A few years back, a brother from another area of the country contacted me to discuss how Kwanzaa was being observed in his city. It seems that the largest attended and most popular Kwanzaa event in his city was held by people who allowed, among other things, white politicians, white preachers and other non-Afrikans to have major roles in conducting the Kwanzaa ceremonies.
My advice on this issue? I told him that he should contact the Kwanzaa organizers and tell them in no uncertain terms that they should NEVER permit non-Afrikan people to have any part in running the Kwanzaa ceremonies, period! That was my gut opinion and it still is. Yes, we know that Kwanzaa's success in our communities has grown exponentially to the point that many of us, in this so-called"post-racial" Obama era, feel that it's all right to have non-Afrikans participate in Kwanzaa events. We know that Kwanzaa's success in our communities has attracted the attention of the profit-hungry 1% who now have large Kwanzaa displays and sell Kwanzaa articles in their stores and on their web sites. Articles that previously were only obtainable from our people. But while we recognize Kwanzaa's success, we must similarly recognize the real need to protect Kwanzaa from gross commercial materialism and pervasion of the Afrikan cultural dimensions of Kwanzaa.
We understand that Kwanzaa is a celebration for Afrikans-In-America, but Kwanzaa's roots are distinctly Afrikan, not American!
Dr. Ron Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa's founder affirms this concept by stating on the official Kwanzaa web site that, "Kwanzaa inherits this value concern and focus from Kawaida, the African philosophical framework in which it was created. Kawaida philosophy is a communitarian African philosophy which is an ongoing synthesis of the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world. " We therefore, must protect the authentic Afrikan character of Kwanzaa, just as fiercely as say the Poe protects official Catholicism from pervasion by non-Catholics. The Vatican would, for instance, NEVER allow say Min. Farrakhan to conduct an official Mass ceremony in Sistine Chapel, neither should we allow non-Afrikans to participate in our sacred rituals. It is one thing to allow non-Afrikans to be part of the audience as observers, but it is quite another matter to have them conducting or participating in the running of Kwanzaa ceremonies!
Dr Karenga affirms this view also by stating, "But in any case, particular people (Afrikans) should always be in control of and conduct their own celebrations. Audience attendance is one thing; conducting a ritual is another. Any particular message that is good for a particular people, if it is human in its content and ethical in its grounding, speaks not just to that people, it speaks to the world.The principles of Kwanzaa and the message of Kwanzaa has a universal message for all people of good will. It is rooted in African culture, and we speak as Africans must speak, not just to ourselves, but to the world. This continues our tradition of speaking our own special cultural truth and making our own unique contribution to the forward flow of human history."
As an aside, while we are discussing truisms, here's a related one to consider. Most of us who study ancient KMT (Egyptian) history and culture have been led to believe that the euros, through their own perceived brilliance, broke the ancient KMT language code of the Mdw Ntr by decoding the Rosetta Stone in the 1st century. The Rosetta Stone was made in the 3rd century BCE (apprx. 2300 years ago) and was written in 3 languages including Mdw Ntr and Greek. It now emerges that the Christian rulers of the century ordered the extermination of what was left of the ancient KMT Priesthood during the occupation of KMT. However, some of the old KMT priests who knew the secrets of their ancient Mdw Ntr language went underground and apparently lasted until 1850, and it is concluded that those old KMT priests were "persuaded" to give up some of the long-guarded "keys" to the sacred Mdw Ntr language by the ruling euros, thus facilitating the euros decipherment of the Rosetta Stone in the 1st century. This explains why the early Greek and Roman thugs that invaded and occupied KMT during and after the 3rd century BCE were unable to master the KMT language when it was still being used by the remnant people of KMT! (Carruthers)
Kwasi
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