Chapter 10.13
Kwanzaa
Maulana
Karenga – 7 Kwanzaa Principals
The
7 Symbols – The 7 Blackness Principals
The
Black Panthers - The United Slaves gang
Should
a Christian celebrate Kwanzaa?
The
GOOD, the BAD & the UGLY
The
Good, The Bad, the Ugly
First Word
My interest in Kwanzaa was elevated
when a friend asked the question; “Should a Christian observe Kwanzaa”? Since it occurred around Christmas, I began to
study the subject to see if it was in the Bible in some form or fashion. I Googled the official Kwanzaa website and began my
assimilation of glowing principles and practices.
However, I found other websites that were just downright hateful
citing very little documentation which I quickly dismissed. But the more I searched, the GOOD was
trashed with the BAD and the UGLY
raised its head. The Bible says; “In the mouth of
Two or Three witnesses is a thing established,[1] so
I sought out more documentation on the Internet and found more than a dozen
commentaries on this subject. (Internet search; Ron N.
Everett)
Some News articles refer to Kwanzaa as
more than a celebration, but as a FAITH. Many African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa
do so in addition to observing Christmas.
I present my findings here and ask that
with serious considerations you prayerfully decide whether or not you as a Christian should
observe Kwanzaa.
The Creator Kwanzaa
The Creator of Kwanzaa is Dr. Maulana Karenga who is a professor and chair of Africana
Studies at California State University, Long Beach. He holds two Ph.D.'s; his first is in
political science with focus on the theory and practice of nationalism and his
second in social ethics with a focus on the classical African ethics of ancient
Egypt.
Google search reveals that Ron McKinley
Everett was born July 14, 1941, the
14th child of a Baptist Minister on a poultry farm in Parsonsburg
Maryland; he was not African nor spoke Swahili. He was also known as Ron Ndabezitha Everett and Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga.
Maulana in Swahili, is a lofty title meaning “MASTER TEACHER”.
Ndabezitha in ZULU means “YOUR MAJESTY”.
Karenga in Swahili means “KEEPER OF TRADITIONS”.
Kwanzaa Early Years
During the early years starting in
1966, Kwanzaa
was meant to be an "oppositional alternative" to Christmas.
A rule of Kwanzaa stated that "one should not mix
the Kwanzaa holiday or its symbols, values and practice with any other culture."
Washing Post Interview: Karenga said
“People think Kwanzaa is African, but it’s not.
I came up with it 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 would be partying”.
Kwanzaa was altered in 1997 so that
practicing Christians would not be alienated, stating that Kwanzaa was “A Celebration of
Family, Community and Culture”, and “Kwanzaa was not created to give
people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday."
“The Quotable Karenga” was the name of
his book containing his Seven Black Principals.
The Sevenfold path of Blackness became the
Bible
of the Black Nationalist
civil rights movement.
1) Think Black -- 2) Talk
Black - 3) Act Black
4) Create Black -- 5) Buy Black -- 6) Vote Black
7) Live Black
THE
GOOD
The Celebration
Dr. Karenga said Kwanzaa was "the best of African
thought and practice in constant exchange with the world." Kwanzaa reflects on what most experts say is
missing from our homes: unity, self-determination, collective work and
responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org
Kwanzaa
was
first celebrated in 1966-67 "to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture”. It was
created to be the first specifically African-American Holiday. It is celebrated just after Christmas
on December
26th through January 1st honoring and celebrating
African American heritage and culture and culminates in a feast with gift
giving. Its length of seven days; its
core focus and its foundation are all rooted in its concern with values.
Homes are decorated with fruits, colorful
objects of African art, and cloths especially the wearing of the Kaftans (long robe or tunic) by women.
The ceremony includes drums, libations, reading the African Pledge &
the Principals
of Blackness, candle lighting and a feast.
The Name Kwanzaa derives its name from
the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “First Fruits of the Harvest”. The
name is very similar to the Feast of Harvest mentioned
in scripture where the FIRST
FRUITS[2] are brought into
the storehouse of the Lord.
The seven candle candelabra symbolizes the seven
principals of Kwanzaa and is
ruminant of the seven candle Menorah of the Jews.
The three Pan-African colors on
the flag are copied from Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement
Association, the most powerful 1920’s.Black Nationalist movement.
Red: the blood that
unites
all people of Black African ancestry, and shed for
liberation;
Black: Black people whose existence
as a nation, though not a nation-state, is affirmed by the existence of the
flag; and power.
Green: the abundant
natural wealth of Africa.
Seven Principals
The
celebration focus is
on their black identity, culture heritage and values of Africa. While many of these principals are
traditional African principals, some see more related to the Black Nationalist movement and perhaps
even supremacist
ideology meaning that a particular
age, race, species, ethnic group, religion, gender, social class, belief system,
or culture is SUPERIOR to others. Any ideology that goes against the Bible’s
teaching that all races are of equal value,[3]
must be prayerfully re-considered.
Nguzo Saba SEVEN principals of Kwanzaa
as listed in their official website.
They are expressed in Swahili, the co-opted language of the Black Nationalist movement of the
1960’s. Each principal is represented by a PHYSICAL
SYMBOL, one for each
day of Kwanzaa.
1)
Umoja (Unity). To strive
for and maintain unity in the family community, nation and race. This principal teaches the oneness of our
people, the common ground of our humanity, the interrelatedness of life and the
indispensability of family and community in our righteous togetherness in love,
work and struggle.
2)
Kujichagulia (Self-determination). To define
ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves. This principle reaffirms our right and
everyone’s right to control our destiny and daily lives, and build the good
communities, societies and future we conceive, aspire to and struggle to bring
into being.
3)
Ujima (Collective Work and
Responsibility). To build and
maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems
our problems and to solve them together.
This principal teaches us that we come into being, thrive and flourish
in needed and principled relationships. And it teaches us that it is together
that we must conceive and construct the good communities, societies and world
we all want and deserve.
4)
Ujamaa (Cooperative
Economics). To build and maintain our own stores,
shops and other businesses and to profit from them together. This principle teaches the value and practice
of shared work and shared wealth, the right of people to their own resources
and the ethical imperative of a just and equitable sharing of the good of the
world.
5)
Nia (Purpose). To make
our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order
to restore our people to their traditional greatness. This principle reminds us of the ancient
ethical teaching in the Odu Ifa that we and all humans are divinely chosen to bring good in the world and that this is the
fundamental mission and meaning, i.e., purpose, of human life. Thus, we are to
embrace the collective vocation of building and developing our people,
increasing our capacity to do good and being rightfully and actively concerned
with the well-being of the world and all in it.
6)
Kuumba (Creativity). To do always as much as we can, in the way we
can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we
inherited it. This principal urges us to practice the ethical teachings of the Husia that put forth the concept of serudj ta, the moral obligation to heal,
repair and transform the world making it more beautiful and beneficial than we
inherited it.
7)
Imani (Faith). To believe with all our heart in our people,
our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our
struggle. This principal teaches us to
hold tightly and firmly to the faith of our ancestors who taught us to respect
each person, people and culture as a unique and equally valid and valuable way
of being human in the world.
Celebration Symbols
The Celebration includes
1)
Mkeka – A mat on
which other symbols are placed:
2)
Kinara – The seven
candle holder
3)
Mishumaa
Saba -
Seven candles.
4)
Mazao - Crops
5)
Muhindi - Corn
6)
Kikombe
cha Umoja -
Unity cup for giving “shukrani”
(thanks) to African Ancestors.
7)
Zawadi – Gifts
8)
Nguzo - Supplemental Saba poster
9)
Bendera - Supplemental BLACK, RED, and GREEN flag, and African books and artworks.
There are also seven symbols that go with each principal that I am unable to
reproduce.
THE BAD
Karenga’s Gang – The Early Years
In 1958 Karenga relocated to Los
Angeles
and studied at the Los Angeles Community College and by the 60’s he presented
himself as a “Cultural
Nationalist” with a following of a number of students. He became the first African-American
president of the student body.
Through Malcom
X, an
American Muslim
minister, he would come to embrace Black Nationalism and Black
supremacy advocating
separation of black and white Americans. Karenga authored a number of books, one of
which is “Black Studies”; a
Black/African textbook now in its 3rd edition.
He changed his name to Maulana Karenga and became a major Civil
Rights figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s. By 1965 His followers became a gang called US, the
“United Slaves”, a cultural
Black Nationalist group which remain
active today. US referrers to; “US” verses “THEM.” US would challenge the Black Panther Party and their candidate for the domination of the Afro-American
Studies Center at UCLA.
THE
UGLY
Rape, Assault, Torture
January 17, 1969 the two gangs
had a shootout and two Black Panthers were killed. Karenga in his paranoia, thought there were
plots to kill him, so he took two of his follower’s hostage. The Los Angeles Times reported on May 14, 1971 that Debora Jones and Gail Davis
two of his female followers were threatened at gun point, made to disrobe, sexually assaulted,
whipped with an electrical cord, beaten with a karate baton, tortured with a
soldering iron on their mouth with their big toe clamped down in a vise with
detergent forced down their throats.
Karenga
thought the two were trying to kill him with “crystals” in his food.
In 1971 Karenga spent
three years in the California Penal System convicted of the crime of felonious
assault and false imprisonment. He was released from prison in 1975 with newly adopted views on MARXISM and
restructured US;
the United
Slaves Organization. Within four years after taking some courses
he received a teaching position at UCLA.
An up and coming young 16 year old came on
the scene praising Kwanzaa because it accomplished a much desired
“de-whitizing”
of the Christmas
Season. He would later be
known as the Reverend AL
SHARPTON.
Kwanzaa is now a tax funded classroom event.
You now have the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Prayerfully consider your part in Kwanzaa.
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