Furahifu Kwanzaa
Posted by: tony on 12/30/2005 07:50 PM
Updated by: tony on 12/30/2005 08:56 PM
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Expires: 01/30/2006 12:00 AM
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 Well, this is my best shot. I looked up the word for "happy" in the Swahili/English dictionary, and it came up with "furahifu" but I don't know if the adjective goes before or after the word it modifies in Swahili. I would imagine that 99 44/100% of African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa don't either.
However, Kwanzaa is very important to Tyrone from Palm Trees in the Ghetto. He states in his post entitled I am Kwanzaa:
One of the main reasons why I became an agnostic had to deal with my love and respect of Kwanzaa, and the harsh criticism I received from Christians. They always hit me with the "Kwanzaa is anti-Christian and Marxist" boomerang. When I heard that (or hear it to this day), I get physically ill. Why? Because I have based a large portion of my life upon the values of Kwanzaa:
* Umoja (Unity)
* Kujichagulia (Self-determination)
* Ujima (Collective work and responsibility)
* Ujamaa (Cooperative economics)
* Nia (Purpose)
* Kuumba (Creativity)
* Imani (Faith)
Those seven values affected me so deeply and so spiritually that my life changed over 10 years ago. I became a better husband, father, and man. See my dear readers, I am Kwanzaa. I live everyday of my life in Kwanzaa. My wife does also. See, I don't give a crap what Mr. Karenga stood for or is. Kwanzaa values are bigger than him. Bigger than me. For those that have embraced Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc and felt that connection, that is what Kwanzaa did to me. It didn't exclude me from America. It brought me closer to America. Those seven values, when practiced, are sound and pure. Not one Christian I know has felt anti-Christianity from me. Not one white person I know has felt anti-white vibes from me. Kwanzaa doesn't hate or separates, it uplifts and guides.
But that doesn't mean anything. I'm a Marxist supporter, a separatist, a sheep in Karenga's flock, a zombie, an "anti-Whitey". I'm reduced to garbage because of my love and devotion to Kwanzaa values. A damn shame. I'm much more than that. And those reading this and my blog should know that.
Damn shame...
I was going to do my obligatory Kwanzaa post for the "holiday season" but Rich Leonardi did a much better job.
The father of Kwanzaa, Ron Everett, began his career as a black separatist and follower of Malcolm X. After Africanizing his last name to “Karenga,” Everett formed a group called “United Slaves”
I just don't get the African-American penchant for "Africanizing" their names. When my grandfather emigrated to this country from Italy in 1907, he married my grandmother and they proceeded to give their children American names, and mold them into American citizens. They didn't consider themselves Italian-Americans, they considered themselves Americans. This would be comperable to my changing my name to Antonio Mugnaio. This would tell you in no unertain terms that I was Italian-American and more importantly would tell you that you weren't.
This is one of the problems I've always had with Kwanzaa. It is divisive, exclusive and radical. From the Official Kwanzaa Website:
First, Kwanzaa was created to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture. It is, therefore, an expression of recovery and reconstruction of African culture which was being conducted in the general context of the Black Liberation Movement of the '60's and in the specific context of The Organization Us, the founding organization of Kwanzaa and the authoritative keeper of its tradition.
I'm wondering if Tyrone approves of the Black Liberation Movement of the 60's and wants it to be recovered or reconstructed.
Normally, I'd say that having a criminal found your holiday isn't in and of itself a bad thing. It's possible that the criminal reformed. And after all, Christmas we founded to celebrate a Roman criminal who was convicted of sedition, and crucified as an enemy of the state.
But this revolutionary attitude seems to permeate the current Kwanzaa movement.
The seven values in and of themselves seem benign to me. If interpreted in their broadest sense, they could even be considered Christian, but the pro-Black (and by extension, anti-White) attitude of the "holiday" taints it in my opinion so that I can't understand how any reasonable Black person can embrace it.
I don't believe Tyrone is anti-White. I have seen him take another Black man to task threatening him with a "slap from the black side of my hand". I also don't believe he is a Marxist, but celebrating Kwanzaa while stating you subscribe to the positives, but eschew the negatives is a lot like saying you go to the Bacchanalia every year, but you don't drink or do the orgies. You're just there for the music.
Maybe you don't. But being associated with it is scandalous. It leads others to believe it's ok, and that it's harmless. In the case of Kwanzaa, I don't believe it's either.
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