspel   
   "Ken [NY]"  wrote in message   
   news:a1rbr05di3eac364nnici4dsuso4mavk4j@4ax.com...   
   >   
   > So this is Kwanzaa   
   > By Lynn Woolley   
   > December 12, 2001   
   >   
   > You don't like the current slate of holidays that we celebrate here in   
   > America?  Then why not create one of your own?  That's exactly what   
   > Ronald Everett did back in 1966.  He named it "Kwanzaa."   
   >   
   > Since then, many people have embraced this new holiday.  Check out   
   > almost any appointment calendar and you'll find it duly noted on   
   > December 26 that "Kwanzaa begins."  Stroll through your local card and   
   > party store and you'll find Kwanzaa items.  You can even look it up in   
   > the World Book Encyclopedia where you'll find a nifty little article   
   > that says Kwanzaa was created by "a black cultural leader."   And   
   > those who celebrate it will often tell you that it's not just for   
   > African Americans.   
   >   
   > They're not telling you the whole story; in fact, it's doubtful that   
   > they even know the origins of Kwanzaa.  Few people do, because the   
   > voluminous amount of ink expended on Ronald McKinley Everett most   
   > often refers to him as Dr. Maulana Karenga, and rarely examines his   
   > past.   
   >   
   > However, the story of Ron Everett, a.k.a. Dr. Karenga, has been told   
   > -- notably in a Dallas Morning News article from December 26, 1996 and   
   > in David Horowitz's late publication Heterodoxy, in the December, 1999   
   > issue. The story behind the holiday and the man who created it is most   
   > interesting.   
   >   
   > Forget the notion that Kwanzaa is a holiday for all people.  Dr.   
   > Karenga states that he created it at the height of the black   
   > liberation movement as part of a "re-Africanization" process -- "a   
   > going back to black."  Dr. Karenga, still just "Ron Everett" at the   
   > time, was heavily into the black power movement.  He started an   
   > organization called US.  The letters have nothing to do with "United   
   > States," but just means "US" as opposed to "THEM."   
   >   
   > He dropped the Everett name, adopted the Swahili one, which means   
   > "master teacher," shaved his head, and began wearing traditional   
   > African clothing.  US members, similarly attired, often clashed with   
   > other black militant groups such as the Black Panthers.  The fighting   
   > was about which group would control the new Afro-American Studies   
   > Center at UCLA.   
   >   
   > There were incidents involving beatings and shootings including one in   
   > 1969 in which two US members shot and killed two Black Panthers.  Dr.   
   > Karenga had other run-ins with the law including charges that he   
   > abused women.  In 1971, he was convicted of assaulting female members   
   > of US, and he served time in prison.  An LA Times snippet describes   
   > the torture of the women as involving a hot soldering iron placed in   
   > the mouth of one, while the other's toe was mashed in a vise.   
   >   
   > Dr. Karenga says that he is the victim; he was quoted in The News:   
   > "All the negative charges are in fact disinformation and frame-ups by   
   > the FBI and local and national police."   
   >   
   > One thing that's interesting to note about the inventor of Kwanzaa:   
   > practically all of his crimes were committed against black people.   
   > And yet, today, he is simply known as an academic who created a   
   > holiday for cultural unity.  Nine years after Kwanzaa was invented, he   
   > decided to moderate his views and became a Marxist.  In 1979, he was   
   > hired to run the Black Studies Department at Cal State - Long Beach,   
   > in all likelihood, the first ex-con to do so.   
   >   
   > And so this is Kwanzaa -- the militant past of the creator now ignored   
   > in favor of the so-called seven principles of Nguza Saba -- stuff like   
   > unity, family and self-determination that could have come from Bill   
   > Bennett's "Book of Virtues."  The word "Kwanzaa" is Swahili, meaning   
   > something like "fresh fruits of harvest."   
   >   
   > No one remembers the part about "re-Africanization," or the sevenfold   
   > path of blackness that Dr. Karenga once espoused.   Hardly anyone   
   > remembers the shootings, the beatings the tortures and the prison   
   > terms that were once the center of his life.  It's just not PC to   
   > bring that sort of stuff up now that Kwanzaa is commercialized and   
   > making big bucks.   
   >   
   > Dr. Karenga does his part to promote the holiday and forget the past.   
   > In December, he goes on his annual "Kwanzaa circuit" of speeches and   
   > appearances.  And he writes.  Remember that little article in the   
   > World Book Encyclopedia that legitimized Dr. Karenga as a "black   
   > cultural leader?"  You guessed it -- he wrote the article himself.   
   >   
   > Happy Kwanzaa.   
   >   
   > Lynn Woolley's e-mail address is lynn@belogical.com   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > Cordially,   
   > Ken (NY)   
   >   
   > "What we know about Osama bin Laden is this:-  he's worth $300 million, he   
   > has five wives and 26 kids ... and he hates Americans for their   
   'excessive'   
   > lifestyle."   
   >      ~ David Letterman   
   >   
   > email: http://www.geocities.com/bluesguy68/email.htm   
   > spammers can send mail to uce@ftc.gov   
   >   
   > http://www.flowgo.com/funpages/view.cfm/6402   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)