The Facts about Kwanzaa

Like Fox News, I report; you decide.
· Should Christians celebrate Kwanzaa?
· Is it an authentic African harvest festival?
· Is it an anti-American, anti-Christian, and racist fraud?
· Is it another battleground in the culture war?

Kwanzaa was started around 1978 by a U.C.L.A. professor of Black Studies, Ron Karenga, a.k.a. Ron N. Everett. Everett was the founder of "United Slaves." Members were to follow "the path of blackness" which meant they were to "think black, talk black, act black, create black, buy black, vote black, and live black."

In 1971, Everett was tried and convicted of two felony counts of torture and one count of false imprisonment. These crimes were committed against two female members of United Slaves. Everett was sentenced to one to ten years; he served four.

Other United Slave members committed beatings, shootings, assaults, and robberies, including the 1969 murder of two Black Panther members who were professors of Black Studies at U.C.L.A.

In 1975, Everett was released from prison. He changed his name to Ron Karenga and gave himself the title "Maulana" or "Master Teacher." He also converted to Marxism.
Karenga/Everett was appointed head of the U.C.L.A. Department of Black Studies in 1979.

Kwanzaa was an invention of Karenga/Everett. According to the official website, the purpose of Kwanzaa is to "enhance the revolutionary social changes for the masses of Black Americans." Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st. Karenga/Everett explained this choice of dates as "that's when a lot of bloods would be partying."

Although claiming it was an authentic African harvest festival, no culture anywhere celebrates the harvest in December. One of the important symbols of Kwanzaa is corn, which is not native to Africa. Corn was imported to Africa from Mexico and North America by European slave traders.

Like all Marxists, Karenga/Everett opposed religion. The 1977 book Kwanzaa: Origin, Concepts, Practice states, "Kwanzaa is...an oppositional alternative to the spookism, mysticism, and non-earth based practices which plague us as a people and encourage our withdrawal from social life rather than our bold confrontation with it." In 1980, in Kawaida Theory, he wrote in opposition to both "Christian and Jewish mythology as well as belief in God and other 'spooks' who threaten us if we don't worship them and demand we turn over our destiny and daily lives.

Marxism is the direct source of several of Kwanzaa's Seven Principles. These include "collective work and responsibility," "cooperative economics," "self-determination" and "collective vocation or purpose."

The official Kawanzaa flag is black, green, and red. It is "the symbol of devotion for African people in America to establish an independent African nation on the North American Continent." The red represents blood because, "we lost our land through blood; and we cannot gain it except through blood. We must redeem our lives through the blood. Without the shedding of blood there can be no redemption of this race." Of course, Karenga/Everett is not talking about the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. Rather, he advocates guerrilla war and violence, as needed, to establish a separate African-American nation.

The Kwanzaa pledge to their flag is suppose to be part of every Kwanzaa celebration, according to their website. The pledge reads:

" We pledge allegiance to the red, black, and green, our flag, the symbol of our eternal struggle, and to the land we must obtain; one nation of black people, with one God of us all, totally united in the struggle, for black love, black freedom, and black self-determination."

As Scripture warns, "Our people are destroyed by lack of knowledge." The media masks the origins and agenda of Kwanzaa. President Clinton was the first president to give official recognition to Kwanzaa. President George W. Bush has continued it. The U.S. Postal Service issued its first Kwanzaa stamp in 1997. The taxpayer-supported Smithsonian Institute sponsors an annual Kwanzaa celebration.

James Coleman, an ex-Black Panther, wrote: "By only stressing the unity of black people, Kwanzaa separates black people from the rest of Americans."

I submit to you that Kwanzaa is:
· a festival founded by a black segregationist or racist
· with roots in violence and murder
· celebrates a phony or non-existent African history and culture
· advocates a failed economic system (communism).
As such, Christians and patriotic Americans should not celebrate Kwanzaa. Because of its opposition to other religions, it should not be endorsed by any branch of government, and taxpayer dollars should not be spent on it.

You decide.