Fisher-Price Web Site: "Tradition & Meanings" For Kwaanza, Hanukkah, But Ignores Christmas

FisherPrice.com (The Toy Company's Web Site) ^ | 11/22/02 | Recovering_Democrat

[Recovering_Democrat]

Fisher Price sells a toy Nativity set. Great. Unfortunately, our DOG chewed up baby Jesus. So, we decided to go on the Fisher Price web site to see if we could get a new plastic Jesus.

What we saw astounded us...Fisher-Price has a "HOLIDAY" section of their web site. The URL is above. But when we investigated the December Holidays, we noticed a distinct bias against the Christian holiday.

Specifically, if you investigate "Hanukkah" or "Kwaanza" on the Fisher-Price web site, you'll get a wonderful little section called "How to share traditions and meanings", where a simple history of the event is given. But when you click on the "Christmas" icon, no "traditions and meanings" is offered. Oh, to be sure, you're given information on how to visit SANTA CLAUS, how to decorate a tree, advice on driving your neighborhood to see lights, but strangely I've not found any reference to the birth of Christ.

Let me give specific examples. Under the "tradition and meanings" for Hanukkah, here is what we find:

The eight-night Hanukkah festival, which usually falls in December and frequently coincides with Christmas, offers an appealing antidote to winter's gloom. The blaze of the candles burning in the menorah (an eight-branch candelabra, with a special place for the shamash candle, which lights all the others), the sharing of potato pancakes with friends and relatives, and the exchange of presents create special family memories.

Hanukkah celebrates the victory of Judah Maccabee and his followers over the Syrian King, Antiochus. This king had denied the Jews their religious freedom, and ordered his soldiers to destroy the Temple-which Judah Maccabee and his army restored. While cleaning the Temple, there was only enough oil to light the lamp for one day. But it went on to burn for eight days, which is the miracle Hanukkah commemorates.

Very nice explanation, and I commend Fisher-Price for recognizing this holiday. I really do, because few Christians (maybe many Jews) probably know the significance of the holiday.

Let's move on to Kwaanza. Here's what we find about Kwaanza:

Kwanzaa is a relatively new holiday, invented in 1965 by American black nationalist Maulana Karenga. Since then, it has been widely adopted by blacks all over the world. It is celebrated by almost 20 million people.

In creating Kwanzaa, Karenga adapted harvest festivals and rituals from Africa. The name comes from a Swahili phrase, matunda ya kwanza, meaning first fruit. Karenga's idea was to bring families together to celebrate and strengthen important values in the black community. Karenga chose seven principles, called Nguzo Saba, from the various African harvest festivals he studied. They are- unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each of the holiday's seven days is devoted to celebrating one of the principles.

Some people mistakenly believe that Kwanzaa is a black version of Christmas, since it is celebrated from December 26 to January 1.

Again, another simple explanation of the holiday. No one wants to take away this holiday or the explanation thereof.

Is there a similiar explanation of what the real meaning of Christmas is on the Fisher-Price web site? Not that I can find.

FREEPers, we've already decided to contact Fisher-Price and ask them to accurately reflect what the Christmas holiday's meaning to Christians. We hope you will, too.

[Recovering_Democrat]

But please, check the web site out first, perhaps you'll be better able to tell them what you think about their treatment of the Christian holiday.

I've noticed, too, that this information comes "From the Fisher-Price Parenting Guide CD-ROM..." so apparently this stuff is being touted on a CD-ROM as something parents can rely on to help them teach their children.

I would urge you, too, to be polite; make your point but don't be nasty--maybe we can effect a change in the way Fisher-Price treats Christmas. We might best do this by reflecting Christ in our approach. :)

Just mho.

rd

[Larry Lucido]

Very interesting. I found a "feedback" link, which accepted my comment, but warned that those posting comments would not get a reply (it did not solicit a return e-mail address).

There are toll-free numbers listed, also.

[BenR2]

Wishing you a VERY, MERRY, uhh. . . Kwanzaa!

[Mike-o-Matic]

<sarcasm>
  WTF? Where's Ramadan??!?
</sarcasm>

Sorry... couldn't resist ;-)

[strick68]

Interestingly, there's no way to send an e-mail comment on the Fisher-Price or Mattel websites. Guess they don't want to be bothered by those wacko fringe Christians.

[Buffalo Bob]

How long before Fisher-Price celebrates June as Nation Gay Pride month and December as Pedophilia Tolerance Month?

[Xphantasos]

Good point... these guys need to be sent to a sensitivity training camp!

Perhaps they are beginning to change their approach:See?

[ctonious]

Chances are these decisions came from some marketing dimwits that went to a really, really like y'know progressive, prestige university, who just couldn't wait to demonstrate their education in diversity studies to like a really y'know old school company like Fisher-Price. But not to worry, they'll be soon tidying up around their offices to go home to have their picture-perfect Christmases, where they will again fail to reflect upon the incongruity of what they do.

[Moonmad27]

And those dimwits were probably frightened at the possibility that an explanation of Christmas might involve their mentioning, you know, "Christ". Far too controversial!

[Orangedog]

Do you think that these companies realize that Kwanzaa is a bogus holiday invented by some marxist college professor in California and has NOTHING to do with any African culture?

[Weirdad]

Many companies are so politically correct. However, we need to pick our fights. This company does not seem as bad as many.

There are actually quite a few references to Christmas if you search. Some are somewhat muted, but there are some referencing the Birth of Jesus and His importance QUITE NICELY. See below. I hope no one in approaching the company an inappropriate manner makes Christians look bad. Tell them what you think but be INFORMED and CHRIST-LIKE!

Try THIS search on Google. (The basis for the search is "Christmas OR Jesus site:www.fisher-price.com") Here in fact is a page with Jesus references taken from the THIS URL:

 

From www.fisher-price.com - Emphasis/Underlining by Weirdad:

Christmas- How To Share Traditions And Meaning

Christmas can be a wonderful time of the year. But nowadays, Christmas decorations go up before Thanksgiving. If you find your family relating more to the hectic hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, take some time out to get back in touch with the celebration of Christmas. Set aside quiet time each day for reading or talking.

;Look For The Meaning

Teach your children the story of the first Christmas. Find a good picture book, or the Bible itself, and read to them. Set up the creche and describe each figure as you take It out. Here's the baby Jesus. Here's one of the three wise men. Ask your child to identify other figures.

If you have an inexpensive and unbreakable creche set, your child can move the three kings around the room and play with the animals. In some traditions, the baby Jesus is not put into the creche scene until Christmas eve.

Another tradition involves making a paper creche out of construction paper or a small box. During the weeks before Christmas, every time your child helps around the house or does other generous and thoughtful acts, she places a piece of straw into the creche to make a soft bed for Baby Jesus. On Christmas eve, the baby is placed into the manger.

Think of ways to shift the emphasis from getting to giving: Explain that Santa Claus was really St. Nicholas, an early Christian and the bishop of Myra in Asia Minor. This kind and generous man was known for helping people. Some families make up baskets for needy families or work in a soup kitchen at holiday time. Closer to home, you can encourage your child to do a secret favor for someone.

Use a branch cut off the Christmas tree or another small tree or plant as a Giving Tree: Every time your child is generous or thoughtful in the weeks before Christmas, she gets to tie a colored ribbon onto the tree. As the month progresses, the tree begins to look very festive and it teaches your child a more genuine understanding of the season.

Take Inventory Of Traditions

While it may be a thing of the past to make all your decorations, bake bread and cookies from scratch, and produce an entire Christmas dinner for 12, you can discover your own traditions that work. Family traditions help your child develop self-esteem and identity. What matters most is repeating the same rituals each year.

• If you have a specific ethnic heritage, choose one or two parts of its Christmas celebration to observe each year. It can be a special recipe, a certain toast, a song or prayer.
  
• Spend an evening in the week before Christmas sleeping under the tree in sleeping bags, like campers in the woods.
  
• Each day choose one Christmas card that arrives and talk about pleasant memories of the person who sent it.
  
• Have a no-electricity day on Christmas Eve, as a gift to the Earth. It takes some planning, but the resulting peace and togetherness are a gift to the family, too.
  
• Make treats for all the pets in the family.
  
• Go to an early morning or early evening church service on Christmas Eve. (Save midnight services for when your child is much older!)
  
• Try letting children open only their stockings before a festive Christmas brunch. Then open the rest of the gifts in a leisurely way.
  
• Establish a family walk on Christmas Day.
  
• If possible, use decorations that have been handed down within your family, so you can talk about your own childhood Christmases.

Most of all, remember the reason for the season in words and practice.

[ end Fisher-Price page ]

[Weirdad]

bump

[Libertina]

No, to answer your question. I don't think Fisher-Price knows that Kwaaaaanza founder is a felon, convicted for torturing two of his black women followers. Nor does the public know it. Sad how blacks & uneducated liberals are used and abused - still.

[Libertina]

Please forgive me for posting this on your Fisher-Price thread. I believe it is something ALL people should know.... Perhaps Fisher_Price should read this. Although the Kwaanza money-ball is rolling so fast now that no company would want to stop marketing products, or face the political fallout if they did so. Libertina

by Paul Mulshine, FrontPagemag.com, December 24, 1999

ON DECEMBER 24, 1971, the New York Times ran one of the first of many articles on a new holiday designed to foster unity among African Americans. The holiday, called Kwanzaa, was applauded by a certain sixteen-year-old minister who explained that the feast would perform the valuable service of "de-whitizing" Christmas. The minister was a nobody at the time but he would later go on to become perhaps the premier race-baiter of the twentieth century. His name was Al Sharpton and he would later spawn the Tawana Brawley hoax and then incite anti-Jewish tensions in a 1995 incident that ended with the arson deaths of seven people. Great minds think alike. The inventor of the holiday was one of the few black "leaders" in America even worse than Sharpton. But there was no mention in the Times article of this man or of the fact that at that very moment he was sitting in a California prison. And there was no mention of the curious fact that this purported benefactor of the black people had founded an organization that in its short history tortured and murdered blacks in ways of which the Ku Klux Klan could only fantasize.

It was in newspaper articles like that, repeated in papers all over the country, that the tradition of Kwanzaa began. It is a tradition not out of Africa but out of Orwell. Both history and language have been bent to serve a political goal. When that New York Times article appeared, Ron Karenga's crimes were still recent events. If the reporter had bothered to do any research into the background of the Kwanzaa founder, he might have learned about Karenga's trial earlier that year on charges of torturing two women who were members of US (United Slaves), a black nationalist cult he had founded.

A May 14, 1971, article in the Los Angeles Times described the testimony of one of them: "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 Miss Davis' mouth and placed against Miss Davis' face and that one of her own big toes was tightened in a vise. Karenga, head of US, also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths, she said."

Back then, it was relatively easy to get information on the trial. Now it's almost impossible. It took me two days' work to find articles about it. The Los Angeles Times seems to have been the only major newspaper that reported it and the stories were buried deep in the paper, which now is available only on microfilm. And the microfilm index doesn't start until 1972, so it is almost impossible to find the three small articles that cover Karenga's trial and conviction on charges of torture. That is fortunate for Karenga. The trial showed him to be not just brutal, but deranged. He and three members of his cult had tortured the women in an attempt to find some nonexistent "crystals" of poison. Karenga thought his enemies were out to get him. And in another lucky break for Karenga, the trial transcript no longer exists. I filed a request for it with the Superior Court of Los Angeles. After a search, the court clerk could find no record of the trial. So the exact words of the black woman who had a hot soldering iron pressed against her face by the man who founded Kwanzaa are now lost to history. The only document the court clerk did find was particularly revealing, however. It was a transcript of Karenga's sentencing hearing on Sept. 17, 1971.

A key issue was whether Karenga was sane. Judge Arthur L. Alarcon read from a psychiatrist's report: "Since his admission here he has been isolated and has been exhibiting bizarre behavior, such as staring at the wall, talking to imaginary persons, claiming that he was attacked by dive-bombers and that his attorney was in the next cell. … During part of the interview he would look around as if reacting to hallucination and when the examiner walked away for a moment he began a conversation with a blanket located on his bed, stating that there was someone there and implying indirectly that the 'someone' was a woman imprisoned with him for some offense. This man now presents a picture which can be considered both paranoid and schizophrenic with hallucinations and elusions, inappropriate affect, disorganization, and impaired contact with the environment."

The founder of Kwanzaa paranoid? It seems so. But as the old saying goes, just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean that someone isn't out to get you.

ACCORDING TO COURT DOCUMENTS, Karenga's real name is Ron N. Everett. In the '60s, he awarded himself the title "maulana," Swahili for "master teacher." He was born on a poultry farm in Maryland, the fourteenth child of a Baptist minister. He came to California in the late 1950s to attend Los Angeles Community College. He moved on to UCLA, where he got a Master's degree in political science and African Studies. By the mid-1960s, he had established himself as a leading "cultural nationalist." That is a term that had some meaning in the '60s, mainly as a way of distinguishing Karenga's followers from the Black Panthers, who were conventional Marxists.

Another way of distinguishing might be to think of Karenga's gang as the Crips and the Panthers as the bloods. Despite all their rhetoric about white people, they reserved their most vicious violence for each other. In 1969, the two groups squared off over the question of who would control the new Afro-American Studies Center at UCLA. According to a Los Angeles Times article, Karenga and his adherents backed one candidate, the Panthers another. Both groups took to carrying guns on campus, a situation that, remarkably, did not seem to bother the university administration. The Black Student Union, however, set up a coalition to try and bring peace between the Panthers and the group headed by the man whom the Times labeled "Ron Ndabezitha Everett-Karenga."

On Jan. 17, 1969, about 150 students gathered in a lunchroom to discuss the situation. Two Panthers—admitted to UCLA like many of the black students as part of a federal program that put high-school dropouts into the school—apparently spent a good part of the meeting in verbal attacks against Karenga. This did not sit well with Karenga's followers, many of whom had adopted the look of their leader, pseudo-African clothing and a shaved head. In modern gang parlance, you might say Karenga was "dissed" by John Jerome Huggins, 23, and Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter, 26. After the meeting, the two Panthers were met in the hallway by two brothers who were members of US, George P. and Larry Joseph Stiner. The Stiners pulled pistols and shot the two Panthers dead. One of the Stiners took a bullet in the shoulder, apparently from a Panther's gun. There were other beatings and shooting in Los Angeles involving US, but by then the tradition of African nationalism had already taken hold—among whites. That tradition calls for any white person, whether a journalist, a college official, or a politician, to ignore the obvious flaws of the concept that blacks should have a separate culture. "The students here have handled themselves in an absolutely impeccable manner," UCLA chancellor Charles E. Young told the L.A. Times. "They have been concerned. They haven't argued who the director should be; they have been saying what kind of person he should be." Young made those remarks after the shooting. And the university went ahead with its Afro-American Studies Program. Karenga, meanwhile, continued to build and strengthen US, a unique group that seems to have combined the elements of a street gang with those of a California cult. The members performed assaults and robberies but they also strictly followed the rules laid down in The Quotable Karenga, a book that laid out "The Path of Blackness." "The sevenfold path of blackness is think black, talk black, act black, create black, buy black, vote black, and live black," the book states.

In retrospect, it may be fortunate that the cult fell apart over the torture charges. Left to his own devices, Karenga might have orchestrated the type of mass suicide later pioneered by the People's Temple and copied by the Heaven's Gate cult. Instead, he apparently fell into deep paranoia shortly after the killings at UCLA. He began fearing that his followers were trying to have him killed. On May 9, 1970 he initiated the torture session that led to his imprisonment. Karenga himself will not comment on that incident and the victims cannot be located, so the sole remaining account is in the brief passage from the L.A. Times describing tortures inflicted by Karenga and his fellow defendants, Louis Smith and Luz Maria Tamayo: "The victims said they were living at Karenga's home when Karenga accused them of trying to kill him by placing 'crystals' in his food and water and in various areas of his house. When they denied it, allegedly they were beaten with an electrical cord and a hot soldering iron was put in Miss Davis' mouth and against her face. Police were told that one of Miss Jones' toes was placed in a small vise which then allegedly was tightened by one of the defendants. The following day Karenga allegedly told the women that 'Vietnamese torture is nothing compared to what I know.' Miss Tamayo reportedly put detergent in their mouths, Smith turned a water hose full force on their faces, and Karenga, holding a gun, threatened to shoot both of them."

Karenga was convicted of two counts of felonious assault and one count of false imprisonment. He was sentenced on Sept. 17, 1971, to serve one to ten years in prison. A brief account of the sentencing ran in several newspapers the following day. That was apparently the last newspaper article to mention Karenga's unfortunate habit of doing unspeakable things to black people. After that, the only coverage came from the hundreds of news accounts that depict him as the wonderful man who invented Kwanzaa.

LOOK AT ANY MAP OF THE WORLD and you will see that Ghana and Kenya are on opposite sides of the continent. This brings up an obvious question about Kwanzaa: Why did Karenga use Swahili words for his fictional African feast? American blacks are primarily descended from people who came from Ghana and other parts of West Africa. Kenya and Tanzania—where Swahili is spoken—are several thousand miles away, about as far from Ghana as Los Angeles is from New York. Yet in celebrating Kwanzaa, African-Americans are supposed to employ a vocabulary of such Swahili words as "kujichagulia" and "kuumba." This makes about as much sense as having Irish-Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day by speaking Polish. One possible explanation is that Karenga was simply ignorant of African geography and history when he came up with Kwanzaa in 1966. That might explain why he would schedule a harvest festival near the solstice, a season when few fruits or vegetables are harvested anywhere. But a better explanation is that he simply has contempt for black people.

That does not seem a farfetched hypothesis. Despite all his rhetoric about white racism, I could find no record that he or his followers ever raised a hand in anger against a white person. In fact, Karenga had an excellent relationship with Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty in the '60s and also met with then-Governor Ronald Reagan and other white politicians. But he and his gang were hell on blacks. And Karenga certainly seems to have had a low opinion of his fellow African-Americans. "People think it's African, but it's not," he said about his holiday in an interview quoted in the Washington Post. "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 would be partying." "Bloods" is a '60s California slang term for black people.

That Post article appeared in 1978. Like other news articles from that era, it makes no mention of Karenga's criminal past, which seems to have been forgotten the minute he got out of prison in 1975. Profiting from the absence of memory, he remade himself as Maulana Ron Karenga, went into academics, and by 1979 he was running the Black Studies Department at California State University in Long Beach.

This raises a question: Karenga had just ten years earlier proven himself capable of employing guns and bullets in his efforts to control hiring in the Black Studies Department at UCLA. So how did this ex-con, fresh out jail, get the job at Long Beach? Did he just send a résumé and wait by the phone? The officials at Long Beach State don't like that type of question. I called the university and got a spokeswoman by the name of Toni Barone. She listened to my questions and put me on hold. Christmas music was playing, a nice touch under the circumstances. She told me to fax her my questions. I sent a list of questions that included the matter of whether Karenga had employed threats to get his job. I also asked just what sort of crimes would preclude a person from serving on the faculty there in Long Beach. And whether the university takes any security measures to ensure that Karenga doesn't shoot any students. Barone faxed me back a reply stating that the university is pleased with Karenga's performance and has no record of the procedures that led to his hiring. She ignored the question about how they protect students.

Actually, there is clear evidence that Karenga has reformed. In 1975, he dropped his cultural nationalist views and converted to Marxism. For anyone else, this would have been seen as an endorsement of radicalism, but for Karenga it was considered a sign that he had moderated his outlook. The ultimate irony is that now that Karenga is a Marxist, the capitalists have taken over his holiday. The seven principles of Kwanzaa include "collective work" and "cooperative economics," but Kwanzaa is turning out to be as commercial as Christmas, generating millions in greeting-card sales alone. The purists are whining. "It's clear that a number of major corporations have started to take notice and try to profit from Kwanzaa," said a San Francisco State black studies professor named "Oba T'Shaka" in one news account. "That's not good, with money comes corruption." No, he's wrong. With money comes kitsch. The L.A. Times reported a group was planning an "African Village Faire," the pseudo-archaic spelling of "faire" nicely combining kitsch Africana with kitsch Americana. With money also comes forgetfulness. As those warm Kwanzaa feelings are generated in a spirit of holiday cheer, those who celebrate this holiday do so in blissful ignorance of the sordid violence, paranoia, and mayhem that helped generate its birth some three decades ago in a section of America that has vanished down the memory hole.

[Tawiskaro]

Two of the sites you provided links to are in the UK--in fact, the material you quoted is from one of those sites. Recovering_Democrat's point still has merit. The US site doesn't appear to have the same content. Lots of St. Nick, but no Jesus Christ.

Fwiw.

[cyclotic]

Wow.

Thanks for posting this and clearing up the thread. (and hopefully stopping a needless Freep) I liked most of what they said except for having a electricity free night to help save the earth. (How about all lights on, cook in the fireplace and smoke out the neighborhood and eat off styrofoam plates instead?)

My wife is having an ongoing battle with Crayola.com regarding their ignoring Easter and Christmas with a total and complete lack of any spiritual aspect of either of these days. Crayola does recognize Kwaanza and Hanukkah. They have even told her via e-mail that they do not want to upset their non-Christian customers by even mentioning Christmas

I try to make it a point to patronize stores that actually use the dreaded "C" word in their ads. Too many companies just use the nebulous and meaningless "holidays."

Unfortunately, my kids are just over the age of most Fisher-Price toys, but it truly sounds like a worthy company of supporting.

Merry CHRISTmas

[Recovering_Democrat]

I don't think this would be a needless FREEP at all.

Weirdad had to do cull and search the web site for cursory references to the meaning of the Christmas holiday on the web site, whereas Fisher-Price has direct and straightforward explanations for the other two Holidays. There is not a "Traditions and Meanings" explanation for Christmas on the holiday web site of Fisher-Price like there is for Kwaanza and Hanukkah. Fisher-Price has chosen to ignore a straight-forward explanation of what Christmas really is all about.

I believe an appropriate response is to tell Fisher-Price in a very polite manner Christians deserve better, especially since Christians spend lots of their money on their product.

[Weirdad]

I don't disagree with you at all. Recovering_Democrat is also quite right that Fisher-Price does not tell the true story of Christmas in the same way that it feels "obliged" to summarize Hanukkah and "Kwaanza." It's just that there may be better Freep Targets, so I want Christians to use all their Spirit-led skills in approaching a company like Fisher-Price which is NOT widely considered to be a politically correct company, and which may respond quite favorably to concrete suggestions rather than more belligerent approaches.

I also think it's great that something be said to Fisher-Price. But if you don't actually have a dog in this fight (my Fisher-Price days are over until grandchildren are born) you might choose one of the many companies more deserving of Freeping. Try BENETTON BEATEN ON DEATH-ROW ADS (we won, but the company is still pathetic). Or try Kodak Employee Fired For Calling "Coming Out Day" "Offensive and Disgusting". I don't think companies like these are too interested in presenting the real story of Christmas unless they can make money from it.

[Weirdad]

I completely agree, and was only wanting those who choose to say something to be fully prepared to do it in an optimal and informed manner.

I agree that it is not a needless Freep, and I agree completely with your statement that "an appropriate response is to tell Fisher-Price in a very polite manner Christians deserve better, especially since Christians spend lots of their money on their product."

By the way, I did not cull anything from their site on my reply. It's one frame intact. It was longer that the equivalent "Kwaanza" and Hanukkah pages on their site. It would not surprise me if their site is less the result of political correctness and more the result of lukewarm judgement. I would not be surprised to find that (1) they assumed that their readers already knew about Christmas, which is much more widely a tradition than the others, (2) since there are many different denominations in Christianity, they were afraid to offend any particular one, so remained silent on an explanation of the holiday, (3) they were cognizant of the fact that the Christmas story is MUCH longer and more complex than either "Kwaanza" and Hanukkah, and they felt that an over-simplification would be worse than the silent treatment, so they focused on their suggestions (which actually made a longer page than the others), and assumed the reader already understood Christmas. If such things happened, then it really would be best to start with your suggestioin, "an appropriate response is to tell Fisher-Price in a very polite manner Christians deserve better, especially since Christians spend lots of their money on their product."

[Spiff]

Did someone say Kwanzaa!!?

I guess it's time to dust off my Kwanzaa Linklist and post it. Educate yourself.

Kwanzaa Links

Did You Have A Happy Kwanzaa? - WorldNetDaily

Celebrate Reality - Not Fantasy - Tampa Tribune

Kwanzaa Quandary - Tucson Weekly

We Wish You A Phony Festival - Report (Canadian Magazine)

So This Is Kwanzaa - Newsmax.com

Ann Coulter on Kwanzaa - TownHall.Com

Mona Charen on Kwanzaa - Jewish World Review

Tony Snow on Kwanzaa - Jewish World Review

The TRUE Spirit of Kwanzaa - The New American magazine

The Story of Kwanzaa - The Dartmouth Review

The Truth About Kwanzaa - A Christian Viewpoint

A Momentary Loss of Reason - Binghamton Review

Kwanzaa & The White House - NY Post Editorial, 1997 (Freerepublic.com thread)

Michael Savage on Kwanzaa - NewsMax

Happy Kwanzaa - FrontPage Magazine - Link may not work, if it doesn't click here for the Free Republic thread.

I'm Dreaming of a White Kwanzaa - LewRockwell.com - Link may not work, if it doesn't click here for the Free Republic thread.

Letter to Editor - Ypsilanti Courier

What is Kwanzaa? - File Passed Around On Internet About Kwanzaa

Happy Kwanzaa by Patrick S. Poole

Ron Everett (aka. Maulana Karenga) / US Links

The Black Panthers and the Police: A Pattern of Genocide? - NEW YORKER MAGAZINE - February 13, 1971 (Includes great detail of the murders committed by Karenga's thugs)

PBS Interview with black radical Ron Everett (aka Maulana Karenga) - the guy that invented Kwanzaa 5 years before being sent to prison for torturing two young women

Ron Karenga - Dialog from the Black Radical Congress - December 1999

US, the organization the Ron Everett founded in 1965, the organization that murdered 5 members of the rival Black Panther Party is back Their website is here.

Graphic used on Official Kwanzaa Website for the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa)
Graphic used on Official US Website (US is Karenga's Gang that Murdered Members and Leaders of Rival Gangs) as their logo

The two members of the US gang who murdered the two Panthers after they dissed Karenga at a Black Studies meeting on the UCLA campus were Larry and George Stiner. Both were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. They escaped in 1974. Larry turned himself in to the FBI in 1994, but George Stiner is still at large. He is on California's 10 Most Wanted list which can be found here. There is also and International Crime Alert on this fugitive who is considered armed and extremely dangerous here.

Afrocentrism Links

Clarence Walker Encourages Black Americans to Discard Afrocentrism

Pride & Prejudice by Dinesh D'Souza, Vol. 6, American Enterprise, 09-01-1995, pp 51 (Google Cached Version)

Fighting Fiction With Fact by Mary Lefkowitz (Google Cached Version)

Fallacies of Afrocentrism - Grover Furr

The Skeptics Dictionary - Afrocentrism

TEACHING REVERSE RACISM A strange doctrine of black superiority is finding its way into schools and colleges

The Skeptics Dictionary Review of Mary Lefkowitz' Book "Not Out Of Africa"

Review of Mary Lefkowitz' Books on Afrocentrism Myth "Not Out Of Africa" and "Black Athena Revisited"

The Trap of Ethnic Identity - New York Times - Jan 1997

AFROCENTRISM The Argument We're Really Having