Why all the wrangling about Kwanzaa? Why not bicker over Valentines Day, Halloween or April Fools day? I’ll tell you why. Because the latter “celebrations” have been woven into the fabric of American society.

These routine celebrations are for the most part “all inclusive” (meaning that, all those who wish to participate can, and are free to do so). I choose not to participate in Halloween because I do believe that it is seething in pagan tradition. But thats merely my choice.

Being that as it may, I can’t avoid being bombarded every year by the media, friends, nieghbors, schools, and even my own kids! Thats right, my own kids. I tried to shelter them from what I believe is insanity but I was outdone by the afore mentioned forces. So you know what I did? I ACCEPTED IT! Thats right, I caved.

It was my wife that made me see through the storm. At first I thought she was implying that I didn’t love my kids because I didn’t what them getting dressed up like fools and running about the neighborhood begging for candy. I love my wife and kids dearly and I would never do anything to hurt or dismay them.

She made me think. I thought back to time when I was a kid and for whatever reason (as kids do) the other kids wouldn’t let me play with them. I’d run off in a huff telling them “I didn’t want to play your stupid game anyway.” At times I was the one that ran another kid off, and he would make the same disparaging reamrks to the other kids and myself.

You see, this is how Whites feel about Kwanzaa. They feel that “you black people always what to play by yourselves and won’t let us White people join in.” Before you go off on a tangent, I DO NOT MEAN TO IMPLY THAT WHITE PEOPLE ARE CHILDISH. I’m just trying to make a point. (You don’t have to agree with my anaylogy)

The fact is no one ever said Whites could not join in celebrating Kwanzaa. My mother-in-law (who by the way is White, as is my wife) asked me if I could introduce my children (I’m Black, so the kids are Black)to the Holiday. Heck, they celebrate Halloween, and Kwanzaa by no mean has any pagan rituals, so I did. I tried it for a couple of years, the kids understood what it was all about, but it never caught on in my family.

Still!!!

Kwanzaa is merely an expression of one mans (Ron Karenga)legacy and gift for his people. There is no worshipping of hero’s, God’s, statues, spirits or myths in Kwanzaa. Read the seven principles.

So why all the huff? If you don’t want to celebrate Kwanzaa, then don’t. No one is forcing you to do so. For those who wish to celebrate Kwanzaa, Valentines Day, April Fools, St. Patricks Day, Labor Day, Halloween, Black History Month, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, The Great Smoke Out or whatever, feel free, after all, this is America!

If you would like to know more about Kwanzaa goto, http://www.ritesofpassage.org/kwanzaameaning.htm

Why is there such a strong interest in “saving foolish Black folk” from Kwanzaa and it’s pagan roots, yet nothing gets said about Mardi Gras?

Let’s see, before you go into the season of self denial, participate in full blown hedonism. Celebrate it in bars with strong drinks all over the country.

t’s one thing to repurpose a pagan ritual or observance thereby erasing the original significance

Baloney. That’s exactly what some churches are attempting to do; to “repurpose a pagan ritual”.

Some Christians are more worried about Christmas not being called Christmas and Kwanzaa than they are concerned with the corruption of Christmas with commericalism and the ever increasing loss of the meaning of Christmas.

Spare me the liberal-like paternalism!

W/o a doubt, Kwanzaa is pagan and you welcome Satan into your house at your risk by introducing pagan concepts to your fmily that might not have otherwise occurred to them. La Shawn has quite a few posts along with the diverse give and take from her commenters. I suggest you persue those posts and see if you sill feel the same sense of spiritual equivalence.

However, I would remind you that much of the tradition surrounding our modern day Christmas has it’s origins in pagan rituals. And in the end, it’s really just a great time together with family and renew your spirit.

My family has a Christman Dinner and a Kwanzaa Karamu every year. We have made it our own.

Doesn’t it seem to you like there might be a presumption that if Farrakan says that ‘white people’ are evil, then a) he has just bashed an entire race of people and b) it would lead someone from that race of people to think that Farrakan thinks he is superior to them, because he does not, I hope, think his people are evil. If not, I’m confused. All I know is that if I heard Robert Byrd say that he thought that black people were evil, I would presume that he was a white supremacist. I would be very disgusted. (Actually, I don’t even understand how he got elected, but that’s beside my original point.) So educate me here if I am off base. When my daughter sits on an airplane this week and sees a guy with a paper that says that ‘all evil is found in the flesh of the white man’, I just naturally presume that the author doesn’t feel that way about himself or his people. Don’t you? At the very least, stuff like that is really really wrong.

Next, I was a civil rights activist, and was out there protesting and fighting for civil rights in the sixties. My grandfather is black and I spent all my summers in an all black neighborhood in Wash. DC, on 24th ST. NE. At the time, I was into ‘the movement’, and only knew what I read in the papers about the Panthers. Some of my recent information has been sourced by David Horowitz. Also, I have gotten a lot of trial transcripts, and read a lot of other writers. I would not automatically assume that I was picking through the garbage, and I consider Horowitz credible with regards to the Black Panthers within the sphere of his experience. Do you have a good source that is objective for me to read? I will give it a good faith try.

As far as how I define terror, it has always meant to me, an act of violence used to intimidate. Killing an individual suspected of being a government informant is an act intended to intimidate the government from further investigation. That’s terrorism, to me.

Gotta run!

Before I begin it is nice, (and I do appreciate and enjoy) having this dialogue.

Perhaps my comprehension of your statement differs with your actual intent. Although, your statement does read in such a way that it seems to imply that you think; calling or referring to someone (or something, including a whole race of people)as evil makes that person leveling the accusation a racist.

You wrote;

“Secondly, when a black person says that white people are evil, as Farrakhan and his ilk frequently do, they don’t have to assert racial superiority. The PRESUMPTION is there, and we can all dance around it however much we want to do so. Naturally, if white man is evil or degraded in so many ways, then black man has to be superior.”

Jan said, quote, “The PRESUMPTION is there.”

Hipstreet said, quote, “You presume”

Above is an exact quote from your earlier post #111. I can only interpret what is written. (in standard english form) I accept your further explaination and clarification of the statement, although, it vastly differs from the above statement.

Now, with concerns to the Black Panther Party. I attended one of those so called “Liberal” universities here in the Detroit (Wayne State University; GO WARRIORS!). My minor was African American/Caribbean Africana Cultural studies. I’ve done extensive research on the Panther Party of the 60s’ and 70s’. Although I am not an member of the present day Panther Party (New Panther/Marcus Garvey movement; not affiliated with the old) I have worked and attended several functions (rallys for better schools and education, rally/protests against drugs, crack houses and street gangs, civic and nieghborhood responsilbilty, ect..)with members of the organization.

If you’re old enough or have read enough, you should be aware that the 60′s were extremely turbulent years in America. To call the Black Panthers “terrorist” is indeed disingenuous. Again, I must make a comparison. Present day “terrorist” have shown and defined the real meaning of terror in this world today(which is very scary I might add). In no way does that Panther organization of the 60′s, 70′s or even present day compare to what we are faced with at the present.

The Panther organization in that era was a “confrontational” entity to the established principle of racism and the racist attitudes which persisted throughout America. Don’t you remember the Civil Rights Movement? The Panthers were spawned from it!

Although young and RADICAL, (yes I said radical) the Panthers were never responsible, although accused, for any “terrorist” (terror as we know it today) acts. Now if you find it comfortable to redefine terror to make your point superficially pleasing or persuasive, go right ahead. Can you find ONE incident of; bombing, brutal attacks on the public(state, city or political party or race), violent ritual mantra’s or moral displays of conquest against “evil” or any other terror related theme? Now that these same examples and apply them to the Ku KLux Klan and what do you get?

The Panthers were targeted from their conception by the Government. That is a proven FACT! The Goernments own documents show this. Yes there were some in the organization that were “militant.” Yes there were violent incidents and clash’s with police. But all of it was confrontational (between the police and the Panthers). The Panthers were never involved in or sanctioned the bombing a church/building/home/business, assasinating an offical or the taking hostages to secure or achieve a goal.

I’m not saying everything that happened within the organization was “righteous and pure.” I have read and studied quite a bit about this organization. All you need to do is look the infomation up for yourself. Don’t just go by snippets from news articles and someone elses personal ideas and quotes. As I said before, don’t look through the garbage for the truth. Get the real story. There’s good and bad in every organization/country/person’s past.

Hipstreet-

Waiting to se if she will get the same national news coverage of Natalee Holloway and Laci Peterson or Chandra Levy. Can’t forget Chandra.

This does not in itself imply that racial nationalism is not an evil. But anyone who says that it is is either lying or a fool. Or both.

Funny how a company gets crucified as a VRWC hack for botching the felon weeding contract. Yet when the same company botches the security of 40 million American credit records and identities, it’s just a non-partisan screwup that illustrates the monumental difficulty in getting accurate records, maintaining and securing them.

Is that just partisan hypocrisy on the MSM/DNC or what?

The exact same issues that causes people to get inaccurate data on file against them is what causes people — in Fla, no more than a couple thousand at worst — to innocently get removed or added to the voter rolls.

Besides, in Fla, there was no such “1 million” disenfranchised black voters when the black population was barely 2.5 million in 2000 there.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/003721.html

Not to mention that notion was so thoroughly debunked by many sources, including Fla MSM.

Also, I am so tired of the repetitous stories about Natalee. Many weeks ago,talk show host Mike ? (‘Surrounded by Idiots’ author), ranted about the disparity in which white girls get far too much attention from the media, while missing minorities are ignored. What is weird is that the stories are driven by a liberal press, who generally are very race conscious.

I agree that this is a real case of racial bias, and it makes me angry. When a black child is missing, national news should place as much importance on their tragedy, as they do on those of others.

In the case of Mark Lunsford,I believe his daughter had a law named after her because he has become a victim’s advocate. He is devoting his life to traveling to DC and elsewhere, and making impassioned speeches. In addition, his daughter wa buried alive by a convicted sex offender who was known to be an offender. That really is huge news. John Walsh,whose son was beheaded, has devoted his life to enacting legislation.He tells of his intense frustration, early on in the process, when no one seemed to care that his son was missing, and precious time was lost. The investigation was botched horrendously, so John decided to change the way America dealt with missing children. He created a tv show called America’s Most Wanted and his powerful committment caused life-saving legislation to be passed that now protects all of our children. So has the father of Polly Klaas.He has devoted an enormous amount of energy in Washington and in his state, with the media, and around the US, to change the country to be more protective of children. Many of these families have put their lives on hold, and have decided to put all of their love and determination toward making sure that another family does not endure the agony that their child endured.

So, in addition to being upset about the disparity and racism, I also think that black people have to become outspoken advocates for children’s legislation and do what many of these families have done. Not every family can afford to do what these families have done, but by and large, those that go this route will get more recognition. As for the news, that’s another story, and it really really makes me upset. There is no excuse for racial bias in straightforward reporting. Every life is sacred!

The huge problem I have with our news is that here is another dramatic example of how slanted it is in a tragic direction. News should be news, devoid of racial bias.News should be devoid of bias, period….wishful thinking. We can get the other junk in the National Enquirer and such.

Speaking of bias, you almost never hear about missing males, either. I have a son, and four daughters, and the difference in society’s attitudes towards males versus females is staggering. Males have come to be seen as brutes and thugs, and not important to the family structure. What the heck is going on? I abhor our society’s attitudes toward’s males, and it seems like feminists have come to see them as adversaries. Yuck!

My point with your references is that the labels liberal and conservative are broad.

To me conservatives are the most centrist. Not moderates. Moderates either:
1) Have contradicting principles with respect to how much the government should be involved/spend/tax/regulate on different issues
2) Are in between liberals and conservatives on most issues – which makes them LEFT of CENTER still not centrist.
3) Haven’t made up their mind on an issue so they put themselves above others by calling themselves openminded or moderate.

I am not interested in moderate conservatives. I’m not interested in moderates. I’m generally not interested in voting for moderates unless the alternative is having someone more liberal come into office.

I voted for Arnold even though he’s LEFT of CENTER because I thought he was the person who would win making sure Cruz Bustamante the racist who said the “n” word (funny how Democrats get away with that junk) didn’t get in.

While I know Tom McClintock had the better ideas he was at 9% at best in the polls.

Arnold by the way is being treated as an extremist by the Democrats and leftists in the state. Even though Arnold is LEFT of CENTER. He’s increased the expenditures and they call it draconian cuts.

Personally, I think it is simply another cold, calculated move by the Clintons to fool the public. A public that is becoming increasingly more educated thanks to the new media and thus less susceptible to Democrat lies.

If the Dems don’t get it done this time, they are done for a while. The bad news is they will be replaced by a GOP that is really more of the same.

I am I the only one noticing that garbage like Snowe, McCain and Collins are getting more face time on TV than Republican Conservatives?