Worker says Kwanzaa plan got her fired; mall denies it
Posted on 12/22/2002 4:01:14 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Worker says Kwanzaa plan got her fired; mall denies it
12/22/2002
HOUSTON - A former marketing director for a mall in a mostly minority neighborhood believes she was fired because a Kwanzaa display she advocated didn't conform with the new ownership's goal of bringing more white customers to the shopping center.
But the owners of Sharpstown Center in southwest Houston say the marketing director was let go because she was unable to improve the facility's slumping sales. They say race was not an issue in their decision.
Nicque Montgomery contends that she and her assistant, Trenard Hodge, were wrongfully terminated Thursday because the Kwanzaa display doesn't mesh with the new ownership's goal to bring whites to the mall with activities like an ice skating rink. She and her assistant are black.
"I was told the display is keeping away the people who would ice skate," Ms. Montgomery told the Houston Chronicle.
Kwanzaa is a seven-day cultural celebration that honors the African tradition of celebrating the harvest. It gets its name from the Swahili phrase meaning "first fruits."
Charles Zeller, a Houston real estate developer and part owner of the mall, who is white, disputed Ms. Montgomery's allegations.
"Our focus of attention isn't on race, it's on class," he said. "What I mean by that is, we want people in the mall who have money and can shop."
Ms. Montgomery said Mr. Zeller's references to "shoppers who spend money" is nothing more than code words for white shoppers.
Mr. Zeller said the Kwanzaa exhibit was an issue only because the owners and some merchants felt it was too close to Santa's Nutcracker Toy Land area, causing problems for children waiting to see St. Nick.
The reason Ms. Montgomery was let go is because she didn't do her job, Mr. Zeller said.
"We have reviewed all the sales reports during the tenure of this erstwhile marketing manager, and the sales were plummeting," he said.
Mr. Zeller and his associates plan to spend millions to upgrade the 41-year-old shopping center in hopes of increasing sales figures and attracting new stores. Currently, more than 25 percent of the mall retail space is unoccupied.
"We needed someone new with new ideas who could bring in the clientele of shoppers who could spend money," he said. "It's very basic."
In response to the allegations, a community group canceled plans to hold a celebration at the mall honoring the Kwanzaa holiday, which begins Thursday.
When is the first fruit season? I think the whole thing is hokum and both these dopes are wrong. Zeller is being entirely too truthfull at the wrong time of year. And his dopey marketing staff needed to be cleaned out long before this mess erupted.
By Charles Colson
LifeLine News Commentary from BreakPoint
While shopping for Christmas gifts this year, I visited a Christian bookstore to buy a gift for my grandson. Being an inveterate bookstore browser, I couldn't leave without looking at everything. What I found in church supplies shocked me.
The church bulletins many of us see each Sunday morning are purchased with the printed cover and run through a copier with the order of worship. Among the bulletin shells for Advent, Christmas, and other days, I found one for Kwanzaa. I was stunned.
Then a few days after Christmas I came across a newspaper article entitled, "Many churches wrap Kwanzaa into their Christmas services." The article quoted several pastors who favored including Kwanzaa celebrations in their holiday worship. This further jarred me.
Kwanzaa is a seven-day holiday that runs from December 26 to January 1. It has no roots in antiquity, but is the invention of Dr. Maulana Karenga, who heads the Department of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. Dr. Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966, mixing elements of African harvest festivals with sixties radicalism and the civil rights movement.
The seven principles of Kwanzaa set forth by Karenga include unity, self- determination, cooperative economics, and faith. And faith, by the way, is defined as, "To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle."
Dr. Karenga's official Kwanzaa website states that while celebrating Kwanzaa includes "special reverence for the creator," and is "spiritual," ". . . it is important to note Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday, not a religious one."
The site goes on to say that "you should not mix Kwanzaa holiday or its symbols, values, and practices with any other culture." That's in part because Kwanzaa was established as an alternative to Christmas which was viewed as a western holiday.
Christian worship would seem to violate the intent of Kwanzaa's promoters. But if public schools and civic ceremonies are any indication, Kwanzaa is gaining equal standing as a third holiday alongside Christmas and Hanukah. And most folks have no idea it is not an ancient African ritual, but rather the invention of a sixties activist.
When I contacted some of my African-American friends, I was encouraged. One inner-city pastor said that Kwanzaa had all the trappings of a manufactured holiday and that most people he knew -- Christian and non-Christian -- had no interest. Another friend said that it was an issue in a few churches in his area, but that pastors were dealing with it by making a clear distinction between a celebration of ethnic and cultural heritage and the celebration of the birth of Christ. Good -- these pastors are right.
But Christians need to be on guard. As the bulletin shells in the bookstore indicate, politically correct Kwanzaa is working its way into worship.
And the church is always vulnerable to syncretism. Santa kneeling at the manger, church Easter egg hunts, inviting an Iman to speak from the pulpit, and dozens of other examples show how easily we mix cultural rituals with our Christian faith. Let us be reminded worship is not for a cultural celebration, but for the celebration of the one eternal God who created and rules all cultures.
Charles Colson is chairman of Prison Fellowship Ministries. His daily commentary can be heard on radio stations throughout the United States, and at the Breakpoint web site.
I guess since white men can't shoot (hoops), brothers can't skate. :)
The marketing director obviously did not realize that mall managment would expect marketing efforts to increase sales and profits for the mall tenants. (See, "Oh, it's a profit thing!" scene from THE IDIOT).
At the same time, mall management obviously did not realize that the marketing director was more interested in making the mall a gathering place for all groups, regardless of each individual's ability or willingness to actually buy anything, which would fulfill management's interests.
Perhaps a large-scale counseling effort, with coaching by the UN and a registered grief counselor, could help each party understand the other's position and reach an acceptable conclusion. And, they could have a poster contest for the non-paying visitors to the mall at the same time.
Now that is disgusting. "People who have money and can shop." Since when is it necessary to have money and a desire to shop in order to patronize a retail establishment?
What has happened to the world I once knew, the world in which all retail establishments threw open their doors and welcomed all those that had no money, those that had no desire to shop?
Why are we now seeing this trend? It is extremely disturbing to me to see that these people are actually turning away from those that have no money and do not want to shop.
Shocked.
I am shocked.
I am at a loss for words.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.