It is not what I "perceive" it to be. It is what it is based upon its origins, its sadistic gangleader racist and marxist founder, its underlying design, its intent, its goals. I didn't make it up - Ron Everett did and he's doing a good job keeping people like you and the family you know fooled.
So, you condemn it based on your prejudiced view, and according to that, the President should not acknowledge it.
It is not MY "prejudiced" view, it is the view of the founder, his writings, his books on the holiday, his statements about the holiday. He IS the authoritative source on what Kwanzaa is, not you. His books on Kwanzaa and its underlying pseudo-religious philosophy of Kawaida are the authoritative source on what Kwanzaa is and what its design is, not you. I quoted extensively from Everett (aka. Karenga), his writings, his books, his statements yet you pretend that I've made up what I've said about Kwanzaa. Can you read?
You just want to "save" other citizens from engaging in an activity that, while completely legal, you do not approve of, and you believe that it is "improper" for the President to acknowledge this non-illegal activity that other citizens participate in because it implies government approval, and because you do not agree with what you perceibve its principles to be, bolstering your argument by elevating the lowest, most radical point of view from its most radical proponents as a benchmark.
The father of Kwanzaa, Ron Everett (aka. Maulana Karenga) is not considered by anyone except for you to be the "most radical proponent" with the "lowest, most radical point of view". He is invited to speak as the most honored guest at many large Kwanzaa celebrations every year. He is considered by every intelligent person who is familiar with Kwanzaa to be THE most authoritative source on the Kwanzaa tradition. If Karenga is not, then who the heck do you think is? You keep pretending that I've scoured the Internet to find some unrelated radical group to point at to condemn Kwanzaa. You completely ignore the fact that Kwanzaa is completely the invention of Everett and it was invented to further his own racist black nationalist, black supremacist, marxist goals. Again, I'll give you the benefit of a doubt and say that I don't believe that you would be on Free Republic defending for days a holiday invented by David Duke to further his own racist white nationalist, white supremacist, marxist goals. Would you? The what the heck are you doing defending Kwanzaa and Everett?
So, your argument is basically the same argument that the ACLU uses to uphold their whole "separation of Church and State" theory.
No. My argument is that I am opposed to marxism, racism, and the establishment of a separate racial nation within in the United States through the "shedding of blood". These are the goals and underlying design of Everett and his invented holiday. I've provided quote after quote demonstrating precisely that but you seem to be ignoring them in favor of your own uninformed perceptions.
This is a nation that upholds individual freedoms above all. That freedom allows anyone to celebrate Kwanzaa however they wish to celebrate it. It allowed John Smith to create a whole new version of Christianity. It allows Christian Scientists to exist side by side with Mennonites.
So, if David Duke founded his own holiday and wrapped it in pseudo religious nonsense and his stated intent was to promote marxism, oppose Christianity, and establish, through the "shedding of blood" a racially separate white nation you would be totally OK with that and you would defend it using this religious freedom argument? Again, I don't think so. When Bush acknowledges Kwanzaa, he acknowledges the greatness of this nation.
So, by Bush acknowedging an anti-Christian holiday invented by a violent and sadistic black supremacist gangleader for the purpose of spreading revolutionary marxism throughout the black community in order to establish "through the shedding of blood" a seperate black nation within the United States he "acknowledges the greatness of this nation"!!? You are sick in the head.
Not that members of the Christian Taliban could ever possibly understand that.
Now, who is the bigot here? Let's see. You've called Christian conservatives like Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson such names as "holier than thou jackasses" and the "Christian taliban". Your behavior in other threads such as the threads discussing intelligent design, border security, and the Miers nomination is equally bigoted towards those you disagree with and their strongly held conservative beliefs. Each of those threads is filled with your angry and willful ignorance of stated facts and your constant ad hominem attacks and slander against those with which you disagree. You can't seem to hold a rational debate on the facts. You have demonstrated an anger problem, a perception problem, and a severe reading comprehension problem. But this thread isn't about you or about me, it is about the inappropriateness of any President's official recognition of a racist holiday, your attempts to hijack the thread and get it yanked or relegated to the Smoky Backroom notwithstanding.
http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/
Let's start with the notion of who is, and who is a not a bigot.
Anyone who wishes to pigeonhole people according to race, and whose message seems to be directed at the way people should, or should not behave with the driving force behind the behavior being race, is a racist. So Jesse Jackson is a racist when he makes the claim that all black people should behave one way or another, believe this thing or that thing, or vote for this politician or that one because they are black, and Rev. Jesse is just as much a racist when he counters Jesse's beliefs with his own on edicts on how people should behave as a result of their race, and whether they should repudiate Jesse Jackson.
Reverend Jesse Peterson founded BOND, and is a member of Project 21, a group that clams to be a "leading voice of the African-American community", both racially-driven organizations.
You just like Reverend Peterson's brand of racism more than Reverend Jackson's brand...that's all.
People are just people, and their beliefs and behavior should be dictated ONLY by their own, individual free will. Not by their race, not by their gender, not by their ethnicity.
You discuss my behavior?
You are misconstruing my behavior, my so-called "behavior" is nothing more than the free expression of my opinion, which is every bit as weighty as yours; you hold no higher a place in this society than I do, we are both free citizens of a free nation, able to speak our minds without fear.
Your problem is intolerance, and a complete lack of understanding of the concept of freedom.
Everett is a self-proclaimed Marxist who invented a heritage celebration for others to FREELY follow or ignore.
In this country, one is FREE to be a Marxist, one is free to invent a religion, and one is free to invent others to follow him.
No one appointed you, or Reverend Jesse Peterson for that matter, as deliverers, saving others from the evil act of freely following Everett's lead. Thomas Jefferson said that "truth is great and will prevail if left to herself", and truth will do fine without your help.
Simply stated, freedom is an individual's ability to think as he wishes to think, and to advocate whatever he wishes to advocate as long as the prevailing laws of the land are not broken. To the best of my knowledge, being a Marxist is not illegal in this nation, nor is being a black supremacist any more illegal than being a white supremacist.
People are free to celebrate Kwanzaa, free to follow Everett, and free to believe whatever they want to believe, it's what makes this nation truly great.
And in the act of freely acknowledging Kwanzaa, President Bush paid homage not to Everett, or even to his made-up celebration, but rather to the to the ideals that founded this country, and to her greatness.
And he played a little politics in the process.
He's allowed.
I'm not going to talk to you any more about this subject, or probably any other subject for that matter, but I will leave you with this thought, and this thought ties in to my calling Reverend Jesse Peterson a racist of a different flavor, one more palatable to you (obviously).
There are literally dozens of conservative organizations that I could join as a conservative of Hispanic heritage, or Cuban birth...but I refuse to join anything that seeks to pigeonhole me, and refuse to participate or to even support any organization that appeals to anything other than my political ideas, and my American citizenship.
Reverend Jesse Peterson would impress me far more if he stopped seeking to speak for all blacks, while criticizing Reverend Jesse Jackson for doing the exact same thing.
Mr. Everett's Kwanzaa, if it actually survives its inventor, will be absorbed by the nation's cultural maelstrom. It will be commercialized, trivialized, and pasteurized beyond recognition.
Just like Christmas, Easter, and any other significant (and REAL) Holiday has been.