Thanks for correcting it for me honey bunny. Your profanity in particular was very elucidating. Shows your intelligence, level of education, and the contents of your heart.
Rationalize it as much as you want. Cry socialism. Lick your wounds and listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and Joe the Plumber. Choke on it to your heart's content but at the end of the day Barak Obama has been elected President of the United States.
Happy Kwanzaa.

exbrown says:
"We have a new President who would never have gotten to be President without the civil rights movement..."

Let me correct that for ya ex:
We have a new President who would never have gotten to be President without a hell of a lot of white men's money and he is exactly where the white men want him to be. The brand of Soros will forever emblazon Obama's slightly black ass. Add to that a compromised and sycophantic media, ACORN voter fraud country wide and a totally ignorant voter base who, for the most part, could only inchoately mutter the words 'change' and 'hope' when you asked what exactly they found meritorious in obama.

The civil rights movement was legitimate and served it's purpose. End of story. Quit regurgitating it. You ain't oppressed.

And ex, sweetie, if obama brings to fruition his socialist wet dreams, you'll be choking along with the rest of the country.

Rsassy: "And that is exactly your problem,exbrown, you think it is still 1950. Sorry sweetheart, but your race card is running a deficit in 2009. Better find another way to buy your reality from now on."

Sorry darling if I mistook 2009 for 1950 but how could I not after reading your comments? You sound like Strom Thurman and Bull Connor but in a dress and wearing lipstick.
It is almost 2009 and not 1950. We have a new President who would never have gotten to be President without the civil rights movement you have been choking on all your life. The majority of Americans voted for him. You are on the wrong side of history. You had better get used to it get used to choking.

To all of the folks who are worried about Kwanzaa detracting from the importance and sacredness of the Christmas season, you ought to be aiming your criticisms at those who invented and relish in the pseudo-season of XMAS. In part, Kwanzaa is a turn away from XMAS and all the materialistic crassness that goes with it.

But more importantly, Kwanzaa gives us a necessry opportunity to reflect upon our cultural-spiritual-historical roots and inspire and empower us to move more resolutely into the future. It's a time to renew and deepen inter-personal relationships, cultivate further our appreciation for the spirit-driven foundations of the considerable African achievements in world history, commemorate worthy ancestors and developments, recommit ourselves to those principles and practices which provide for our greatest good, and celebrate the good harvest of lives transformed and liberated from the strictures of white racism and self-destruction.

No one is asking the Irish, Italians, Germans, Chinese, Scottish, et al, to deny their heritage and cultural celebrations. Why is it that African Americans are scrutinized so severely? One can only assume that we are not supposed to have the audacity, creativity and inner-strength to rise from the ashes of whatever depths this nation's racism has sought to impose upon us.

A very powerful thing Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba have done is to take our focus away from reactionary rage relative to the injustices we suffer in this society to focus on that which can be accomplished through our own initiative, including effective and appropriate critique of the on-going realities of racism, even in "post-racial America." Give thanks.

To all of the folks who are worried about Kwanzaa detracting from the importance and sacredness of the Christmas season, you ought to be aiming your criticisms at those who invented and relish in the pseudo-season of XMAS. In part, Kwanzaa is a turn away from XMAS and all the materialistic crassness that goes with it.

But more importantly, Kwanzaa gives us a necessry opportunity to reflect upon our cultural-spiritual-historical roots and inspire and empower us to move more resolutely into the future. It's a time to renew and deepen inter-personal relationships, cultivate further our appreciation for the spirit-driven foundations of the considerable African achievements in world history, commemorate worthy ancestors and developments, recommit ourselves to those principles and practices which provide for our greatest good, and celebrate the good harvest of lives transformed and liberated from the strictures of white racism and self-destruction.

No one is asking the Irish, Italians, Germans, Chinese, Scottish, et al, to deny their heritage and cultural celebrations. Why is it that African Americans are scrutinized so severely? One can only assume that we are not supposed to have the audacity, creativity and inner-strength to rise from the ashes of whatever depths this nation's racism has sought to impose upon us.

A very powerful thing Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba have done is to take our focus away from reactionary rage relative to the injustices we suffer in this society to focus on that which can be accomplished through our own initiative, including effective and appropriate critique of the on-going realities of racism, even in "post-racial America." Give thanks.

" hellwithu

"The kwanzaa 'holiday' is not a Holy Day celebration. Like Valentines, Mother's Day etc, it celebrates nothing holy. Awareness - yes, God - No. Because of this, it's a slap in the face to those you worship, pray and celebrate this Holy Christmas season. "

Like your screen name?

Actually, the Kwanzaa celebration is somewhat non-sectarian, cause black people are of many different traditions and feel the need for community, too.

Do you know where you got the word 'holly day?" :)

You say 'Christmas is for everyone,' ...until of course someone says 'Happy Holidays' at Wal-Mart and you're afraid that means Christian hegemony hasn't been imposed on discount stores.

What you discount, really, is that there is a communal human spirit, in large groups or small, one which we can celebrate on any scale and with any amount of or lack of, the specificity you call 'Holy.'

Light is holy. Flame is holy, Family is holy.
Community and ancestry are holy.

Who profanes this are those who quibble over brand names.

Blacks need more integration into mainstream America and not further isolation. Forget about Kwanzaa. Let us spend more time talking about how to improve the level of education within the black communities. You can scream Kwanzaa all you want, but it will never bring home the bacon.

We really need to make up more holidays for people to feel better about themselves...

Village chieftains in Africa sold their own population to awaiting slave importers.
Blacks sold blacks to whites.
Whites did not steal blacks. Blacks eagerly sold their own. Today they deal each other drugs and blame it on whites. When will Dyson and his crowd realize America is sick of the black self pity party? Shuck and jive is the black fall back position whenever blacks are confronted with facts.

The kwanzaa 'holiday' is not a Holy Day celebration. Like Valentines, Mother's Day etc, it celebrates nothing holy. Awareness - yes, God - No. Because of this, it's a slap in the face to those you worship, pray and celebrate this Holy Christmas season. Christmas is not a white man's holiday. It's a season for all. Also, Obama is half white. He should be celebrated as a not half black, but as a whole man. The physical features of Christ are not known, cuz they are NOT IMPORTANT. Enough with Obama's BLACK and celebrating division. Christmas unites...Christ united...Use the Christmas season to pray and celebrate that!!

Swahili is a lingua franca of sorts in Africa, btw, specifically the Congo.

But see what I mean, here, scrolling down?

" DwightHCollins
"A made up holiday for pagans..."

That takes a lot of nerve, considering Christians parted out nearly every Pagan holiday in Europe to 'make up' your own celebrations, if you want to look at it that way.

" AmzgGrce

"It is amazing that the Black community cannot see that 'Kwanza' is nothing more than a racist holiday. It is racist because it seeks to isolate the black community from all others."

What, like St. Patrick's day?

Ah, the dreaded 'reverse racism' rears its ugly head again.

No, it's not meant to isolate: I've been invited to a few Kwanzaa celebrations, myself, as a matter of fact, and people don't get much whiter-looking than I. :)

" A celebration of one's heritage is fine but imagine if you would a holiday intended only for the White or Oriental, or Hispanic population. THAT would be denounced by the media and the black community as outrageously harmful and racist."

Black people in America rarely get to trace their roots with any specificity: it seems someone neglected to take notes when they hauled their ancestors off in chains, tried to obliterate any memory of their native religions, even *names,* and bought and sold them around the country heedless of family ties.

What a departure from Dr. Dyson's typically exquisite and relevant scholarship. Swahili in West Africa? It's so unlike him to contribute to misinformation. I also wonder what the "common destiny" of black folk is that he refers to.

" forgetthis

"Why are the "first fruits of the harvest" being celebrated in the dead of winter?"

Africa, dude. Africa.

Thanksgiving falls awful late in the year for something with the trappings of a harvest festival, but that doesn't seem to bother anyone. :)

Frankly, as a Pagan in particular, I find it pretty obnoxious of some to criticize people for a 'made up holiday' or 'made up practices' when their ancestors were systematically torn from their own traditions and even posterities, and so many of the 'authentic' traditions were likewise systematically-destroyed.

You can't expect people to just sit around in some kind of cultural vacuum, ...that's hardly fair.

Happy Kwanzaa, those celebrating. Every holiday starts somewhere, and rarely do they truly spring out of nowhere. I hope there's some connection, there.

It is amazing that the Black community cannot see that 'Kwanza' is nothing more than a racist holiday. It is racist because it seeks to isolate the black community from all others. A celebration of one's heritage is fine but imagine if you would a holiday intended only for the White or Oriental, or Hispanic population. THAT would be denounced by the media and the black community as outrageously harmful and racist.
In a time where a black man has now been elected to the presidency, it is clear that the concept of a white majority attempting to inslave or keep the black community down if a farce. Certainly racism is alive in this country but the best way to defeat it is not with an 'in your face' factious holiday but by attempting to adapt to the society in which you live. Prove that you are proud to be in this country, not longing for the country of your past.

exbrown says:
"I wish I could buy people who thought like that a ticket back to the days of segregation but only if I could turn them into black people living in Mississippi in 1950."

And that is exactly your problem,exbrown, you think it is still 1950. Sorry sweetheart, but your race card is running a deficit in 2009. Better find another way to buy your reality from now on.

We're "Post-Obama" already? He doesn't even take office for three more weeks.

Only racists had civil rights "stuffed down" their throats since birth. I wish I could buy people who thought like that a ticket back to the days of segregation but only if I could turn them into black people living in Mississippi in 1950.

If there were not as much ignorance, racism, resentment, and hostility to black people as evident in many of the comments in the post here maybe there would be no need for people like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or make believe holidays like Kwanzaa. Whenever there is a discussion here that even tangentially touches on racial issues you can be certain that the racist will come scurrying out.

to Sparrow4-- :>) :>) :>) true hurts eh?

Give us a break... how many more days is this drivvel article going to run? So far, this is day three.

Kwanzaa is like ebonics, an isolating movement. Self-esteem is earned, not contrived or demanded.

Failing in the mainstream while creating alternate universes is a bad choice.....

Oh puhleeze spare us the fairy tales, would you? So-called "Dr." Maulana Karenga is a Marxist and a convicted felon, accused, among other things, of pouring detergent down a female hostage's throat. http://tinyurl.com/66gr3t.
Kwanzaa is an invention that has been foisted on America as some kind of legitimate celebration, just like Obama has been foisted upon America as someone capable of leading this country. And get over your obsession with skin pigmentation.Black this, black that. Freaking enough already. It's boring, it's been done. As someone who has had "civil rights" stuffed down her throat since birth, I am quite frankly sick of hearing about it.
If blacks actually had any pride, they'd quit trading on skin color and start trading on talent and skill. Not elevating convicted felons like Karenga as heroes or unqualified community organizers as president.

I am forced to disagree with Dyson on at least one point. Kwanzaa has not been embraced by the Black bourgeois- at least not the segment that attends Black bougeois mega-churches where you have to buy tickets to attend the fellowships. Maybe Dyson is referring to the secular academes. Perhaps they have embraced the holiday, but the rest of the Black bougeoisie definitely have not.

Why are the "first fruits of the harvest" being celebrated in the dead of winter?

It is fitting that in this day and age the term 'Christmas' is becoming a politically incorrect term, while the name of a holiday period invented from scratch by a sex-starved murderous felon gets national attention and respect from a race that knows so much more about talking the talk than anything about walking the walk.

Blacks loquaciously embrace attributes such as 'self-determination' and 'responsibility'. What they fail to realize as they knock fists with each other, call each other ni**er, drive unnecessarily fancy cars and live in homes they cannot afford, is that things like responsibility and determination come from self-imposed discipline rooted in self-propelled actions with the ultimate goal of some desired, safe, and enriching future. As opposed to squandering the future on a materialistic and image-laden present.

I can tell myself I am responsible (for myself as well as those closest to me). I can tell myself that I will be determined (to do what is right even in the face of adversity). I can say things all I want and believe them religiously. But that belief does not make it so.

A weak man is one who does not have the strength to push against that which impedes his progress. The Black Man shows us all on a daily basis, by his words and his actions, on television, in rap songs, and his writings (such as the author of this silly monument to what is nothing by a national joke) how little progress he has made against the impediments against him. His black fist of power only reminds him of his cowardly weakness betrayed by the light of those around him who advance themselves slowly, methodically, and positively.

The Black Man toils in mediocrity thanks to his limited vision on what is right and what is best.

Kwanzaa is just one more notch in the belt that constricts their ability to achieve and ultimately reach their full potential. Please, by all means, celebrate YOUR fabricated holiday season. While you do, please don't mind the rest of us moving past you, leaving you toiling behind.

I don't much care, one way or another. But, I would like some more days off.

Kwanzaa is silly. Most black Americans feel no kinship to it. But some pseudo-intellectualize matters to the point that a seperate holiday for "colored folks" makes sense to them. Wild.

truthbeebold Author Profile Page:

Eric Dyson your rhymes are weak, old BS, stifles true blackness, eradicates spirits of blacks and demeans articulate educated sophisticated black folk.No such entity as an african-american and you and your bud Jesse Jackson ought to quit the baiting of poor uneducated blacks and ignorant guilt-enhanced whites.
Oh, I am BLACK AND PROUD...but not for your kind fool, poverty-pimp-preacher-professor hating real blacks... that is you Doc Eric Dyson.
________________________________
You are not Black, just stop it. It is clear by your comment, you fool no one. You make not one valid criticism based on fact. Your subjective hate screams through in your message.

Several posters have stated that Kwanzaa is racist. Racist means that one believes that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. What race does Kwanzaa promote as being superior?

Others have noted that Kwanzaa is a way for AA to isolate themselves (after you read this enough the irony just causes a huge laugh from the gut). How does celebrating a holiday cause isolation? Do these posters mean like how Italian Americans celebrate Columbus Day with big parades and feasts? Or maybe how Irish Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day? It must mean how some Latinos have Quinceañera parties for their daughters? How about Rosh Hashanah, how dare those Jewish people isolate themselves?

Get real. The people who have issues with this holiday need to ask themselves why this particular holiday? How many other holidays do you feel the need to speak out against? What other groups do you feel need to be judged and disparaged because of the holidays they choose to celebrate? It's called freedom, respect, difference, and acceptance.

It doesn't matter what a particular group chooses to celebrate, differences exist and always will.

Eric Dyson your rhymes are weak, old BS, stifles true blackness, eradicates spirits of blacks and demeans articulate educated sophisticated black folk.No such entity as an african-american and you and your bud Jesse Jackson ought to quit the baiting of poor uneducated blacks and ignorant guilt-enhanced whites.
Oh, I am BLACK AND PROUD...but not for your kind fool, poverty-pimp-preacher-professor hating real blacks... that is you Doc Eric Dyson.

Many have cited that they personally feel that Kwanzaa is a "made up" holiday. Can you cite any holidays that are not "made up?" Also, can you please cite who or what group has the privilege of determining the value of such holidays?

What difference does it make how a holiday came into being? What matters is the importance of the holiday to those who choose to recognize/celebrate it. Every year in my office we celebrate Boss's Day. Is it meaningless to many people? Yes. It was made up by a woman to recognize her father. Is that important?

Sometimes people create ways to criticize others and things they don't understand or with which they have no familiarity or connection. This is becoming very prevalent in our society. Melting pot, what a joke.

I read many of the comments and I am sure now that we are not "post racial" in the Obama age. Many bigots here, hiding behind the flag of God and the American flag.

FraudObama Author Profile Page:
Why are blacks referred to as "African Americans"? Could it be because they would prefer not to be Americans first.
____________________________________
Well let's ask the following groups that question first:
Native Americans
White Americans
Asian Americans
Italian Americans
Mexican Americans
Latino Americans
Irish Americans
German Americans

The list could go on and on. The real question is why do you care what people choose to call themselves and how does it affect your life? Then maybe you might add, what's wrong with people who only identify as Americans... are they ashamed of their ancestral heritage? Why do they hide/deny their heritage?

Why would I only have to read Mr. Dyson's article, without knowing his bio, to conclude without doubt that he is a college professor? Or to know that he makes a living and gains recognition through eloquent variations on the theme of the victimization of Blacks in America? And over-intellectualized exhortations on "black identity," etc., etc., etc.

Kwanzaa is laughable in its pretensions and pure baloney in tracing its roots to anything African. It's nothing but man-created myth with no historical foundation whatsoever. Why anyone would need this nonsense to establish their identity or to find solace in a troubled world or to improve their lives is beyond belief.

Thank heaven the overwhelming number of African-Americans have rejected this mythological kingdom in favor of the solid values that have produced personal success and made America the envy of the world--warts and all. I'm tempted to pat Mr. Dyson on his misguided, irrelevant little head, except for one thing. He is, after all, occupying an office on a college campus. He, presumably, is teaching his irrelevant nonsense to students. And somewhere, he is being subsidized by the American taxpayer, whatever Georgetown U.'s exact status. In sum, he is wasting valuable resources that could be better used elsewhere. I do not question Mr. Dyson's right to propound his views. I do question the waste of scarce resources that allow him to do so as a college professor. Let Mr. Dyson and his like-minded academics who feed like leeches on the notion of black victimization go forth and create their own institutes from which to launch their diatribes. Both our positions are then equally accommodated.

The Ku Klux Klan does not have seats in academia. Neither should the proponents of any other extremist, fanatical viewpoint.

There is no doubt that Kwanzaa is a "made up" Black racist Holiday designed to "Happen" during the non-racist religious Christmas Holiday season.
This fake Holiday is not bringing people together. It is highlighting differences.

I think that Kwanzaa, in America, is simmering on the back burner. Not gone, just stewing. It is responding to the racial climate in the country today. Because the vestiges of slavery and Jim Crow south are still with us, it, Kwanzaa, remains relevent. Yet, Obama, represents, at least tangently, a move in the direction of reconciliation between those who identify themselves as African American and those they define as White America. It represents improvement. However, there is an element among the latter that seeks to sever the ties that bind Obama with black people in America. Those who are unable to trace their roots back to the slavemasters that raped their African ancestors whereas Obama has a direct patrilineal connection. Those, are the ones that will keep the kettle of Kwanzaa on the stove, stewing.

By ANY definition, Kwanzaa is racist.

People promoting Kwanzaa are racist hypocrites.

Kwanzaa sounds more Protestant than African by the description you present. If you really want to find out more about your African roots, take a trip to the Haitian provinces. Leave Georgetown in the morning and be in Haiti by early afternoon.
Inventing an alternative instead of learning the reality is an odd approach but hey, if its good enough for the black bourgeoise maybe I ought to go out and buy some African looking cloth and enjoy some make believe roots just like the rest.
From my experiences, to learn some of your African roots, you're going to have to learn a new language, get dusty and hang out with a peasant. You don't learn this stuff in a library. You have to go to the source. Are your African roots worth it??

It all seems so contradictory. Black folk (to use the phrase of Mr. Dyson) rightly condemn inclusion and exclusion based on ethnic background but the whole feel of this holiday is one of selective inclusion and exclusion. Other folk are excluded by their lack of blackness and black folk isolate themselves by emphasizing ties that do not really exist except in the most general way. Even worse, the ties that bind these very disparate demographic groups just serve to underline and preserve injustices of the past as the glue of identity.

I prefer religious holidays that emphasize human unity.

Some people play the race card. Dyson always uses a full deck including the jokers.

"mortified469 Author Profile Page:
Kwanzaa has never been relevant or necessary. It is just another misspelling of a transposed word, similar to the way names such as D'Shawn, LaQuana or dawg are fabricated...Adding holidays or making up names do not make a people. If you don't like it here, please head out and find a country that will tolerate this crap."

I don't disagree that Kwanzaa has never been relevant. However, your other points are pure nonsense.

First, you say that Kwanzaa is "just another misspelling of a transposed word." What word is it that has been transposed and then misspelled? Do you even know what "transposed" means? This statement is incomprehensible.

Second, you tell those who "don't like it here" to "find a country that will tolerate this crap." Excuse me, but the U.S. is a country that will tolerate a whole load of crap. It's in our constitution. I'm not sure precisely what crap you're referring to, as you don't make it clear. But I guarantee you that, if it is "crap" speech or "crap" beliefs you're talking about, then we tolerate it.

Sparrow4,

You wrote, "These are not people having a dialogue- these are people using the anonymity of the internet to say things they wouldn't have the nerve to say in front of others. It takes guts to call it like I see it- it takes a coward to take racist potshots. Too bad you can't tell the difference and you don't have the courage to take a stand against it."

I have read Diannne's other posts as well as yours. If she is somewhat blunt in her phraseology, then you come off as taking the lower moral ground. I'm sorry, but whatever opinion of another poster such as Diannne that you might have, you demean yourself and belittle your own position by resorting to unsubstantiated name-calling. Exactly how is it that you are showing "guts" while others are taking cheap shots? That's not "calling it like you see it"--that is taking potshots from behind "the anonymity of the internet," as you put it. You do nothing to inform or enlighten.

Kwanzaa is a wonderful holiday despite what YT says about it being made up, it's original like any other holiday, whatever your choice might be, if you chose not to celebrate well don't ! Obama get'em right !

By all means lets celebrate a racist psuedo "professor's" musings. Next we can have the KKK think up a holiday, or perhaps the Muslin terrorists will honor us with a new holiday... Yup, have to love the nut bags that actually get press....

Kwanzaa seems silly and artificial. But give it a few thousand years. Like prostitutes and politicians, religions and holidays gain respectability with age.

Seems that On Faith has gained the notice of racists and Fools. Why so much fear about a holiday? Kwanzaa has a lovely meaning...

terra

Why are blacks referred to as "African Americans"? Could it be because they would prefer not to be Americans first. If that is the case, as their desired group name implies, why be they given any preference or above the ordinary attention? If they want a make believe day they can rally around, have at it. But don't expect the Americans first crowd to support your fantasy play time.

hsrock- i suggest you read her earlier posts. I find most of the posts on this thread offensive from people insulting Black people to demeaning and insulting the holiday and Mr. Dyson. But for your edification, the inimitable ms diannne wrote: "Here we go. Another made up holiday so that Michelle Shaniqua Obama can decorate the White House with ghetto fabulous art." As for her soc-called "valid point" you'll remember her snide comment prefacing it-"if Blacks need a fictional holiday to make them feel better."

maybe you don't see the racism in this, but i do. and since it's a free country (it has to be. How else would so many people get away with saying so much racist crap?) I get to choose what I say as well. FYI- I commented on others as well. I'm quite amused that people venting some of the drivel here about their presumed intelligent analysis of Black American culture should be offended by being called on their racism.

These are not people having a dialogue- these are people using the anonymity of the internet to say things they wouldn't have the nerve to say in front of others. It takes guts to call it like I see it- it takes a coward to take racist potshots. Too bad you can't tell the difference and you don't have the courage to take a stand against it.

I have always admired Michael Eric Dyson and Georgetown University.

Good piece professor Dyson.

Thanks for this article, Michael. I never knew.

Kwanzaa has never been relevant or necessary. It is just another misspelling of a transposed word, similar to the way names such as D'Shawn, LaQuana or dawg are fabricated.

Adding holidays or making up names do not make a people. If you don't like it here, please head out and find a country that will tolerate this crap.

Kwanzaa is a wonderful cultural celebration. However, it is not a religious holiday to be mentioned in the same breath with Christmas, Ramadan or Hannukah. It is much more akin to the Polish National Day or the Korean National Day. When it is concatenated with religious holidays, it marks the concatenator as someone who is uneducated or not interested in careful thought.

[I was an early Obama supporter, and this is not a message of bigotry, just a plea for logical thought.]

Sparrow4,
Your attack on Diannne is offensive and unwarranted. There are numerous posters here who have attacked Kwanzaa as a 'made-up holiday' and worse. Rather, she raises a valid point concerning Obama's bi-racial background and up-bringing. Remember, early in the primary cycle last year many so-called black leaders were raising the question of whether or not Obama was "black enough."

Accusing another poster of racism and comparing her to the KKK is a cowardly attack on someone you disagree with that is devoid of intellectual integrity. However, in reading your other posts here, I suspect that is a chronic problem of yours.

Diannne721- and you're obviously angling for an induction into the KKK hall of shame.

Kwanzaa is not relevant. If it were merely a day celebrating unity in a month other than December instead of a "Christmas for blacks" it might be.

Having read up on it, I think Kwanzaa is kind of dumb. But I also think that about celebrating the alleged birth of a mythological figure from 2000 years ago, or whatever the alleged event is that Hanuka (sp?) is celebratng. It's no skin off my nose whether people celebrate any of them.

However, I am immensely entertained by the various battles in the "War on Christmas" that spring up every year. I wish Kwanzaa would become more prominent, so we could have bitter battles over that as well. Maybe even an annual slew of "War on Kwanzaa" stories. That would be even sweeter as each side could incorporate racial grievances, as demonstrated in many comments below.

For my part, the only commemorization I do consists of ending the year by pouring out a 40 for my dead homiez.

I grew up in L.A. in the 60s, and I will never forgive Ron Karenga for allowing the FBI to undermine the movement to the point where, his group killed two Black Panthers on the UCLA campus.
It was thuggish then and it's thuggish now.

Ron Karenga created Kwanzaa, which has been globally recognized by a few greeting card and calendar maker$. Nobody else has heard of it except Mr. Karenga's parole officer. The mythology originated by the creator, coupled with the big chance to exploit a bogus liberation movement, equates to a gold mine for a few.

Why is that the seven days of Kwanzaa, an artificial "holiday" that has no African background, is always so well publicized, whereas the full Christmas celebration is ignored? Christmas Day is the first of the twelve days of Christmas, not the last, and yet both Kwanzaa and Hanukkah are recognised by the media as being substantially longer. Ditch Kwanzaa and let Black churches and their congregants celebrate _all_ of Christmas.

I am from Paris and my family roots are in Guadeloupe and Martinique (French Caribbean Departments).

In Pointe à Pitre or Fort de France, as well as in Cayenne (French Guyana), the people are Christian.

Personally I have already heard of that Kwanzaa thing but I can tell you no one(or nearly) in the French Caribbean has ever heard about it. Even people who do have heard about it do not "celebrate" it of course.

Kwanzaa is pure rubbish and all we know is Christmas.

As for me I loathe that kind of artificial piece of comedy. This article is full of clichés and therefore is far from serious.

Kwanzaa? A madeup fake of a holiday.

I am from East Africa and the first time I heard about Kwanza was when I moved to America.

Professor Dyson states that the traditions are from west africa, but a little knowledge would have told him that Swahili is NOT spoken anywhere in West Africa. It is spoken in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Eastern Congo. Sign

Additionally, Most Africans are either Christians or muslims and so, they either celebrate christmas (as they do in the west, but with less commercialization and with more emphasis on the religious aspects of the holiday).

Nobody in Africa has ever heard of kwanzaa, a funnily concocted "ceremony" full of misspelled Swahili words whose meanings have equally been concocted by a bunch of Americans who know nothing about the real Africa.

Barrack Obama, who has family roots in East Africa and whose father was a fluent Swahili speaker, surely understands that kwanza is a silly holiday and that none of his relatives in Kenya even celebrate it.

Obama has nothing to do with Kwanzaa anymore than the man on the moon. I was brought up in the Christian faith and my family and I follow the teachings of the Bible. Whether or not Jesus was born on December 25th is irrevelant. What's important is that He came and fulfilled His mission while He walked the earth. The prinicples of Kwanzaa have nothing to do with what Christ taught. It is nothing more than a smoke screen to take away the true meaning of Christmas from people who may otherwise believe in Christ and His message. Why then as an African American must I feel like I have to embrace this drivel to feel like I'm African American?

Oh, God.

Tyson's analysis of "race" as it applies to Kwanzaa is coherent. But it's validity is like medieval theologians defending an earth-centered cosmology, when science sheds its light otherwise. Race as a reality is as dependent on true believers as creationism as a reality is dependent on true believers. Science debunks race as biology just as astrophysics debunks Genesis as literal fact. So, any anaylsis of "race" is left defending its cultural use as a metric of power or powerlessness within socioeconomic catagories. I believe that such is continuation of a tradition that must be defeated and left in the past as obsolete. Therefore, Kwanzaa, and its roots in Cultural Nationalism is doubly divisive: It props up the notion that so-called black culture is separate from the culture of America and that black affinity is toward a homogenous grouping or black nation rather toward a heterogenous grouping called Americans. Arguments in earlier days of American aparthied against so-called hyphenated Americans, ie, Irish-American or Afro-American, was too simplistic but a kernal of something was there. I would posit that Obama's patriotism is recognizable to the majority power group because it recalls the immigrant pathos that underlays Americanism--his acceptance is less so because much of his family are part of the majority power group as so many among large minority groups believe. unfortunately, it is the "racial" lense that creates this distortion. Dyson's big voice is increasingly listened to for insight into the "racial" quagmire. Please, I hope he will accept a more objective paradigm and help point to way into a more universal perspective. Yes, we can!

Many interesting comments here, most of which tend to demonstrate that we are far from being a post-racial society just because we have elected Barack Obama as President. Dyson's arguments trouble me, however, for a couple of reasons. First of all, he seems to be supporting the cause of the Cult of Victimhood, where there are no criminals and no under-achievers, just victims of social injustice. Bill Cosby is right; Dyson is wrong. Second of all, it amazes me that anyone would take seriously a social invention like Kwanzaa that is the product of such a infamous person. If you haven't read a bio of Dr. Maulana Karenga, born Ron Everett, you need to. From his very suspect academic credentials to his involvement in a shoot-out with the rival Black Panthers and his four-year imprisonment in the California penal system for kidnapping and torturing two female members of his black nationalist cult, he hardly seems to be a credible figure on which to base the future of African American identity.

Now that Barack Obama has demonstrated what true black leadership entails, perhaps it is time for the race-baiting charlatans like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Maulana Karenga to take their place in history; odd relics of a by-gone period when we just didn't know any better. How about you, Dr. Dyson? Where will you fit in?

Wow. A holiday based upon the exact same principles as the Symbionese Liberation Army (or so says Anne Coulter). Does anyone know which started first, Kwaanza or the SLA?

Blacks need to forego this seperationist attempt and join our nation that so badly wants to heal all this and move on.

As one who heard Ron Karenga speak about how and why he created Kwanzaa I want to state that the principles of Kwanzaa: Unity; Self-Determination; Collective Work and Responsibility; Cooperative Economics; Purpose (a nod to Pastor Warren); Creativity; and Faith should be applied universally as this nation confronts untold challenges. Kwanzaa is for all of us this year.

This is my third attempt to post, so if it comes through three times forgive me. The first two never appeared.

It is fine if the blacks need a fictional holiday to make them feel better. However, I seriously doubt the half-white Obama raised by white people will give in any credence to this inane notion called Kwanzaa. Also, I personally think the writer of this piece is fishing for an invite to White House.

The principles of Kwanzaa: Unity; Self-Determination; Collective Work and Responsibility; Cooperative Economics; Purpose (a nod to Pastor Warren); Creativity; and Faith should be applied universally as this nation confronts untold challenges. Kwanzaa is for all of us this year.

I side with those who reflect that since Kwanza is a creation of the African-American community designed to get African-Americans in touch with their African-American heritage, it is little more than a celebration of ethnicity, not religion, nor even legitimately spiritual in nature. It is a modern construct for political and ethnic reasons, and has nothing to do with say, the celebration of Hannukah, or other Jewish celebrations which are spiritual and religious in nature; same for Christmas for many Christians. Millions of the latter actually DO something religious or spiritual on that day, as do Jews for their "religious" holidays!
Hello! It is like Columbus Day for Italians, or St. Patrick's Day for the Irish, or Cinco de Mayo for Spanish of Mexican heritage.
I think it will be interesting when thousands of African-Americans begin to flood Obama's White House with requests to force some redress for some kind of perceived insensitive, politically correct faux pas some white person, or hispanic person, has made. We will see how the A-A community reacts when he says "no." If you believe you have a perceived discrimination complaint, take it up with your relevant authority, not me. I'm not getting into settling perceived racial issues.
On the other hand, if he DOES interject his views over and over again on Black-White issues, he runs the risk of a tremendous backlash in 2012. I doubt he'd be re-elected if he is, by then, seen as the guy who rules in favor of the Home Team all the time. While I do not like him, personally, and think he's a phony, he is now President. If he squanders that tremendous symbol of how far African-Americans have come inn America, then he's not as smart as I thought.
Kwanza is a celebration for African-Americans which does not affect the rest of society. As A-As continue to decline in #s, as opposed to Hispanics, in terms of the largest minority group, their relevance to these kind of discussions will also begin to shrink. At some point, in the next ten years, Hispanics will begin demanding, and getting, more political positions, as they, not African-Americans, can legitimately say THEY'RE the minority group of significance.
Pitting these groups one against the other, is wrong. But inevitably, Hispanics will muscle A-As over to one side as they begin to fill key political seats locally and at the state level. In some states, such as here in NM, they are already the dominant racial/minority group. Anglos, here, are not. My guess is this is, as others suggested, a way for guys like Dyson to say that yes, see, Obama's win didn't do much. There is still a lot of prejudice out there.
True but not true. While there IS continued prejudice, not allowing Kwanza to enter our lives is just because, like those who aren't Irish or Italian, it just doesn't matter that much to most of us.

The principles of Kwanzaa: Unity; Self-Determination; Collective Work and Responsibility; Cooperative Economics; Purpose (a nod to Pastor Warren); Creativity; and Faith should be applied universally as this nation confronts untold challenges. Kwanzaa is for all of us this year.

S5S5- Thank you for so perfectly illustrating my point- rabid, racist and idiotic. (you could have tried to come up with an original thought instead of playing on my comment to the imbecilic diannne.) FYI- I don't shop in Walmart, nor purchase velvet paintings. I am not black).

But you do have a bug up your a$$ about black people- too bad. The era of the white supremacist/nazi types is over. Time to grow up, S5S5- or go back to whatever nazi/fascist country your ancestors hail from.

The Obamas represent something to you that just gets your goat doesn't it? They have class, position, intelligence, power. It's obvious from your rantings you have none of those things and no hope of getting any. (Don't know where your aluminum pole is but I can tell you where to put it.)

Something is better than nothing eh,Dyson? Its funny how you can get WaPo to let you have a soapbox to use to spread the nonsense of this "important holiday"..... but its even funnier when some who read it truly believe it.

Dyson is a very bright man who likes to say what he considers outrageous things to keep the white man off balance. He likes to appear on TV and loves the spotlight. If he believes that a holiday invented by a loony black nationalist will help his people, no problem. But kwanza was barely mentioned this year and appears ready to enter the dustbin of history where useless cultural artifacts all end up- where they belong.

Welcome to America. We celebrate Christmas. It make no difference whether or not your white or black your American.People like Dyson say their fighting racism when there actually doing the opposite. Creating a divide.

I notice that many posters here have fallen into the race baiting traps laid out by Dyson, and Karenga with his alternative holiday. Do not feel bad, these traps can be cleverly constructed, and take heart, because holidays themselves don't mean that much at all. Actually, it's what takes place between the holidays that really counts.

SO, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE:

I see trees of green, red roses too,
I see them bloom, for me and you;
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white,
the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night;
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

THE COLORS OF THE RAINBOW, SO PRETTY IN THE SKY,
ARE ALSO ON THE FACES OF THE PEOPLE PASSING BY.
I see friends shaking hands, saying "How do you do?"
They're really saying, "I love you."

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow.
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know;
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
Ooooh, yeah.

–by Bob Thiele and George Weiss, for Louis Armstrong.

"Kwanzaa will be bigger then Christmas next year".

Yes, I can picture it ....You see 2009 is the planned introduction of Ol Saint Kwanzo, who will deliver gifts of forged government checks,stolen goods, drugs,money given to black children just for going to school...and yes,candy in his pimped out purple CaddyLacky with 22 inch chrome wheels pulled by 8 shiny hookers......

I have a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell to you @25% reduced price SouthernCross.

You will notice Jesse Jackson is awfully quiet now.
Normally he would be year end race baiting to boost his year end income. He would be threatning corporate America with "boycots" if they did not give him money.
Dyson is the same. He does it in the newspaper. White media has him on payroll as a gesture and a quota. Blacks don't spend money on print media. Blacks have bling and Xbox 360 to occupy their daytime. Why? Because white America enables this behavior.

"I guess all of that is ok, but should a Black person dare to express cultural pride, all the white folk are up in arms. Bunch of rabid, racist idiots, all of you."

Thank you Sparrow4 the true spirit of Kwanzaa seems to be working well for you,eh? I cant wait to see the finished black velvet portrait of two naked black lovers you plan to send to Barack and Michelle. Festivus anyone? Now where did I put that aluminum pole???? and now for the "Feats of Strength". Are you sure Kwanzaa isnt just another name for Festivus??? or is it the other way around??

It seems that the average white American wants to believe that racism is over. As if anyone who can't get out of the ghetto, it must be their own fault. Anyone who brings up the subject of race to have a rational discussion is then accused of being a racist. One need only read some of the respondents here to see that racism is alive and well.

In the long run perhaps it is good to get it out in the open so that it can be acknowledged for what it is. You can't really deal with a problem if everyone is pretending it doesn't exist.

As for Kwanzaa, I've learned a lot about it just reading this blog and the responses. Apparently, many African Americans don't celebrate it, but for those who do and find meaning in it, more power to 'em. Being a Neo-Pagan myself, many people think my holidays are made up too.

Bill Cosby is right.Dyson is wrong.
The issue now is will Obamma be able to get blacks out of their self pity party or will blacks continue to be reliant on the handouts of white America.

Mr. Dyson...this is the way u make your millions.... bringing race into our everyday life....create confusion among the races at a time when we all are making our best to be one country where we all are one... I have been through all of this crap u put out. I am 64 and have seen it all. You jus love to stir up chit. Any time u are on CNN or where ever on TV.. I just shutu out. Have a good one.

As others have pointed out, Kwanzaa is not widely celebrated in the African American community. I actually think its core principles are deserving of celebration, especially as individual greed so defines the rest of the holiday season. And, despite the election of Obama, there is never a time when veneration of one's heritage become irrelevant.

That said, the most puzzling thing about Kwanzaa is not the dubious background of its founder but the bizarre corporate exploitation of it. I find it amazing that every card section - even in areas with virtually no African Americans - has a full rack of Kwanzaa cards.

As a Jew, I see some parallels to Jewish holidays. Outside certain metropolitan areas (NY, Chicago, Philly, South Florida, Southern California) the Jewish population is less than 1%. Yet, every December there are dozens of Hanukkah cards in the store. Even in East Tennessee, where the number of fellow Jews can be counted on my right hand, there are tons of Jewish holiday cards in the stores. I'm not complaining about the options, mind you. I'm just puzzled by it.

Yes, Kwanzaa is artificially created as a holiday. But so is Christmas and Hannukah. Hannukah is the celebration of the victory of one group of Jews against another. Christmas is a myth about the birth of a saviour none of which is historically verifiable and much of obvious legendary origin. All these holidays are artificial creations. That doesn't make them bad so long as you don't take them too seriously.

someone complained that because kwanzaa is a "secular" holiday it shouldn't be discussed in On faith. Well it seems that it's ok to be racist, venal, insulting and ignorant however? Some of the comments are just appalling - why anyone should be offended that blacks in country would want to express pride in their heritage is beyond logic or rationality. Having seen thousands of Irishmen celebrating heir heritage on st. Patrick's day by drinking green beer til they get sick, or listen to Germans worship at the feet of Wagner, or listens to Italians celebrate Michelangelo as the mafiosa shoot up their rivals- I guess all of that is ok, but should a Black person dare to express cultural pride, all the white folk are up in arms. Bunch of rabid, racist idiots, all of you.

Oh, oh...even though I grew up in the Alps and am somewhat of German heritage, I know that Swahili is NOT a language from "West Africa". Here from Wikipedia: Swahili is a Bantu language that serves as the native tongue of various groups traditionally inhabiting about 1,500 miles of the Southeast African coastline. About 35% of the Swahili vocabulary derives from the Arabic language, resulting from its evolution through centuries of contact between Arabic-speaking traders and many different Bantu-speaking peoples inhabiting Africa's Indian Ocean coast. It also has incorporated Persian, German, Portuguese, Indian, and English words into its vocabulary due to contact with these different groups of people. Swahili has become a second language spoken by tens of millions in three countries, Tanzania, Kenya, and Congo (DRC), where it is an official or national language. The neighboring nation of Uganda made Swahili a required subject in primary schools in 1992—although this mandate has not been well implemented—and declared it an official language in 2005 in preparation for the East African Federation. Swahili, or other closely related languages, is spoken by nearly the entire population of the Comoros and by relatively small numbers of people in Burundi, Rwanda, northern Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique, and southern coastal Somalia. Native Swahili speakers once extended as far north as Mogadishu,[3] and the language was understood in the southern ports of the Red Sea and along the coasts of southern Arabia and the Persian Gulf.[4] However, by the mid twentieth century its range in Somalia had contracted to Kismayo, Barawa, and the neighboring coastline and offshore islands, and in the 1990s many Bantu, including the Swahili, fled the Somali Civil War to Kenya. It is not clear how many remain.[5]

Kwanzaa will be bigger then Christmas next year. The WP, NYT's and every other liberal rag will make sure of it. The only time I hear anything about Kwanzaa is when I open a newspaper. The black folks that I know don't know anything about the history of this holiday. They didn't know anything about Mr. Obama either but they voted for him. Said something about change but did'nt know much about that either.

40-some years of Kwanzaa and it is still an idea that will not catch on. It is really 'observed' by few, ignored by most, and an irritant to many. Only pandering corporations even mention it, because they are afraid of boycotts and being slandered.

Blacks (whites, asians, etc.) of faith will still honor their heritage in their own way.

If you want to honor and remember your african heritage, use Black History Month.

As one poster has said, trying to conger up silly things like Kwanzaa is old and tired.

Blacks need their own country. They huddle together. They complain, moan, always wanting someone to 'understand' their misery. It is old, tired and boring. A fabricated holiday so they can commiserate is nonsensical, ridiculous and confirms the idea they should pack it up and depart. If they prefer an African origin, are not American but African American and blah blah blah. Then for their own benefit, hit the road. Your endless story is not interesting. Efforts to help the black community have garnered not a thing. It is the worst investment this country has ever made. Blacks are rude, ungrateful, selfish and destroy what is GIVEN to them.

Kwanzaa makes more sense than Christmas and it is not meant to be a substitute for the stupidity of Christmas. Period.
Once again a bunch of ignorant posters are alarmed because others choose not to remain ignorant. Christmas is a farce - keep shopping 'til the retailers are satisfieid - okay.

I have many black friends who do celebrate Kwanzaa. We have a great time and don't spend all our time running 'cross town looking for sales.

For those of you who have black friends who dont celebrate Kwanza keep this in mind:
Just because someone is black doesn't mean they embrace their blackness or anything relative to black culture..

Kwanzaa is here to stay and for those of you who want it to be Christmas sorry......its different and we're happy about it!

Habari gani?

How many Kwanzaa cards are sold each year? I never hear any black people talking about Kwanzaa. CNN Headline News always trots out some footage of black women dancing & some dude in dreads banging on drums when they announce that today is the first day of Kwanzaa. Kids are playing with their toys. Parents are thinking about New Year's eve. Who has Kwanzaa on their mind? Explain how it's "relevant" or "necessary." Wouldn't it make more sense just to visit Africa?

Dyson is a race baiter. He earns his living stiring up bad feelings. It is his cottage industry. Blacks don't buy his books.His pubishers don't get to break even on his rubbish. He is a tool of the very far left media to enhance their leftist agenda. Dyson does not hang out with urban blacks.He would get mugged. He can be found in the comfortable salons of the white upper middle class, sipping tea. He is a disgrace to the blacks who really do work hard and prosper.

Only in your mind. It is a made up holiday and your views are not shared by the marjority of Americans.

This was a very well-written essay: support Kwanzaa or not, you have to admit the writing is superb.

I'm an agnostic/atheist, and I have no problems with all winter holidays: they are great opportunities to get together with friends and family, and celebrate.

Historically, the timing of all winter holidays originate in the Winter Solstice, of course, and each religion, as it comes along, co-opts late December to prevent its flock from celebrating elsewhere.

Kwanzaa seems like a fine tradition for African-Americans: Pausing annually to think back to where your ancestors came from, and what they went through is a good thing, and white Americans, like me, cannot begin to imagine what it is like to be Black in America.

To those Christians who fret about Kwanzaa because it is "invented" or detracts from Christmas: so what? All holidays are invented. A Black Christian can celebrate Christmas and Kwanzaa, and be the better for it. Don't be so defensive.

I am an Asian-American who grew up with mostly Black people and celebrated Kwanzaa in my high school and since then with friends and neighbors. I found it a beautiful celebration and I learned a lot from it. Despite its questionable origins, people seem to have reinvented it in a million ways, and it has become a real living holiday. Thank you Mr. Dyson for keeping attention on Kwanzaa and reminding us of its possibilities.

(as a side note: freshman year in college in rural Ohio, I was homesick and so attended the Kwanzaa celebration there. Unfortunately, it was nothing like the Kwanzaas I had grown up with, as hyperbolic minister started railing about Korean shop owners, etc. I left in disgust and sadness, I was basically kicked out as an Asian-American. So, some people do miss the point and we should educate them about what the holiday really means).

M E Dyson writes:

Karenga turned to West Africa and the language of Swahili to coin the term for a holiday celebration that means "first fruits of the harvest."
================================

The fact is that Swahili is a language unknown in West Africa.

It is an East African language spoken in and around Kenya and Tanzania.

And Kwanzaa too is unknown in Africa.

It is a made-up American pseudo holiday - something of little interest and even less significance in Africa

For Mr. Meachem and Ms. Quinn:

Kwanzaa is a secular holiday. Kwanzaa is not faith based.

A discussion of Kwanzaa should not appear in the "On Faith" section.

Dear Mr Dyson,
First of all Happy Holidays! I hope you had a good one.Your article although measured and thoughtful like your tv commentary during the primaries ( I am not familiar with your literary work) leaves me a little bit confused.
I am a native Greek and my wife is African-American.
She has a huge family spread all over the country and with varied socioeconomic backgrounds.
She said to me that she doesn't know of anybody including her friends in LA, NYC and ATL that celebrate Kwanzaa.I don't know anybody from my small number of close black friends that does either.And my friends' economic background varies too from working class people to college grads & post grads to skilled professionals in their 20's-40's.
I am confused when you say that Kwanzaa has in certain cases "prospered" and "thrived".
My question is, where? and by whom?

respectuflly

nikos mavrommatis
ATL

[ Diannne721 :
Here we go. Another made up holiday so that Michelle Shaniqua Obama can decorate the White House with ghetto fabulous art.]

ah yes- here we go indeed. Another KKK member chooses to bless us with yet another dimwitted comment on the Obamas. What's the matter diannne- jealous that Michelle Obama has 10 times the class you do? Hate your trailer? someone didn't like velvet Last Supper painting you bought at walmart? Awwwww.

REPOST:

Black minister: Say 'no' to Kwanzaa
Calls on blacks to celebrate Christmas, reject artificial holiday:

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND, Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, states, "Blacks should be outraged by attempts to stamp out Christianity from Christmas celebrations while accepting Kwanzaa as mainstream.

While commonly viewed as an "African" holiday, observed from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, Kwanzaa actually was created in the U.S. in 1966 by Dr. Maulana "Ron" Karenga, the head of a violent black-power group, United Slaves Organization, which was a rival to the Black Panthers.

In the 1970s, Karenga served four years in prison for conspiracy and assault in the torture of two female followers. Karenga was convicted of whipping them with electrical cords and beating them with a karate baton after stripping them naked. He placed in the mouth of one of the victims a hot soldering iron, also scarring her face with the device. He put one of her big toes in a vise, and detergent and running water in both of their mouths.

In a 1978 interview quoted in the Washington Post, Karenga said, "People think it's African, but it's not. I came up with Kwanzaa because black people in this country wouldn't celebrate it if they knew it was American. Also, I put it around Christmas because I knew that's when a lot of bloods (blacks) would be partying."

"If black Christians don't stand up for Christmas and reject Kwanzaa, they are allowing evil to have its way," Peterson said. "They will regret using a fake holiday to stamp out the true meaning of Christmas."

TASKFOR6 wrote

"It is a fact that Kwanzaa was invented in 1966 by a black radical FBI stooge, Ron Karenga, aka Dr. Maulana Karenga. Karenga was a founder of United Slaves, a violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers and a dupe of the FBI.

In what was probably ultimately a foolish gamble, during the madness of the '60s the FBI encouraged the most extreme black nationalist organizations in order to discredit and split the left. The more preposterous the organization, the better. Using that criterion, Karenga's United Slaves was perfect. In the annals of the American '60s, Karenga was the Father Gapon, stooge of the czarist police."

All of the above is true about the founder of Kwanza. Additionally, Karenga was convicted
of torture and should have been convicted of murder and conspiracy in the deaths of several Black Panther members including John Higgins and Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter in a UCLA classrom in 1969. I know, I was in the room at the time and barely escaped death at the hands of his followers myself. Karenga created Kwanza to diefy himself just as his phony title "Maulana" is an attempt to crown himself as a black demi-god.

I will never celebrate Kwanza or anthing related to Karenga except perhaps his obituary notice.

Professor maybe the imagery of a person sitting at a small table in the dim glow of light on a cold winters night, licking a stamp to put on an envelope has a symbolic message? The fact of the matter is that the Kwanzaa stamps don't need to be licked. Doing so may cause the stamp not adhere to the envelope.
I do feel that this story as a whole is nothing more than a flight of fancy. I don't care if you celebrate the earth being flat or what ever holiday you want to pretend but Jim Jones also had a following. Does that mean we should also have a day reserved for him too?

"I'm a Black person and I think Kwanzaa is complete nonsense. It's just something that a Black convict made up with no actual relevancy to Africa. I am a Black American, not an African or even African American. If one wants to celebrate Africa, do it in a real way by taking a vacation there or something. I'm surprise that even corporate America has bought into this nonsense."

BINGO, phoenix. Couldn't said it better myself. This "kwanzaa" is hokum born of racist stupidity.

Dyson is a black racist. His comments are as offensive as comments issued by the Grand Dragon of the KKK.

It's time we shun racists like Michael Eric Dyson. This guy has done more to enable dysfunctional behavior in this country than anyone else.

We can't tolerate racists any longer. Shun Dyson and his psuedo-holiday Kwanza.

I am a white male.

Like most blacks, I will not be observing/celebrating Kwanzaa.

Dr. Dyson, you're firing blanks on this one.

Dr. Dyson is someone who has my respect and interest. I say that as a white male who respects passion and integrity in any person, regardless of ethnicity.

I have to agree that Kwanzaa is likely to diminish in the years ahead, particularly as multi-racial couples continue to become prevalent.

That said, the vindictive and crude responses that dominate this board are disappointing. Black Americans should be allowed to celebrate a holiday if they like. Black solidarity will hopefully become an unecessary relic of the past, but a lot of angry people seem to treat it like a crime. To them I say, get lost.

Sorry, maybe Ill celebrate when Blk men respect and take care of Blk women and children.

I dont see any unity in the Blk community, I see a bunch of men who look out for themselves and abandon their women and children leaving them with the brunt of the responsbilities.

Why celebrate with a bunch of Blk men who dont reespect themselves or families?

Ill pass on Blk Celebration, maybe when Blk men respect themselves and their loves ones and show it in action, I can celebrate a Blk Holiday but right now Ill pass, Black men do very little and sure have no problem showing how much "self hate" and aminosity they have for their own.

There is a "Rift" betwen Blk men and women not going anywhere anytime soon. Its there for a reason, Blk men hate US!

Sorry, maybe Ill celebrate when Blk men respect and take care of Blk women and children.

I dont see any unity in the Blk community, I see a bunch of men who look out for themselves and abandon their women and children leaving them with the brunt of the responsbilities.

Why celebrate with a bunch of Blk men who dont reespect themselves or families?

Ill pass on Blk Celebration, maybe when Blk men respect themselves and their loves ones and show it in action, I can celebrate a Blk Holiday but right now Ill pass, Black men do very little and sure have no problem showing how much "self hate" and aminosity they have for their own.

There is a "Rift" betwen Blk men and women not going anywhere anytime soon. Its there for a reason, Blk men hate US!

Sorry, maybe Ill celebrate when Blk men respect and take care of Blk women and children.

I dont see any unity in the Blk community, I see a bunch of men who look out for themselves and abandon their women and children leaving them with the brunt of the responsbilities.

Why celebrate with a bunch of Blk men who dont reespect themselves or families?

Ill pass on Blk Celebration, maybe when Blk men respect themselves and their loves ones and show it in action, I can celebrate a Blk Holiday but right now Ill pass, Black men do very little and sure have no problem showing how much "self hate" and aminosity they have for their own.

There is a "Rift" betwen Blk men and women not going anywhere anytime soon. Its there for a reason, Blk men hate US!

I am so glad to see Mr. Dyson offer some serious reflection and comments on Kwanzaa, after seeing D. L. Hughly make fun of it on his CNN show. Why would a serious network like CNN, founded by Ted Turner for the purpose of providing 24 / 7 serious news and commentary, bring on a clown like D. L. to make fun of African American cultural celebrations... If he made fun of annual jewish holiday season, the public would not tolerate it. Am I the only African American insulted by this?

Kwanzaa is as relevant as Esperanto. I am black and I do not know a single black person who celebrates it or cares about it. Kwanzaa is on the fringe of black culture. It is irrelevant. And to Dianne721- the most ghetto fabulous person who was trying to get into the white house was Sarah Palin who barely graduated college and who's unmarried teenage daughter was knocked up by the son of a drug dealer not the Ivy League educated Michelle Obama. Your side lost. Quit whining and sweep the beer bottles out of your trailer.

Dr Dyson,

I am often in lock step with you when it comes to the African American experience but I must say, with all due respect, Kwanzaa and all that it "symbolizes" is not the experience of the African diaspora in America. I understand its roots and its aims but its invention as a counterpoint to the birth of christ (and we can argue the day and the time and all that) but you cannot replace the acknowlegdement of a faith so easily. Belief knows no geographic boundary or span of time and the birth of the son of man be it celebrated in December at the solstice or in April as many scholars believe to be the correct time of year, would still hold great sway over millions of people African, European, Asian and Arab as well. Christmas is not a remebering of comunal, tribal, or national ritual. For those who follow the books of the new testament it is the affirmation of the covenant between God and man.

As an old white woman, I'm baffled by the suggestion, here, that there are specifically "white holidays". This suggests ignorance of common history akin to the bogarting of privileges that locked out gays. The first Thanksgiving included Native Americans, the some oof whom share genetic ties with today's African Americans.

Not so the first white participants, who were English, unlike contemporary American whites who are mostly German descent.

Fact, is, race is not a legitimate construct for bragging rights or prossession, not being real except superficially.

I believe Christmas is the biggest ponzi scheme going on in America. The retailers been crying since thanksgiving. Not a one mentioned Jesus or the christ child this "holiday" is supposed to honor. People need to wake up. Santa Claus? You all are stupid.

I can appreciate having principles for self improvement and reflection and teaching that to children. I can appreciate teaching them what a blessing it is to receive the first harvest.

What exactly does christmas teach you to do except shop?

I fully expected the opening to state that Kwanzaa is as irrelevant and unnecessary as it's ever been. It seems to be more of a political correctness/media driven holiday. Was this "holiday" really deserving of a postal stamp? Probably not.

I'd be surprised if even 1% of black people celebrated this holiday.

Oh, please! What crap!

But why Swahili? Although it is a African Bantu language, over one-third of the Swahili, or Kiswahili, vocabulary consists of words of Arabic origin, including the word "swahili" itself. Arabic vocabulary entered the language through contact with Arab traders along the eastern coast of Africa. As another contributor noted, this contact frequently involved trade in people.
The Swahili language was later imposed on peoples who spoke many different languages by the European colonizers (who began their conquest from the coast) to facilitate their control over the the culturally diverse populations they wanted to rule, once they had carved up the continent. Even today there is resistance to the imposition of Swahili by governments who have inherited some of the ways of their former colonial overlords. Oh yes, as someone noted, it is not spoken in West Africa.
Africa is a huge and diverse continent containing a multitude of cultures. The "Black Nationalist soil" to which Prof. Dyson refers is an American (United States) idea, with little relevance to the realities of Africa. (I write from Africa.)

con byrne, I'm with you. I celebrate everything open to a nonbelievers, who just want to have fun in the company of others willing to tolerate us.

BTW, no need to worry about spelling inebriated here. We yanks wouldn't know the difference. We have enough trouble spelling drunk :))

Kwanzaa is straight fantasy, we have a new president,a horrible economy and country to work for, improve, aspire and believe in, not a fictional time of year. Dyson himself is irrelevant and I hope he finds a more appropriate subject to show up on Today, CNN and Fox News to espouse about. Kwanzaa ain't it....

Kwanzaa never has been, and never will be, relevant. Sorry.

Here we go. Another made up holiday so that Michelle Shaniqua Obama can decorate the White House with ghetto fabulous art.

Free Access:

"are you kidding me? think about all the Black kids and other races here that have YOUR culture forced down our throats every single day!!!

and you ask why your kid has to learn anything, one thing, about ANOTHER culture!!

how arrogant!"

First of all, you don't know "my culture" and to assume that I don't want my kids to learn about other cultures is ignorant, at best.

I wasnt't complaining about my son learning about another culture. Quite the contrary, I think it is great that he knows about Kwanza. I simply posed the question as to why Kwanza and not any other culture's holidays? I believe I even specifically mentioned Haunakah and Eids.

As to the question of having "my culture" forced down your throat every single day, I am in a unique position to answer that. I am a social studies teacher in a mostly white, rural high school and I can tell you with 100% certainty that black history is a very sizable portion of our U.S. History curriculum. As a matter of fact, it isn't taught as a separate course or just in February, it is woven into the regular American history class.

No one has anything forced down their throat. Just a healthy respect for all.

phoenixspin Author Profile Page:
"I'm a Black person and I think Kwanzaa is complete nonsense. It's just something that a Black convict made up with no actual relevancy to Africa. I am a Black American, not an African or even African American. If one wants to celebrate Africa, do it in a real way by taking a vacation there or something. I'm surprise that even corporate America has bought into this nonsense."

Probably the best post on this topic for two reasons- first phoenixspin states what should be obvious to all, Kwanzaa is total made up BS. And second but MOST important were these 5 words- "I am a Black American". I only have to go back a few generations to place my ancestors in Italy but I don't go around calling myself an "Italian-American". We are all AMERICANS, the sooner everyone figures that out and we start working together will be when we truly turn it all around for the good.

I agree that what offends me most is that this made-up holiday, specifically placed after Christmas to pull African Americans away from Christianity, is celebrated in detailed song by my children, while their "winter concert" cannot have a single mention of Christmas except in passing during "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

Kwanzaa was in fact meant to separate blacks and whites, and so having children of every heritage "celebrate" it either insults them or robs the observance of its supposed meaning. I mean, come on, when they sing the Swahili term meaning "self-determination," it wasn't meant to be self-determination for all people, but just for black people. That would be good, but it is crazy to have children sing about it as if it were any more meaningful than Christmas carols for non-Christians.

Finally, for those who complain about St Patrick's Day. Don't pretend that wearing green and getting drunk means that anyone is actually celebrating a holiday. I am sure that if, instead of having my children sing about a holiday meant to diminish their own faith, that Kwanzaa was celebrated with drink specials and insulting characitures (sp) like leprechauns,it would be more widely appreciated. It wouldn't mean that the original intent was respected, though.

Ummm, where in Kwanzaa is there any aspects of faith, a deity, spirituality, or other nonmaterial dimensions that are normally what defines a religion? Kwanzaa was founded by a MARXIST, ladies and gentleman, who by definition was a materialist!! Karenga himself has always admitted that Kwanzaa is not a religious event. Meacham and Quinn are simply trying to find a way to participate in the WaPo's futile effort to salvage its dying business model by making sh*t up, the oldest trick in the book.

This is a racist made-up, bogus holiday.

I'm was born and grew up half my life in west africa. My question for the founder is where did he find swahili speakers in west africa? nobody there speaks swahili. racist and ridiculous holiday. Where are these 40 million people that celebrate Kwanzaa.? I can certainly say there is not one african who celebrates this kwanzaa. lol

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lattelover726 Author Profile Page:

If other cultures can have their celebrations then why should anyone care whether black people celebrate Kwaanza. I agree with person who commented about how black people have been celebrating every "white" holidays in this country for years and as soon as Kwaanza starts to get more attention then there's problem. I think all people should learn more about other cultures and this is one way of doing it.
=====

I wasn't aware that Thanksgiving was a "white holiday." I'm black and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. What is meant by a "white holiday?"

Learning about other cultures is one thing. Whether you choose to celebrate that culture once you have obtained knowledge about it is another thing. Knowing what I know about Kwanzaa, I don't intend to celebrate it. Oftentimes, it's assumed that people who choose to not do something "must be ignorant." That may be true, on occasion. It may also be true that having been informed about his options, a rational-thinking person rejects a certain course of action. Thus my decision to not celebrate Kwanzaa.

You also make the mistake of implying that Kwanzaa is the culture of black people. It is the practice of a minimal sub-section of black Americans, some of whom hold nationalist and/or pseudo-Marxist sympathies. It is far from a representative practice of black Americans. Kwanzaa no more represents my culture as a black American than does the dancing of the polka or wearing lederhosen.

When President Obama's kids ask for Kawanza presents let me know. I'll be the first to buy them one. Can anyone say "fesitvus for the rest of us" ?

Nobody celebrates this silly made-up holiday celebrating nothing. My AA friends just laugh at it. You may think it's more relevant now than ever, but since it's never been anything other than completely irrelevant, that's not much of a bar. Let's let it go already.

I'm a Black person and I think Kwanzaa is complete nonsense. It's just something that a Black convict made up with no actual relevancy to Africa. I am a Black American, not an African or even African American. If one wants to celebrate Africa, do it in a real way by taking a vacation there or something. I'm surprise that even corporate America has bought into this nonsense.

If people really want to celebrate Kwanzaa- more power to them- but even on the South Side of Chicago- almost no one seemed very interested one way or the other.

Kwanzaa is nothing more than the Black Panthers trying to stick-it to whitey. Wonder if Reverend Wright celebrates this BS of a holiday?

If other cultures can have their celebrations then why should anyone care whether black people celebrate Kwaanza. I agree with person who commented about how black people have been celebrating every "white" holidays in this country for years and as soon as Kwaanza starts to get more attention then there's problem. I think all people should learn more about other cultures and this is one way of doing it.

Does anyone seriously celebrate this so-called "holiday"? Every year Wal-Mart and other big retailers put out a lot of Kwanzaa cards and gift wrapping paper and they're always stuck with tons of it! Even here in the area where I live (which is 45%- 50% black) nobody buys it. I wish these big retailers and mainstream media would quit trying to force it on us, because it's politicially correct. I believe that the famous Seinfeld episode about Festivus was actually making fun of it...And I wish the calendar makers would take it off on December 26 (through whenever). Can I make up mu own holiday and have the liberals buy it?

Ive seen this phony Dyson before on television. He pretends like he's this big intellectual becuase he can talk like an average white person. He reminds me of another phony, Cornel West. These guys are frauds who, because they are black, are given these jobs at universities, and are supposed to be experts on "black life" in America!....naturally, liberal whites fall for this ruse!

What Really Behind Kwanzaa

Is it just me, or does Kwanzaa seem to come earlier and earlier each year?

This year, I believe my triumph over this synthetic holiday is nearly complete. The only mentions of Kwanzaa I've seen are humorous ones. Most important, for the first time in eight years, President George Bush appears not to have issued "Kwanzaa greetings" to honor this phony non-Christian holiday that is younger than I am.

It is a fact that Kwanzaa was invented in 1966 by a black radical FBI stooge, Ron Karenga, aka Dr. Maulana Karenga. Karenga was a founder of United Slaves, a violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers and a dupe of the FBI.

In what was probably ultimately a foolish gamble, during the madness of the '60s the FBI encouraged the most extreme black nationalist organizations in order to discredit and split the left. The more preposterous the organization, the better. Using that criterion, Karenga's United Slaves was perfect. In the annals of the American '60s, Karenga was the Father Gapon, stooge of the czarist police

It would appear that Kwanzaa should be wrapped into the spirit of Thanksgiving Holiday and not with X-mas. Most are off the Friday after Thanksgiving anyway. How about that day being celebrated as Minority Jubilations Day? e.g. Anniversary of the Revolution for the Mexican-Americans???

Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October. Smart people these Canadians
considering the typical US bad weather starting with our Thanksgiving and lasting until the first day of Spring.

Maybe the NAFTA Agreement should be amended with a common Thanksgiving for all participants??

Kwanzaa another Hallmark holiday. Its sort of like sweetest day isn't it?

What is really behind Kawanzaa

Is it just me, or does Kwanzaa seem to come earlier and earlier each year?

This year, I believe my triumph over this synthetic holiday is nearly complete. The only mentions of Kwanzaa I've seen are humorous ones. Most important, for the first time in eight years, President George Bush appears not to have issued "Kwanzaa greetings" to honor this phony non-Christian holiday that is younger than I am.

It is a fact that Kwanzaa was invented in 1966 by a black radical FBI stooge, Ron Karenga, aka Dr. Maulana Karenga. Karenga was a founder of United Slaves, a violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers and a dupe of the FBI.

In what was probably ultimately a foolish gamble, during the madness of the '60s the FBI encouraged the most extreme black nationalist organizations in order to discredit and split the left. The more preposterous the organization, the better. Using that criterion, Karenga's United Slaves was perfect. In the annals of the American '60s, Karenga was the Father Gapon, stooge of the czarist police

wangbang747 Author Profile Page:

What the f*ck do you dumb white trash care? What is it to you? Why is it that all you dumb fagg0t white trash always feel compelled to comment on things that have nothing to do with you?

December 27, 2008 12:28 PM | Report Offensive Comments
----

Using (a) racist language and (b) homophobic language to defend your views is not enlightened. Be more responsible than that. Dr. Dyson's article is published on the website of a major newspaper. The topics he addresses are relevant to all Americans, in that they speak to how we view ourselves as Americans, and how we view ourselves as individuals within America. We all have a stake in this discussion.

What a joke!......a made up holiday for blacks by some racist who doesnt like blacks celebrating a holiday that so many whites celebrate. The funny thing is, noone celebrates it except a few blacks and the media trys every year to say hoe its growing each year. Sctually, Ive heard less this year about it than ever. I think it will die out in another year or two!

"On Faith" is always good for a few laughs. Thanks, Washington Post, for keeping it alive. Some of these articles are Onion-worthy.

Mr. Dyson,
You are very good at writing about black this, and black that, and (I presume, though I don't see it anywhere) white this, and white that. You are very good at being a racist. Do you know that every time you generalize about one race you antagonize the other? I think you do know this, and I think you do not care. Hence you perpetuate racism.

The problem is, those whites you attempt to antagonize, whether consciously or unconsciously, with your black this and black that, are not the same people that created this deep feeling of racial hatred you feel (do you know that you hate white people?), and that you try to disguise by hiding behind all your generalizations concerning blacks. Every time you open your mind and your posts to generalizations concerning the division of race within the species known as human beings, you do irreparable harm. When will you learn?

Alas, WEINERCAT, all holidays and observances are created and/or manufactured by people. Touche [sic]!
Kwanzaa, however, is the creation of a radical leftist organization - the likes of which nearly inadvertently put John McCain in the White House.
The ultimate mistake of Kwanzaa is the presumption that there is an African monolith that is a 'distinct culture.' It is little wonder that many Americans believe that Africa is a country and not a continent with more than fifty distinct nations within it.
All politically correct hogwash aside, we can't get Africans to agree with Africans, let's cut the crap and stop acting like all is hunky dory in our imaginary 'Africa World.'
Perhaps instead of boycotting Christmas with some silly militarism, why not try to send those same dollars and that same love back to the continent that the Kwanzaa folk supposedly love so much?

**All Holidays are "made up" at one point or another. Personaly I don't view Kwanzaa as a real Holiday any more than I do Festivas. I'd respect Festivas more because it's actually explained better on TV than Kwanzaa ever was.
The everyday person will never view Kwanzaa with any thing more than distain. Its another wedge between blacks and whites.

The truth is, Kwanzaa is not relevant today. To write that "Kwanzaa is more relevant than ever" really means that it's not, but you wish that it were. Something that is truly relevant doesn't need a newspaper columnist to announce its relevance. It is relevant to leftist black ideologues and politically correct individuals who fear wishing a black man or woman a "Merry Christmas." It is also relevant to the card makers who might be able to sell some Kwanzaa cards and gift-wrap. It is not relevant beyond those spheres in today's world.

In any event, I'm certainly not celebrating a holiday founded by a Marxist separatist and convicted felon.

In 1971, Karenga, Louis Smith, and Luz Maria Tamayo were convicted of felony assault and false imprisonment for assaulting and torturing over a two day period two women from the US organization, Deborah Jones and Gail Davis. [2] 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 Ms. Davis's mouth and placed against Ms. Davis's face and that one of her own big toes was tightened in a vise. Karenga also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths, she said."[citation needed]

It this true?

YES!

It's just another thing to segregate with.

I can bet and win on the fact that a mojority of blacks don't know when/where/how Kwanza was created.

The only thing they know is the race card.

Blacks will always rely on a crutch in some way. The Kwanza crutch will give them another excuse not to work.

Oh, bugger, maybe it's inebriated. I need another drink

As you were, innebriated

Me, I just get rat-arsed*, I don't care whose celebration it is. Looking forward to the Chinese New Year.

*for my American cousins rat-arsed = innebrated

Uh, Michael, you do realize (don't you?) that Swahili is NOT a language of West Africa but, in fact, is a language of the East African coast. Swahili is a Bantu language that mixed with non-African languages due to a variety of peoples that have traded and dominated the East African coast on the Indian Ocean. Ironically, roughly one-third of Swahili is derived from Arabic due to the Arabic traders (many of whom were involved in the slave trade of black Africans for Arab purposes) who dominated the East African coast.

I think it is unfortunate that another holiday was created that separates us. Religious holidays already separate us. The fundie-Christians want us to all say "Merry Christmas" even when the holiday falls right in the middle of Hannukah this year. Now blacks are supposed to embrace another holiday that excludes people. I was against segregation, it seems, since almost birth, never seeing it as right. I am for any holiday that is "inclusive" to all people. Thanksgiving is the best holiday as it includes all of us ... no matter what race, religion, or lack of religion.

Growing up "unchurched" I'd love to humbly celebrate Kwanzaa, as I do Christmas and Hanukkah, with those for whom the celebration has deep meaning. Still, this old Southern whitey respects and wholly understands my African American friends' feelings about a top-down celebration that hasn't yet been embraced enough in their homes to be sent out like a child to risk certain commercial and popular [ab]use. This is the lot of American holidays, whether or not they're grounded in our hearts.

No biggie that Washington's birthday became President's day, the day to buy mattresses on sale! Trouble is, far worse has been done to what African Americans have "dared" to hold precious.

That said, there's the power of hope in a bold chance taken on an abstract that can't, in any event, be finished, much less harmed beyond resuscitation. To get out from under the canopy of Christmas, might it follow from Africa being in the southern hemisphere, that Kwanzaa could be celebrated in the summertime?

Black minister: Say 'no' to Kwanzaa
Calls on blacks to celebrate Christmas, reject artificial holiday:

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND, Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, states, "Blacks should be outraged by attempts to stamp out Christianity from Christmas celebrations while accepting Kwanzaa as mainstream.

While commonly viewed as an "African" holiday, observed from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, Kwanzaa actually was created in the U.S. in 1966 by Dr. Maulana "Ron" Karenga, the head of a violent black-power group, United Slaves Organization, which was a rival to the Black Panthers.

In the 1970s, Karenga served four years in prison for conspiracy and assault in the torture of two female followers. Karenga was convicted of whipping them with electrical cords and beating them with a karate baton after stripping them naked. He placed in the mouth of one of the victims a hot soldering iron, also scarring her face with the device. He put one of her big toes in a vise, and detergent and running water in both of their mouths.

In a 1978 interview quoted in the Washington Post, Karenga said, "People think it's African, but it's not. I came up with Kwanzaa because black people in this country wouldn't celebrate it if they knew it was American. Also, I put it around Christmas because I knew that's when a lot of bloods (blacks) would be partying."

"If black Christians don't stand up for Christmas and reject Kwanzaa, they are allowing evil to have its way," Peterson said. "They will regret using a fake holiday to stamp out the true meaning of Christmas."

I refuse to seriously consider Kwanzaa. It is a separatist ruse that is meant to celebrate 'values' but it selfishly balkanizes the Christmas season into white days and black days of celebration.
Ann Coulter and I don't always see eye to eye but she is right on target about the ghastly brainchild of black militants. To see mainstream blacks observe this fake holiday is no worse than watching the patronizing media join in their pseudo-Christmas.
If the Kwanzaa hucksters aren't angling for attention, why did they choose the Christmas season? They wanted to find a way to really 'stick it to the man' with their politically correct way of segregating a very holy time of year.
As for a previous comment about St. Patrick's Day, it is a day that celebrates the patron saint of Ireland. It now has become a celebration that crosses ethnic boundaries - like Cinco de Mayo has become. Unlike St. Patrick's Day anc Cinco de Mayo, however, 'Kwanzaa' was made up out of thin air for the hate whitey crowd.

Also, why the hell is that dude pointing at me?

freeaccess
I have no problem with kids learning about Kwanzaa. But this "your white culture is forced down our throat" thing is kind of silly. Here in NC, if I gave you a dollar for every black person who celebrates Kwanzaa and you gave me a dime for every black person who celebrates christmas, I'd get more money. Moreover, American black culture has less to do with African culture than Irish American culture stems from Chinese culture. In the USA, African-Americans/Blacks have created the dominant cultural influence on the planet - hiphop. From Japan to Moscow to Paris to Baghdad people celebrate and try to adopt hip-hop, and nobody celebrates any 'African" traditions - let alone a phoney one like Kwanzaa. Trying to 'reach back to Africa' dismisses the accomplishments of Blacks in the West, which IMO far outstrips black accomplishments in Africa.
FYI, I'd bet real money I know more about African cultures than you do!

this answer is for this guy who writes...
"My 5 year-old son came home from kindergarten last week talking about the different "tenents" of Kwanza. Okay, no problem there. I have no issue with him learning about different traditions of the various cultures that make up the fabric of this great nation.

So I asked my son what he learned about Christmas, or Haunakah, or Eids. He said, "We didn't learn about those, Dad."

My question is why is Kwanza so important that it merits inclusion in a Kindergarten classroom, yet the other aforementioned holidays do not?"

are you kidding me? think about all the Black kids and other races here that have YOUR culture forced down our throats every single day!!!

and you ask why your kid has to learn anything, one thing, about ANOTHER culture!!

how arrogant!

hello retarded white folk.

****what do you think christmas is? it's just a pagan holiday created by whites supposedly to celebrate the Jesus you believe is white--- NEWS FLASH. HE WASN'T - that's just your arrogance again.

*** what does rudolph, frosty, and an overweight, unhealthy white guy have to do with the birth of a savior? paganistic indeed.

*** whoever doesn't understand KWANZAA hasn't read its principals. its better than putting lights on a tree that you keep only for 7 days and then through out into the universe.

*** whites should never question what other races do to celebrate religion, as white religion is based on non-sensical, terroristic views and exclusion, not to mention hypocrisy.

*** KWANZAA and OBAMA rock! as does Dr. Dyson!

*** take care and have a happy NEW YEAR!

hello retarded white folk.

****what do you think christmas is? a pagan holiday created by whites supposed to be for the Jesus you believe is white--- NEWS FLASH. HE WASN'T - that's just your arrogance again.

*** what does rudolph, frosty, and an overweight, unhealthy white guy have to do with the birth of a savior? paganistic indeed.

*** whoe ever doesn't understand KWANZAA hasn't read its principals. its better than putting lights on a tree that you keep only for 7 days and then through out into the universe.

*** whites should never question what other races do to celebrate religion, as white religion is based on non-sensical, terroristic views and exclusion, not to mention hypocrosy.

*** KWANZAA and OBAMA rock!

*** take care and have a happy NEW YEAR!

so wait, are you saying that people celebrate kwanzaa? i always thought it was a catchphrase.

If it makes people feel good about themselves, and that translates into healthy pride and personal achievement, then I'm OK with made up cultural holidays like Kwanzaa. But it does strike me as a serious dumbing down of the real complexities of black heritage, and I'm not sure that fits with any notion of growth or progress for anyone. It can't really be called 'nationalist' as it actually replaces the true national heritage of most black Africans. You could say it's race-based but it requires ignoring real racial differences in favor of the self-serving, political interests of a very small racial minority. If you have to simplify things that much to create a sense of unity and purpose are you truly representing anyone's identity? If Kwanzaa requires more submerging of true identity in favor of celebrating a false one, who actually benefits?

Odd to have a serious black academic arguing for such a non-representative form of cultural cheerleading...he seems to be turning off his intellect as necessary to maintain his public persona.

Also: I too would like to see an answer to the question above - why is this post in the "On Faith" section?

Despite the fact that I understand and have some sympathy for the idea that geopolitically defined groups should have the choice to rule themselves (“self-determination”) people ruling themselves rather than being ruled by others, and despite my agreement with some elements of socialism (collective work and responsibility; cooperative economics), it troubles me deeply that the celebrators of Kwanzaa accept these principles uncritically. What appears to have happened is that a holiday celebration has been made up, mixed with religion (the Kwanzaa principle of “faith”), and used as propaganda to establish the belief that if you’re a capitalist (or simply value some aspects of capitalism), or an atheist, or if you think that people of African descent can live as citizens of multiracial nations rather than separating into their own, ethnically homogeneous nations, then you’re not really Black. For this reason, I believe that Kwanzaa should not be celebrated in its current form. Given that the holiday was created so recently, it would be straightforward to change it into a more progressive, inclusive, and less propagandistic ritual. Substitute “conviction” for “faith,” make it about “collective AND INDIVIDUAL work and responsibility,” and strike the partially redundant phrase concerning “cooperative economics.” Then we’d have something more worthy of universal celebration.

A made up holiday for pagans...

cricket35 - Money is the reason for the season, not Jesus. Jesus wasn't born on Christmas. Moreover Jesus's teachings have nothing to do with Christmas trees or well off people giving eachother crappy gifts they pick up at Rite-Aid. Christmas is just as 'made up' as Kwanzaa, and most people who celebrate Christmas are probably as un-Christian as they can be.
BTW, don't diss santa - there is a lot more evidence that Santa exists than God.

The problem with Kwanzaa is that it comes during Christmas, a Christian religious celebration. Kwanzaa is not a religion which is why it is taught at schools. It's a secular practice, sort of like believing in Santa Claus. For those who don't want to celebrate the real reason for the season (Jesus Christ), Santa Claus and Kwanzaa fit the bill. Kwanzaa is a distraction from Christ if one is a Christian. Kwanzaa doesn't fit the bill in all black homes.

The basic problem with "black identity" is that most of the people on this planet have skin darker than "Europeans" (i.e. Whites). For a European, the view is whether you are white Irish, or darker Greek, for example; and in Africa--sub-Saharan, Africa--an Ethiopian certainly would not consider himself the same as a Bantu from South Africa, nor would a Camaroonian consider himself to have the same customs or identity as a Senegalese. Africa is a big continent; peoples are different in different parts of it. As for using a Swahili word for a "universal" black festival, the paradox is that Swahili is a language introduced by Arab traders--traders not averse to a bit of slave trading themselves.

So where does that leave an American "Black"? First of all, most of them would find that their families have been in America longer than many of the Whites. How or why they got there is immaterial; many of the white people came from feudal villages, and were little more than slaves themselves.

Do we need "identity"? Is it possible to be just people, like the Blacks, and Whites, and Yellows, and … etc. that stayed home?
Do we need an artificial festival that, in fact, does not reflect black people at all? Isn't this like a German celebrating St. Patrick's Day?

What the f*ck do you dumb white trash care? What is it to you? Why is it that all you dumb fagg0t white trash always feel compelled to comment on things that have nothing to do with you?

In 1971, Karenga, Louis Smith, and Luz Maria Tamayo were convicted of felony assault and false imprisonment for assaulting and torturing over a two day period two women from the US organization, Deborah Jones and Gail Davis. [2] 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 Ms. Davis's mouth and placed against Ms. Davis's face and that one of her own big toes was tightened in a vise. Karenga also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths, she said."[citation needed]

It this true?

A more relevant Kwanzaa is like a taller dwarf.

Personally I have a problem with Kwanzaa for the following reasons:
a) The word Kwanzaa originates from East Africa and it is Swahili. African Americans have their roots from West Africa, so let me understand how to compromise a coin up identity which does in any link our origin?
b)Alex Haley in Roots did capture and narrated our origin.
c) The Gola people of West and Central Africa whose sweat and tears we rip today and their stubborness to be changed, have no identity of who we are.
Please could someone tell me what kwanzaa is really an avenue for someone on the back of our forefathers to make money and try to indoctrinate the present generation.
Kwanzaa is foolish and it will not hold much longer as it was predicated on greed as oppose to our true indentity.

I guess the most appropriate response I could find comes from the erudite Ann Coulter. She wrote a little song that is sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells'...goes like this:

Kwanza bells, dashikis sell
Whitey has to pay;
Burning, shooting, oh what fun
On this made-up holiday!

Kwanzaa is mostly harmless enough. My kids had to 'learn' about it in school, even though every black kid they know is a Christian who celebrates Christmas. What I do find offensive is Kwanzaas obvious phoniness and lack of respect for real African culture. Mr. Dyson is one of the smartest people I've ever read, but he seems not to know that there are hundreds of cultures and languages in western Africa, and I doubt any of them celebrate Kwanzaa. Pan-Africanism makes no sense, because seeing all blacks as being uniformly African is racist. It's like having pan-Europeanism, as if Italians, Poles and Irish see themselves as the same people. Mende see themselves as a different RACE than Yuroba or Tutsi, period. These ethnic groups have different cultures, language and religions. Somehow Kwanzaa seems rather racist as well as promoting ignorance of African culture.

Dr D:
I really enjoyed reading this article and it brought back such fond memories for me as my family always celebrated Kwanzaa with another Black family in my community. Its seven core principles have been a main staple in my life and I in no way think the celebration is meaningless now that President Elect Obama will be in office in a month. I cannot understand why people think the struggle is over and that we have somehow “arrived”!! Obama cannot solve everything and as a Black community we should hold each other accountable and make every effort not to add to the negative statistics and stereotypes. The road is still long, the fight still ongoing. Peace and blessings!

My 5 year-old son came home from kindergarten last week talking about the different "tenents" of Kwanza. Okay, no problem there. I have no issue with him learning about different traditions of the various cultures that make up the fabric of this great nation.

So I asked my son what he learned about Christmas, or Haunakah, or Eids. He said, "We didn't learn about those, Dad."

My question is why is Kwanza so important that it merits inclusion in a Kindergarten classroom, yet the other aforementioned holidays do not?

I personally have no issue with Kwanza. I think it is sort of a disingenous "holiday" in that its founding wasn't based on a specific cultural or religous tradition. But if blacks want to celebrate it, that's their business.

I do; however, think that if schools are going to teach about it, then it should either be in the broader context of holidays or black culture.

I'm all for more holidays if it gets me off work. I've never been quite certain what Kwanza actually is, but I like the hats.

We have a cultural holiday as well where we celebrate the sweeping of the Mongols from the Eurasian steppes by the Visigoths. The seven day celebration is culminated by a tractor pull and SUPER BATTLE OF THE MONSTERRRR TRUCKS!

I think the main reason Kwanzaa exists today is so that Michael Eric Dyson will have something to talk about when a student organization at a large, urban university wants to pay him to speak about how black nationalism can be repackaged and repurposed as mainstream, and receive foundation funding.

What is this column doing under the faith headline? It doesn't have anything to do with faith or anything else for that matter. Yawnnnn.

This is satire, right?

I didn't like Kwanza before and I don't like it now. Obama's election will not make a difference to this black woman.

Eric:

This is a deep and powerful piece. It's essence, like Kwanzaa speaks to the uniting of a people for the individual, collective and common good.

Too bad some respondents have yet to understand and appreciate pro-black does not mean anti-white or anti-American. We want the best for ourselves, this country and the rest of the world including Africa, the mother continent which birthed all mankind. Yes, even the uninformed who invited you to return to Africa has African blood flowing through his/her veins...

I'm not much for fabricated holidays. Then again, if Hallmark can do it, why not conscious-driven African American professors?

But if random people are going to create holidays intended for consumption by vast swaths of the population, don't expect them to be taken any more seriously than Hallmark holidays are. Also, if you want them to succeed as another "just so" Holiday, expect to market the big bucks that Hallmark does to keep them remembered.

I firmly believe WTBS's annual ritual of broadcasting "A Christmas Story" has attracted more adherents than Kwanzaa.

Kwanzaa is and was a joke started by a street hustler looking for an angle. It worked. Do not however confuse a solid hustle with something significant. Kwanzaa has no more significance than the Great Pumpkin, or Peter Cotton Tale. Sorry fellows; stupid is as stupid does.

Kids naturally rebel against do-goodisms and the invented ritual of Kwaanza is no exception; kids can feel its non-authentic design and therefore dismiss it.

I don't know how or what makes authentic ritual, some of it is intrinsic, summer solstice, winter soltice, planting, harvest, others are a shared memory due to religion or tribal history but sadly, Kwaanza has none of that. It is unfortuanate that Africans have lost their historical rituals but those are not easily gained back no matter how just that may seem. They are Americans now, for better or worse and follow American rituals.

Kwaanza has failed for the simple reason that you can't go back - you may not even know what back is - just that you have to add a little every time you go forward. Blacks are doing that.

Politicall_yIncorrect
"If you so much love Africa and find America is so bad place to live , it is may be time to settle down there."

I don't care much for Kwanzaa or the idea of making up holidays to separate blacks from whites and/or unite blacks where there is no real connection but the logic here is egregiously stupid. Perhaps all those who celebrate St. Patrick's Day should just bugger off back to Ireland?

Kwanzaa has never been relevant, and still isn't. Sorry.

For the professor himself Black identity, Black this and that is important to keep hisr job going and get paid. Playing race card is no longer acceptable after Obama victory. If you so much love Africa and find America is so bad place to live , it is may be time to settle down there. Well, if not all, most of Africans are ready to come to the US to live here--simply because it is much better place to live in democracy, secular, modern and relatively fair soceity. No ore romanticism please!

Thanks for the history lesson, professor Dyson. At my recent work holiday party game one of the questions was when Kwanzaa was invented. To my surprise, majority of the African American colleagues did not know the answer.

Dyson in a most telling last sentence says, "...Kwanzaa is as relevant and necessary now as it's ever been." That is saying a mouthful. It has never been relevant except for a fringe of black nationalists. Wake up. The victory of Barack Obama is a resounding confirmation of the black middle class and the bedrock American hymn of practicality "work hard and you can succeed." Obama's victory spells the end to black middle class guilt and I'd say it spells the end to Kwanzaa but as noted, Kwanzaa never really had much of a beginning since it was and is a fiction. Barack Obama: Harvard educated, wealthy, successful, Centrist. Oh, and let's not forget: he has traded in Rev.Dr. Wright for Pastor Rick. This narrative, rooted as it is in reality, will overwhelm the fiction and ideology of the Left.

Yeah that's what we need, more nonsensical holidays!
Funny how professor Dyson never seems to find himself teaching at a university with more than 10% minority enrollment, but he loves to act like he is the conscience of the black underprivileged.