On December 31, 2005, a copy of your local paper was delivered to my home in Union City. I glanced through the pages to get a quick overview of the topics of the issue. I was amazed to see the article you posted in reference to the African American holiday of Kwanzaa. The picture of the author raised more questions in my mind. On reading this presentation – which had no footnotes or credible references — I was offended that a public journal would publish such a biased and unsubstantiated piece.

Let me address some of the suppositions that this community has read and accepted for a number of years. You indicated that this was a reprint of several years.

1. Kwanzaa is an African American holiday that pays tribute to the rich cultural roots of Americans of African ancestry. Dr. Karenga started the holiday in 1966 so that African American people could learn about their African history and customs. Family and friends gather during Kwanzaa to share food and exchange presents. In this way, Kwanzaa celebrates unity, or people being together, as they learn about their shared history.

2. The word Kwanzaa mean “the first” or “the first fruits of the harvest” in the East African language of Swahili. Swahili is a non-tribal African language that encompasses a large portion of the African continent.

3. Kwanzaa is neither a religious, political, or heroic holiday but rather a cultural celebration.

4. Kwanzaa is based on seven fundamental principles of living that are not relegated to any one group’s usage.

A. Unity - Umoja - means helping each other stay together as families, communities, a nation, and a race.

B. Self-Determination - Kujichagulia - this is the right to decide who we are, what our names will be, what we will become, and what we will create for ourselves. We will not let others do these things for us.

C. Collective Work and Responsibility - Ujima - this means that we should build and take care of our communities. We should work together to solve our problems.

D. Cooperative Economics - Ujamaa - this means that we should build and maintain our own stores, shops and businesses. We should profit from them together.

E. Purpose - Nia - Our purpose should be to make our people and our communities as great as they can be. We can do this by taking care of our homes and communities and developing the skills and knowledge of all of our people.

F. Faith - Imani - We strive to believe with all our hearts in the worth of African Americans. We believe in the struggle that has been and is still being waged by our people.

These principles are to serve as a guide for our daily living. They do not compete with or try to be a substitute for Christmas or Hanukkah.

If your writer were to do some basic research, she would find that Christmas has some aspects that are not in keeping with the celebration of the birth of Christ - the tree and some of the other trappings of the holiday are derived from pagan rituals. the Confederate flag that is a sacred symbol to some of you became a representation of your history after the Supreme Court decision of May 17, 1954 to integrate public schools. You maintain a Confederate Memorial Day even though a national Memorial Day is legally observed. Can you imagine a Nazi Memorial Day in Germany or the flying of the swastika as a representation of German history? These are but a few of the recognized holidays that have origins which are not what they have become. I hear of no verbal attack on the slave holders or the Druids.

Finally, I ask the writer (a Caucasian female) why this holiday concerns her? She presumes to tell African Americans not to observe this holiday. Where does she think that she obtained this authority? The holiday was created by an African American for African Americans. the qualities emphasized are ones that the majority population has pointed to as lacking in some African Americans. What, then, is the problem? Hypocrisy appears to be evident or does the unification of African Americans pose some kind of threat (i.e. - the overt hostility to the Civil Rights Movement).

Your choice of articles is certainly your decision; however, subjects that have no involvement with you might be relegated to an able writer who is personally aware of or academically clear on the subject. If no such person is available, there are credible research facilities available here in the city of Atlanta and in any other major city or university.

Perhaps there was a time when the majority of the readers were accepting of such a published statement. Today is January, 2006 —141 years since 1865. We are educated and we think and understand as well as or better than many of our fellow citizens. You do not have the right to make decisions for us. We hope that our news media will present factual materials on which we can make our own decisions.

Thank you,
Mrs. Phyllis D. Hollis
Union City, GA

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