MAULANA KARENGA'S
HAUNTING GHOST by Mukasa Afrika Ma'at
A CULT OF PERSONALITY AND HERO WORSHIPPING
AS OVERCOMPENSATION OF BLACK LEADERSHIP DEFICIET
ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE THE ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS OF HISTORY:
MAULANA KARENGA’S HAUNTING GHOST
By Mukasa Afrika Ma’at (blog link at the end)
DEDICATED TO DR. JOHN HENRIKE CLARKE who said, “He
has not atoned to the community for his attempt to destroy
the
Panther movement. He has not atoned for being a police informant.
He has not atoned for the way he treated Black women.”
DEDICATED TO MWALIMU WESLEY KABAILA who said, “I
write the following in the spirit of Maat, and the truth
embodied
in it. I also write it as a matter of corrective history, that
has too long endured as lies.”
Introduction
Maulana Karenga is the “founder” of Kwanzaa. He
also supposedly began the US organization and developed the
theory of Kawaida. He is the author of a number of “culturally
nationalist” books and other writings. He is considered
an internationally renowned leader of Afrikan people. He was
a speaker and one of the key organizers of the historic Million
Man March in 1995. He is one of the founders of ASCAC and has
been an activist and academician for decades.
The hero worshippers of Maulana Karenga would be more than
happy if I simply detailed the above historic facts and ignored
the ghost which has haunted the past of their leader. They
would be more than happy if I, like them, ignored the facts
of his dirty past. They would be pleased if I did not ask and
address the essential questions which they so vainly attempt
to delete from the pages of history.
A Karenga fan once asked if I'd ever change
my stance on his leader. I told him I already did – I was once a “fan” like
him. I never espoused Kawaida theory. I was never a member
of the US organization. However, I was once a participant of
Kwanzaa celebrations. I often quoted the works of Maulana Karenga.
I’d use his resources to prove a point in some discourse
or historical debate. That was a long time ago. Thankfully,
I have never been afraid to question, critique, and grow. Some
people are okay with the superficial and misguided while others,
like myself, seek to always grow and stand on principles – even
if that means speaking out against people we once admired.
While some of us will question a “leader,” others
who do not stand on principles will find all kinds of creative
ways to excuse their “leaders” unacceptable and
sometimes treacherous behavior against our people. I am not
one of those people.
My purpose is to inform the people so that
they can make insightful decisions about whatever they choose
to celebrate or worship,
in regards to my research and discussions on religions. I will
not be silenced because I expose truths that others wish to
sweep under the rug. We have this bad habit of not addressing
the shortcomings or horrendous behavior of leaders because
some feel we have a shortage of leaders. Well, we do have a
shortage of leaders, but to not address the issues borders
on treachery. No leader, religion, or topic is unquestionable.
The Afrikan-Conscious movement must do a better job of informing
our people on a number of issues and topics if we indeed the
bringers of Ma’at (Truth).
Cult of Personality and Hero Worship
A cult of personality and hero worshipping
has developed around Maulana Karenga. Let us define a cult
of personality and hero
worship as related to Karenga. A cult of personality is when
a person or a group develops unrealistic praise for an individual.
They cease to honor the principles which someone and others
might stand for and instead they begin to honor and worship
the person. The problem is that men are flawed and when a cult
of personality develops, the mind of the follower will find
it very difficult to accept normal Human faults. Additionally,
when the leader has committed heinous crimes, the cult follower
will not even hear such unspeakable “ideas” against
their leader. This is when the cult of personality becomes
hero worship, which is even more unrealistic, even more ridiculous,
and even more dangerous. Hero worship develops when a cult
of a person/leader elevates them to the status of demi-god – in
some cases the leader may even become “God”.
Karenga has followers of varying degrees.
Firstly, some are simply respectful of his intellectual work
and they may or
may not question his ghost and dirty past. Secondly, the next
level up for Karenga are those who are ardent followers of
one or more of the concepts associated with him such as Kwanzaa
or Kawaida. This third set of followers may or may not be partially
engulfed in the next set of followers. The third group is made
of the cult worshippers who not only live Karenga’s principles
as part of their lives, but refuse to accept any questions
of wrong doing against him. Anyone who questions their cult
leader must be doing the work of the white man or defaming
a great Black leader. By all means, Karenga is innocent of
all charges against him. It was all a COINTELPRO conspiracy
against him. He didn’t do it! This group is beyond the
realistic and trying to reasonable convince them or debate
with them is a waste of time. The fourth or last group of followers
are Karenga’s hero worshippers who simply consider him
near divine or even divine. These hero worshippers are the
ones who would bow, kneel to the ground and kiss his hand.
Yes this was a practice of members in the US organization.
I am informed of this from people who actually witnessed his
cult following hero worshippers kneeling, kissing his hand,
and mumbling “Maulana, Maulana, Maulana.”
A leader can have a cult of personality without having an
actual cult organization or cult of rituals. Karenga has all
three. I have categorized the cult of personality around Karenga
in the above paragraph. There are several ways in which his
cult of organization, US, and his cult of rituals can be exhibited.
Was US a cult organization? Well, you decide.
Consider the above scenes reported to me about Karenga’s
weird ritual of his members bowing, kneeling, and kissing
his hand. Imagine
the young impressionable brother in the late 60s kneeling down
and kissing his hand, dressed like Karenga with dark shades
on and head shaved, like Karenga.
Also, Karenga was and is as far as I know
a polygamist. He would have his “first” wife sit down and tell prospective
wives about the great deeds of the “Maulana” to
convince them to join in their polygamist marriage. This I
have established directly from a woman whom the wife attempted
to seduce into the arrangement. Karenga has been seen out and
about with his wives over the years. Besides the fact the polygamy
is not a common practice in America, while common in some Afrikan
cultures, it is against the law. It is but further evidence
of a cult leader.
I will discuss the cult rituals around Kwanzaa later. These
rituals around the made up holiday also provides more evidence
of the cult behavior built up around Karenga. Let us here address
if there is evidence that Karenga was an FBI rat agent.
Karenga: FBI Agent with an Anti-Panther Mission?
Karenga was financed and provided with guns and drugs by the
FBI according to confessed agent provocateurs and infiltrators
Earl Anthony and Louis Tackwood, and suspected former agent
provocateur and infiltrator Elaine Brown. Elaine Brown, herself
an agent, says that Karenga was an agent in Taste of Power.
She opens up about Karenga being an agent but does not come
clean about herself. If you consider her willful destructive
behavior in the book, how she came into the party and sexed
her way to the top only to cause division, the allegation of
her being an infiltrator fits. Geronimo ji Jaga Pratt in an
open letter before his death informed the public that Brown
was a former agent, but he was misinformed and thought Karenga
was not. Both Brown and Karenga accuse anyone who calls them
an agent of supporting COINTELPRO strategies or J. Edgar Hoover
type actions against them. This is a deflection strategy common
with agents and former agents. Karenga and his supporters have
had to use this tactic much more than Brown. Both Brown and
Karenga were agents. They have not confessed to their work
against the movement like Earl Anthony and Louis Tackwood.
Agent provocateur Earl Anthony’s confessions are valuable
in this regard. He admits his own dirt and so has little reserve
with also mentioning Karenga’s dirt. Anthony states that
he was first informed of Karenga being an agent, being supplied
with weapons, and given the mission to destroy the Black Panther
Party in LA by FBI agents Robert O'Connor and Ron Kizenski.
Furthermore, a lot of inconsistencies with criminal prosecution
and brutal treatment against the Black Panthers compared with
that of Karenga’s US organization speaks to him being
an agent. The prime historical example of this is after the
murders of Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, the police didn’t
go after Karenga’s US; they went after Black Panthers
and conducted raids. Consider Anthony’s Spitting in the
Wind which many question outside of one fact, the book is an
uncut confessional of an agent provocateur. Anthony stands
to gain nothing from his confessions of himself and Karenga,
except he doesn’t take his own dirt to the grave.
Like Earl Anthony, another former agent provocateur
was Louis Tackwood, who came clean on his dirt and many others
in 1971.
He also says that Karenga was an agent with an anti-Panther
mission. Tackwood’s word can be found in his Glass House
Tapes. Tackwood’s words are startling, but if any of
it is true, he and Earl Anthony are correct in pointing out
the COINTELPRO manipulation of rat Karenga. Like Anthony, he
has nothing to gain except as near to a clean conscience from
his confession that he can get. Consider this quote from Brother
Sekhem in his 2006 article, The Intelligence Origins of Kwanzaa:
Colton Westbrook, working with the LAPD's
CCS (Criminal Conspiracy Section) and Division Five of the
FBI, used certain newly "Africanized" and
modified recruits to set up two primary synthetic terror groups
known as the Us organization with police agent Ron N. Everett
a.k.a. Ron Karenga; and the SLA, or Symbionese Liberation Army
with police informer and provocateur Donald DeFreeze. According
to CCS police snitch and provocateur Louis Tackwood, Ron Karenga
and his Us (later known as the United Slaves) organization
were funded by the Ford Foundation, the LAPD and his good friend
Mayor Sam Yorty through municipal funds. Financing to the tune
of over $50,000 per year, plus two offices and five apartments,
as indicated in the September 6, 1969 edition of the Black
Panther newspaper. The Wall Street Journal revealed that Karenga “Maintained
close ties to the eastern Rockefeller family” and that “A
few weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King… Mr.
Karenga slipped into Sacramento for a private chat with Governor
Ronald Reagan, at the governor’s request. The black nationalist
also met clandestinely with Los Angeles Police Chief Thomas
Reddin after King had been killed.”
Louis E. Tackwood was the liaison man between
Karenga and DeFreeze and LAPD's CCS division. Aptly named,
the Criminal
Conspiracy Section's sole purpose and agenda was to target
and destroy black militants and their organizations, through
conspiracies involving informers, agent provocateurs, programmed
assassins and set-up men. As well as "militant" synthetic
terror groups to sabotage and discredit the Afrikan liberation
movement in general. Through Tackwood, Ron Karenga and his
United Slaves (we should've known they were punks by their
******* name alone!) were given their assignments to "Work
in opposition to other Black groups within the Black community,
which attracted large numbers of Blacks." Karenga was
directly ordered to “Curtail the Panther Party’s
growth, no matter what the cost, and that no rang-a-tang (CCS
slang for US members) —that’s what we called his
people— would ever be convicted of murder.” Tackwood
also stated that he provided Karenga with assassination orders
from the FBI to kill Panther leaders Elmore Geronimo Pratt,
and Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter.
It is debate about whether US ever stood for
Untied Slaves. That is not my debate. Karenga did meet with
LA Police Chief
Thomas Reddin and Governor Ronald Reagan in supposedly an effort
to help with the aftermath of the riots following Martin Luther
King’s assassination and to discuss the imprisonment
of US members. Karenga met with Police Chief Reddin and then
with Reagan at Reagan’s request as reported by Scot Brown
in Fighting for US. Brown also documented the torture of two
Black women by Karenga which I will detail later. Karenga was
very displeased with Brown’s Fighting for US and had
his colleague, Molefi Asante, write a very lofty and flattering
biography of him entitled Karenga: An Intellectual Portrait.
Among other errors, Asante claims that Karenga was mentor to
Jacob Hudson Carruthers on matters related to the study of
KMT (Ancient Egypt). The opposite is true. While Karenga was
in jail for kidnap and torture of two Black women, Carruthers
was in Senegal meeting with Cheikh Anta Diop discussing the
need to teach the history, literature, and culture of KMT.
Of course Asante doesn’t mention this fact. Equally,
Asante leaves out some other very critical history about Karenga
which I will address.
Consider the following from The FBI's War on the Black Panther
Party's Southern California Chapter:
What gives some credence, though not proof, to the theory
held by Brown and Anthony is that while the more conservative
theory holds that the FBI was using each group against the
other, the repression faced by the BPP was much more severe
than that faced by the US organization. The pattern of killings
described above is a case in point. Another is that the FBI
opened a conspiracy investigation for Panther Geronimo Pratt
for a bank robbery that the FBI knew had been committed by
US members.(63)
Another example of police favoritism towards
US is the initial police response to the killings of Carter
and Huggins, which
was not to go after the US organization or any other suspects
in the murder, but instead to deploy over 150 police officers
to raid a Panther apartment and arrest 75 Panthers, including
the remaining Panther leadership, on charges of intending to
murder US members in retaliation!(64) Later, the police arrested
US's Stiner brothers, Larry and George. The Stiners were given
life terms and sent to San Quentin, but, adding to suspicions
that US members were deliberately given light treatment, they "walked
away from a minimum security area on March 30, 1974."(65)
Larry Stiner turned himself in on Feb. 5, 1994, while George
Stiner remained a fugitive.(66)
Karenga met with Police Chief Reddin and Governor
Reagan at a time of false imprisonment, agent infiltrations,
and even
assassinations of activists in California and America in general.
Reagan called the home of Karenga for the meeting. Reagan would
not call Karenga in 1968 unless the FBI had already sniffed
him out, profiled him, and/or put him on payroll. This was
at the height of COINTELPRO operations. Governors don’t
meet with so-called radicals at the height of COINTELPRO to
have tea. The events of the time gives much credence to confessions
by agent provocateurs and infiltrators Earl Anthony and Louis
Tackwood, and among others such as Elaine Brown, that Karenga
had an anti-Panther mission, was given guns, money, and drugs,
and was an agent himself given a mission to destroy the Black
Panther Party.
The Kwanzaa Cult and Jewish-RBG Candle Lighting
I am Afrikan spiritual and practice Afrikan rituals myself.
A ritual is not cultist if it is authentically grown out of
the tradition of a people. Cultist rituals are not the expressions
of a people. Cultist rituals are non-authentic expressions
to bolster the personality worship of particular individuals
or groups.
While Kwanzaa events have helped raise some Afrikan consciousness
due less to Karenga and more to local activists, many who are
not associated with Karenga at all, the holiday can promote
a superficial and even pseudo consciousness of Afrikan lifestyle.
Kwanzaa has been used to promote the personality worship of
Karenga. Hollie West interviewed Karenga in 1978 for the Washington
Post and wrote the following:
“I created Kwanzaa,” laughed Ron Karenga like
a teenager who’s just divulged a deeply held, precious
secret. “People think it’s African. But it’s
not. I wanted to give black people a holiday of their own.
So I came up with Kwanzaa. I said it was African because you
know 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 (blacks) would
be partying!”
The holiday is not authentically Afrikan,
as Karenga said himself. The Jewish Hanukkah Festival of
Lights begins on the
25th of the Jewish calendar in Kislev and last eight days.
It is roughly around Christmas on December 25th. A candle is
burned each day with the Servant or Helper candle. This is
strangely similar to the Kwanzaa lighting ceremony where the
Servant candle is replaced with the Black candle. Instead of
8 candles and the 1 helper candle like the Jewish celebration,
Kwanzaa uses seven candles with the colors red, black, and
green. I call them Jewish rbg (red, black, and green) candles
for this very fact to note an Afrikan surface painted over
a Jewish ritual. Many elders who celebrate Kwanzaa do so without
the Jewish rbg candles. These elders instead pour libations,
a time honored and unquestioned Afrikan tradition of thousands
of years. We must be very serious about the rituals we pass
down to generations. We must be very careful with who we call
leaders. I will discuss more of the questions around Karenga’s
leadership in the next section.
The Kwanzaa lighting celebration with seven
principles over seven days, although performed out of sincerity
by countless
Blacks, is a copy of the Jewish Festival of Lights of eight
days. Due to this very reason, it is more cultist than it is
Afrikan. We learned as much from Karenga laughing like a teenager
in 1978. At the very minimum, this Jewish lighting ceremony
should be eliminated to gain some respectability among the
holiday’s participants.
The Stance of Mwalimu Wesley Kabaila: Separating the Message
from the Messenger.
A Middle Ground or Middle of Nowhere?
Mwalimu Wesley Kabaila has been a member of
the US organization from 1967 to 1985. He was Karenga’s body guard, a proponent
of Kawaida since 1967, and a promoter of Kwanzaa virtually
since the beginning. He was the Vice Chairman of the US organization
and Chairman of the Simba Wachanga from 1979 to 1985. Kabaila
was Karenga’s strong arm man and one of his most loyal
students and dedicated followers. He is not as well-known as
Maulana Karenga, but nonetheless Kabaila is truly an historic
figure and played a major role in the development and promotion
of the organization US, the philosophy of Kawaida, and the
widespread acceptance of the holiday. Furthermore, I am aware
of no allegations against him such as those heinous crimes
committed by Karenga. Additionally, he seems to be a man of
character for reasons I will address in this section. He has
raised concerns which should be addressed on the subject. Before
addressing the matter, I’d like to further establish
the historic significance of Mwalimu Kabaila. In my correspondence
with him, he stated the following about some of the struggles
he faced in the movement:
I have sent for my FBI file and know they were following me
and reporting. Also, after the Black Power Conference in 1968,
in Philly, I and two other Simbas went to Newark to help in
organizing the Committee for a Unified Newark with the BCD
(Black Community Defense) which was based in Monclair and East
Orange. During my stay there, I mostly stayed at Amiri Baraka's
Spirit House. During that period the Italians in power in Newark
had the Spirit House shot up. When Rahh retaliated, the Italians
never messed with us again. WE were protected by the god. After
3 months, I returned to LA. The next day my parents called
me to say that the FBI had came to their house in NJ and asked
about my involvement in Us, saying we were for overthrow of
the government. What really scared my parents was that the
agents brought up my parents involvement in the Paul Robeson
movement back in 1946-47. I hadn't even known that, as my parents
never talked about it before. The FBI also went to my wife's
job, harassed her and tried to get her fired.
Kabaila’s voice must be part of the
dialog on Karenga and the US organization. As of yet, he
is not cited as much
as should be the case. Besides a few lines in a book or two,
I was not very aware of Kabaila or his contributions until
he released a brief but historically crucial open letter admonishing
Karenga on two key points and noting a lesson on leadership
on a third. These are the key points in his open letter:
1. He states that Karenga should be honest about the fall
of the US organization, not because members left him but due
to his imprisonment from criminal behavior with Deborah Jones
and Gail Davis.
2. He admonishes Karenga to come forward, atone, and apologize
for his treatment of women. Kabaila also mentions Karenga locking
up his first wife in a tiger cage and attempting to rape another
woman. He admonishes Karenga to atone for these wrongs against
Black women.
3. Kabaila argues that there are lessons on leadership from
this critical history that must be passed on to future generations.
I fully agree with Mwalimu Kabaila on the
three above points which he notes in his open letter. Karenga
should atone for
his wrongs and criminal behavior towards the sisters he has
mistreated and especially those he has assaulted. He should
apologize to the community and definitely to those he victimized.
I also agree with Kabaila regarding the matter being a lesson
of leadership for future generations. It takes courage for
a person to speak out against someone whom they held in such
high esteem. Kabaila was personally responsible for the safety
of Karenga as his bodyguard for years and would have given
his life to save Karenga’s. I applaud him for coming
forward in the name of Ma’at (Truth) to encourage Karenga
to have a higher standard for his own behavior and disclose
what happened.
Of course I disagree with Kabaila about the
significance of Kwanzaa to Afrikan people. He argues that
it has a role in
our liberation struggle and points to the millions of people
who celebrate the holiday. I argue it is a stepping stone at
most and must be altered to take out the Jewish influence or
left entirely. My above section on the Kwanzaa rituals explains
that reasoning in detail. Kabaila states that Kwanzaa was a
collective creation of the US organization and not just Karenga’s.
I have no argument with that matter, but it would very well
benefit the reputation of Kwanzaa if it was less associated
with Karenga and more associated with the US organization as
a collective. Right now, it is not.
On the other hand, Kabaila stops short of
calling Karenga a rat agent or rapist. As his bodyguard of
20 years, unless
he personally witnessed certain things, I’m not surprised
that Kabaila would not like to believe certain things happened.
While he says, “I concede he (Karenga) is a liar, a meglo-maniac,
a torturer, and a sexist” who also has exhibited “diabolical
behavior,” he does not say he was an agent or rapist.
In fact, he states unequivocally in his open letter that no
one in the inner circle of the US organization were agents.
Kabaila is also of the opinion that Elaine Brown was not an
agent in spite of the convincing letter of Geronimo Ji Jaga
Pratt laying out her actions as what he considers to be an
agent. This is also in spite of her own damning autobiography,
Taste of Power. This is another point where I part ways with
Kabaila, yet I must say I believe I understand his middle ground
stance. I think because Kabaila was an eyewitness to a lot
of the hurt from that era, he is very cautious with identifying
people as agents of COINTELPRO. Although the term itself seems
to annoy him, he has acknowledged in my correspondence with
him that he is convinced that agents did operate on the periphery
of US, not the inner-circle, and in the movement’s other
organizations. My take is that he feels we should be focused
on the struggle ahead for our people instead of seeking out
evidence of agent activity from the past. While this is an
admirable middle ground stance, agents did exist in the US
organization, the Black Panther Party, and every other organization
worth any note in the 60s and 70s. That is why I agree with
him on his major points in his open letter. Disclosure of wrongs
done may begin healing some wounds that time has not. Agents
need to disclose their activity as well, like Earl Anthony
and Louis Tackwood who also disclosed information about Karenga.
On Kabaila’s third point, regarding leadership lessons
for future generations, equally I’d argue can only be
enhanced with knowing who worked as COINTELPRO agents and who
did not. Although Kabaila was his personal bodyguard, Karenga
had time for meetings with Tackwood or other agents outside
of Kabaila’s presence. The FBI would have considered
Kabaila a threat if he was uncompromising and couldn’t
offer them anything new that they could already get from Karenga,
a much more valuable risk. History has shown that Kabalia was
not an agent. Of course, Ji Jaga was simply not around Karenga
enough to establish that he was or wasn’t an agent.
Kabaila takes his admirable middle ground
of reconciliation on these matters. While he admonishes Karenga
to come forward
for his wrongs, he also does not say that Karenga raped Davis
and Jones noting they didn’t testify about rape then
or say anything of it since. That however is not sufficient
evidence that the crime didn’t happen. Kabaila does say
that the women were held for three weeks and not 2 days as
is widely believed from court testimony. However, the court
transcripts have miraculously disappeared. My argument has
been that the women were raped and threatened or persuaded
to only admit to torture and kidnap over two days instead of
three weeks which would result in a shorter sentence for Karenga.
How could he get away with a short sentence for such heinous
crimes? How could he not have rape charges brought against
him and have what was a three week hostage/torture situation
turn into 2 days? Karenga was found guilty on only two counts
of felonious assault and one count of false imprisonment. That
would not have happened if the testimony of 3 weeks kidnap
and torture would have entered the court. How could he get
away with that unless he was an agent supported by the FBI’s
COINTELPRO as reported by former agents? There are others questions
as well which point to Karenga being a protected FBI agent.
For instance, Kabaila’s letter establishes even more
so a pattern of sick and depraved behavior by Karenga. Anyone
as sick as Karnega would have no problem with also being an
agent against a movement in which he was supposedly a leader.
Why would the court transcripts come up missing? Why would
the transcripts disappear like smoke into thin air? I smell
a rat! They have been deleted from the pages of history never
to be seen again. How often do you hear of court documents
coming up missing in which you have the graphic statements
of victims?
We do have the transcripts of the sentencing
hearing and they paint Karenga as a mad man capable of anything.
During
his sentencing, a psychiatric report read that he was delusional,
paranoid and schizophrenic, experiencing hallucinations, and
talked to his blanket and imaginary people in his cell. After
serving time in prison from 1971 to 1975, Karenga popped up
again as the Chairman of the Black Studies Department at California
State University of Long Beach in 1979. Was he a reformed criminal?
Was he still an agent? Many believe that his position at California
State University was a set up by the FBI for Karenga to further
manipulate the Black Power Movement away from radicalism. Many
believe that the promotion of Kwanzaa was for the same reason.
On December 24th, 1971, after Karenga was sent to prison, the
New York Times ran an article on Kwanzaa but didn’t mention
Karenga’s background or that he was in prison while the
ink was drying on the pages. Other articles would come out
of the New York Times and because of the newspaper’s
reputation; other papers would pick it up across the country.
The New York Times has long been suspected of promoting government
propaganda to the masses of country. This 1971 endorsement
of Kwanzaa by the New York Times begs to differ with the idea
of an initial grassroots spread of the holiday. Questions are
raised especially because Karenga was in prison at the time
and no mention was made of that fact.
We have the confessions of former agents who
state that Karenga was an agent. Was he a man of horrible
character? We have one
of the most qualified people, his bodyguard of 20 years, to
affirm that he was a man of horrible character and had many
things for which to atone. Was the holiday a fraud? I say yes
for all of the reasons cited above. It may be salvageable to
have some respect for its diehard participants if the Jewish
influence is taken out. Was Karenga a rapist? I think all evidence
points to that as I have cited. I will close with a quote of
Brandon Stewart’s article The Story of Ron Karenga: Kwanzaa’s
Founder detailing some of the torture the women endured. You
be the judge:
It is not the creation of Kwanzaa, however,
that is Karenga’s
most controversial part of his history. In 1971, Karenga was
convicted of kidnapping and torturing two women from his US
Organization. He was sentenced to one to ten years in prison.
After obtaining the original Los Angeles Times
articles from this time period, the case appears no less
bizarre. During
the trial, Deborah Jones described the “brutal physical
abuse inflicted on her and another 20-year old woman (Gail
Davis) by Ron Karenga and three of his followers because they
were suspected of poisoning Karenga.” Jones testified
in graphic detail how she and Davis “were whipped with
an electrical cord and beaten with a karate baton after being
ordered to remove their clothes.” She further testified
that “a hot soldering iron was placed in Miss Davis’ mouth
and placed against Miss Davis’ face and that one of her
own large toes was tightened in a vice.” According to
the article, “Karenga, head [and founder] of the US organization,
and others also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths.” That
last bit was added by Karenga “who was upset because
she [Jones] would not cry.” The reason behind the abuse
was apparently because Karenga feared that the two women had
placed “crystals” in his food that would kill him.
According to damning testimony by his wife, Brenda Lorraine
Karenga, “she heard him tell the victims that he wanted
them to reveal where they were hiding the ‘poison’.” She
further testified that she “heard screams and yells coming
from the garage where the defendants were holding Deborah Jones
and Gail Davis and noises which sounded like someone was being
whipped.” The Times reported that during the trial that “scars
from the cuts on [Jones’] back were shown to members
of the jury” and that Jones testified that “Karenga
finally let them go, but only after threatening to shoot them
in the hands.”
In a very bizarre testimony, Karenga attempted
to defend himself by claiming that he last saw the women
leave his Inglewood,
CA home “to find other lodging” and that they “appeared
healthy looking” when they left. Furthermore, he testified
that “he did not know why his wife testified against
him” and that his wife and children had not fled to Virginia
to get away from him, but rather he had sent his wife and children
away for “rest and recuperation”. “If he
had known there was any violence within US, such as the alleged
beating of the two women, he would have stopped it,” wrote
the Times reporter, “adding [the US Organization] was
against violence.”
Conclusion and Considerations
I wish to state here that I don’t condemn anyone for
whatever celebrations or religions they practice which they
feel are good for their families or themselves. However, I
believe as Afrikan people we desperately need to have more
serious consideration of the culture and cultural values we
transmit to our children. I can have a sensible disagreement
with anyone on any number of topics. My argument, where I stand,
is that people must be informed about their beliefs and practices.
Often when people are informed, they may change their minds – some
may not. My purpose is to educate and give people information
to make insightful judgments and decisions. That should be
a stance of the Afrikan-Conscious movement. Question everything
and leave no stones unturned. We have to build a sound Afrikan
worldview in the future and learn from the past. We will not
do this with being so politically correct that we ignore ugly
facts about our past and attempt to teach these inaccurate
and sanitized versions of historical events.
Maulana Karenga has haunting ghosts that will
not leave him, and shouldn’t leave him. He has committed some treacherous
acts against his people, against women. He was an FBI COINTELPRO
agent. He concocted a holiday that is not authentic and should
have some critical analysis. He has done some research of value
which is widely read and cited by many in the Afrikan-Centered
movement. That is to his credit, however, for many his past
isn’t excusable – especially without disclosure.
To some it may be, to others not so. To attempt to hide that
past and create a sanitized version of history because some
believe we have a deficit of leadership is sadly wrong. It
is equally wrong to avoid questioning the Jewish influence
copied into Kwanzaa because it is awkward to acknowledge that
we are copying a Jewish tradition. If people celebrate the
holiday or not, that is individual choice. Our responsibility
is to inform and educate to raise consciousness and not avoid
the ugly past or be silenced by those who are afraid of the
exposure of an un-sanitized history.
During that cold time of the year when others
are breaking their bank accounts, and lighting daily candles,
I myself fast,
pray, and meditate with the winter solstice as I do with the
turn of each season. I’m not saying that my practice
is the only practice. However, no one should feel less than
Afrikan/Black because they choose not to celebrate Kwanzaa,
especially with the documented information on Karenga. We celebrate
traditions simply because of our geographical location regardless
of the cultural meaning to our people. That means we are not
owners of our cultural worldview.
We celebrate the European conquest, enslavement,
and genocide of Natives and Afrikans on the Fourth of July,
Thanksgiving
Day, and Columbus Day. We celebrate ghosts of the dead in Halloween
and send our children to the houses of strangers to get treats,
but tell them the rest of the year don’t talk to strangers.
We celebrate our religious enslavement with Christmas. We get
drunk during the European New Year. The New Year for the Romans,
Celts, and other Europeans was around the winter solstice -
dead of winter, coldest time of year, most lifeless time of
the year. In KMT (Ancient Egypt) and along the Nile into Kush,
the New Year (Wp Rnpt, another time of fasting, prayer, and
meditation for me) was during the Summer Solstice with the
rise of Spdt (Sirius) - the height of summer, warmest time
of the year, everything in full bloom.
The Afrikan world offers a number of authentic
and praiseworthy celebrations throughout the year from various
countries which
we may consider. Zumbi Day of Brazil on November 20th is a
day to honor our revolutionary ancestor and his warrior comrades
who set up maroon camps called Quilombos and fought slavery.
Haiti’s Revolutionary Independence Day on January 1st
is a day to honor our revolutionary ancestors who defeated
Napoleon and set up a free nation in Haiti in 1804. Nanny Day
in October honors the Queen Mother, maroon Obeah priestess
who successfully fought slavery in Jamaica and established
Nanny Town. Marcus Garvey Day which should be global on August
17th honors the birth of one of the most inspirational Pan-Afrikan
leaders of the 19th century. Independence celebrations throughout
Afrika which should remind us of the continued need to struggle
against modern neo-colonialism should be honored. These are
all some examples of authentic celebration we should be informed
about as Afrikan people. I can even include Afrikan History
Month in the mix. However, I think a deeper, more cultural
and spiritual significance should be given to the occasion.
Likewise, I think we must definitely honor our history and
culture year round. The New Yam festivals of Ghana, Nigeria,
Benin, and other West Afrikan nations are authentic Afrikan
Spiritual and cultural celebrations that honored our ancestors
and deities before the coming of foreign traditions. There
are various authentic, Afrikan annual festivals around the
world. We have neither a shortage of leaders, nor a shortage
of authentic holidays/holydays.
