Kwanzaa: 13 Million Celebrate?

by John Hawkins | December 27, 2005 11:21 am

First, many thanks to John for inviting me to guest blog here at RWN. It’s an honor.

Via the AP[1] this morning, we have a story out of Rocksboro, NC in which a reporter from the Associated Press writes about the so-called “African-American holiday” Kwanzaa by way of an interview with Bill Nesmith, who is a reference librarian at Person County public library in Rocksboro.

Note the headline:

Estimate: 13 Million Celebrate Kwanzaa

Oh? From where does this ‘estimate’ come? It appears that it came from Mr. Nesmith himself:

He says interest in the holiday is growing, with about 13 million people now celebrating the holiday that began in 1966.

With all due respect to Mr. Nesmith, I’d like to know where he got that figure. I’d also like to know why the Associated Press lent credibility to that figure by making it the headline of the article.

I checked the Official Kwanzaa website[2], and couldn’t find anything resembling an estimate of just how many people celebrate Kwanzaa. And assuming this estimate IS on thet webstie somewhere, from where did that figure originate?

Could it be, perhaps, that the AP is just trying, in its own politically correct way, to give credence to a ‘holiday’ (dubbed by some to be the ‘alternative to Christmas’) celebrated by minorities in order to make it appear more mainstream than it really is by purposely making the numbers look authentic? Afterall, the more mainstream cultural rituals such as Kwanzaa are made to appear, the less likely its validity will be questioned by many – mostly out of fear that they’ll be labeled ‘racists’ and ‘insensitive’ to ‘other cultures.’

For more on the bogus nature of Kwanzaa, please make sure to check out La Shawn Barber’s must-read piece[3] on its origins, as well as this article [4] written by Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, who calls Kwanzaa the “Racist Holiday from Hell.”

If you enjoyed this post by Sister Toldjah, you can read more of her work at Sister Toldjah[5].

Endnotes:
  1. Via the AP: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/5660802/detail.html
  2. Official Kwanzaa website: http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org
  3. La Shawn Barber’s must-read piece: http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2005/12/27/kwanzaa/
  4. this article : http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16474
  5. Sister Toldjah: http://sistertoldjah.com/

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/kwanzaa-13-million-celebrate/