Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, but it's an African one, and we must remove race and culture from the picture, too.

b/c you know . . . we're all just human beings

Kwanza is most certainly not an 'African one', you best Wikipedia that one, you are in for a bit of an education on the absolute stupidity of that 'holiday'.

You're right that Kwanzaa isn't an African holiday, any more than Christmas (for example) is a European holiday.

But I honestly don't understand why Kwanzaa is stupider than any other holiday (Christmas, for example).

While a some Europeans celebrate Christmas, kwanza isn't celebrated in Africa. It is an American made holiday.

I am PP who mentioned Africa. Kwanzaa is rooted in African tradition. So while it's NOT tied to any African nation specifically, it celebrates harvest feasts. completely NOT European-based

from the History Channel, as Wiki is not my thing . . .

http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/kwanzaa-history

Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, created Kwanzaa in 1966. After the Watts riots in Los Angeles, Dr. Karenga searched for ways to bring African-Americans together as a community. He founded US, a cultural organization, and started to research African “first fruit” (harvest) celebrations. Karenga combined aspects of several different harvest celebrations, such as those of the Ashanti and those of the Zulu, to form the basis of Kwanzaa.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/on-religious-holidays-montgomery-school-board-offers-a-lesson-in-intolerance/2014/11/13/d0b58c72-6b60-11e4-b053-65cea7903f2e_story.html

Did anyone read this article from the Wash Post? It's a really good sum-up.

"Those parents have been asking for years — without success — to have at least one of their two major holidays recognized. Then they realized that Montgomery schools will be closed on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, because it’s Yom Kippur. That happens to be the same day as Eid al-Adha.

So the Muslim parents asked the school to simply add the name of their holiday to the school calendar. Instead of saying, “Hmm, interesting,” the school board wigged out and voted to eliminate all names of religious holidays from the calendar."

Again, I'm an American, a Muslim, a mom, a room mother at my MCPS school, and a physician in this area. I feel like I serve my community every day. I am deeply saddened to see the hatred and ignorance on this thread,

I wonder if anyone would say these things to my face - or if, in the situation where I am helping their child's teacher - or helping them in a medical emergency - if at that moment, it's ok that I'm brown...

Frankly, no one cares if you are brown! we do care that many in your religion hate everyone else and would kill us in a heartbeat if given the opportunity-yu and I both know that if a bunch of Jews or Christians pulled this in the Mibble easwt they would be jailed or shot! That is the sad reality-the Muslims should be greatful they are living in our free country and not try to turn it into the same mess they fled from. Assimilate, or do your own thing and shut up is my motto. Dearborn Michigan is a disaster zone thanks to the US giving the Muslims too much power. We do not want to live in the Middle East just as much as you do not want to live there-we definitely do not want to turn our country into a model of Saudi Arabia!

You're wrong. You're wrong, You're wrong, You would find that in most muslim countries, even countries with a fair amount of extremism, which is NOT Islam (but may be a product of our American international policies of the past)), Christians and Jews and Hindus are respected and their holidays would be considered. I have tons of family in Pakistan - my cousin's school has Christmas off as "Christmas" to acknowledge the holiday of the minority Christian students.

So, my friend, try learning about the Muslim world from something beyond CNN/Fox news, which only sensationalize extremism.

My friend, my friend, let's please stop talking in personal anecdotes about your cousins' international school in Pakistan, my Chaldean ancestors and currently dispersed family would beg to differ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That being said, I think religious groups are better treated in countries with secular governments (as the US is supposed to be), and I don't think the US should go around comparing itself to governments based in religious laws and using them as a standard of measure. We expect better of ourselves.

This. Perfect!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, but it's an African one, and we must remove race and culture from the picture, too.

b/c you know . . . we're all just human beings

Kwanza is most certainly not an 'African one', you best Wikipedia that one, you are in for a bit of an education on the absolute stupidity of that 'holiday'.

You're right that Kwanzaa isn't an African holiday, any more than Christmas (for example) is a European holiday.

But I honestly don't understand why Kwanzaa is stupider than any other holiday (Christmas, for example).

While a some Europeans celebrate Christmas, kwanza isn't celebrated in Africa. It is an American made holiday.

Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, created Kwanzaa in 1966. After the Watts riots in Los Angeles, Dr. Karenga searched for ways to bring African-Americans together as a community. He founded US, a cultural organization, and started to research African “first fruit” (harvest) celebrations. Karenga combined aspects of several different harvest celebrations, such as those of the Ashanti and those of the Zulu, to form the basis of Kwanzaa.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, but it's an African one, and we must remove race and culture from the picture, too.

b/c you know . . . we're all just human beings

Kwanza is most certainly not an 'African one', you best Wikipedia that one, you are in for a bit of an education on the absolute stupidity of that 'holiday'.

You're right that Kwanzaa isn't an African holiday, any more than Christmas (for example) is a European holiday.

But I honestly don't understand why Kwanzaa is stupider than any other holiday (Christmas, for example).

Too lazy to do you homework eh…??

Because Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus which is considered by many an event of religious significance and is most holy to them.

Kwanzaa was fabricated by Ronald Everett an Anti-American ‘cultural nationalist’ Marxist who had his thugs murder two dissenting Panthers in 1969. He then went on to kidnap, strip, whip and beat Deborah Jones and Gail Davis for perceived offenses to the cultural-nationalist cause. Then came the soldering iron. The torture went on for two days and finally they were released. In 1971 the law finally caught up with Ron and off to prison he went. Fast forward to 1998, Ebony magazine brought Kwanza mainstream by featuring its creator and we learn Ron created it to “celebrate ‘us’ as opposed to our oppressors” (from the man who had two men killed and tortured two naked women for two days mind you). And thus we have Kwanzaa. Later in a WaPo interview Ron offers a moment of clarity regarding Kwanzaa; “People think its African, but it’s not. I came up with Kwanzaa because 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 would be partying.”

Do you see the difference now??

Anonymous wrote:Why stop at religious holidays? What aboout Thanksgiving - can I be offended because I am vegetarian? 4th of July? MLK?

I am Italian - should I complain that some of our not so popular, but still important religious holidays aren't on the calendar?

What was so great about the US was the melting pot that it was. Now it has gotten so ridiculous with trying to accomodate everyone's personal preferences. Why not hire some more Muslin, Jewish, etc teachers and keep school open when it is typically closed for Christmas and Easter? Give them the 10 days to take during their religious celebrations. Because right now, it is all about making sure you have a religious voice and not about what makes the most sense. Pretty soon we will be dealing with a PTO system where all students are allotted a certain amount of days of each year for religious purposes.

I think it is a ridiculous decision based on fear. We are looking at a new middle east.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do you see the difference now??

Nope, still don't. Christmas is a holiday that was made up many hundreds of years ago. Kwanzaa is a holiday that was made up a few decades ago. They're both made-up holidays.

Anonymous wrote:

Frankly, no one cares if you are brown! we do care that many in your religion hate everyone else and would kill us in a heartbeat if given the opportunity-yu and I both know that if a bunch of Jews or Christians pulled this in the Mibble easwt they would be jailed or shot! That is the sad reality-the Muslims should be greatful they are living in our free country and not try to turn it into the same mess they fled from. Assimilate, or do your own thing and shut up is my motto. Dearborn Michigan is a disaster zone thanks to the US giving the Muslims too much power. We do not want to live in the Middle East just as much as you do not want to live there-we definitely do not want to turn our country into a model of Saudi Arabia!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/on-religious-holidays-montgomery-school-board-offers-a-lesson-in-intolerance/2014/11/13/d0b58c72-6b60-11e4-b053-65cea7903f2e_story.html

Did anyone read this article from the Wash Post? It's a really good sum-up.

"Those parents have been asking for years — without success — to have at least one of their two major holidays recognized. Then they realized that Montgomery schools will be closed on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, because it’s Yom Kippur. That happens to be the same day as Eid al-Adha.

So the Muslim parents asked the school to simply add the name of their holiday to the school calendar. Instead of saying, “Hmm, interesting,” the school board wigged out and voted to eliminate all names of religious holidays from the calendar."

Again, I'm an American, a Muslim, a mom, a room mother at my MCPS school, and a physician in this area. I feel like I serve my community every day. I am deeply saddened to see the hatred and ignorance on this thread,

I wonder if anyone would say these things to my face - or if, in the situation where I am helping their child's teacher - or helping them in a medical emergency - if at that moment, it's ok that I'm brown...

Frankly, no one cares if you are brown! we do care that many in your religion hate everyone else and would kill us in a heartbeat if given the opportunity-yu and I both know that if a bunch of Jews or Christians pulled this in the Mibble easwt they would be jailed or shot! That is the sad reality-the Muslims should be greatful they are living in our free country and not try to turn it into the same mess they fled from. Assimilate, or do your own thing and shut up is my motto. Dearborn Michigan is a disaster zone thanks to the US giving the Muslims too much power. We do not want to live in the Middle East just as much as you do not want to live there-we definitely do not want to turn our country into a model of Saudi Arabia!

You're wrong. You're wrong, You're wrong, You would find that in most muslim countries, even countries with a fair amount of extremism, which is NOT Islam (but may be a product of our American international policies of the past)), Christians and Jews and Hindus are respected and their holidays would be considered. I have tons of family in Pakistan - my cousin's school has Christmas off as "Christmas" to acknowledge the holiday of the minority Christian students.

So, my friend, try learning about the Muslim world from something beyond CNN/Fox news, which only sensationalize extremism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fall mini break-winter break-spring break and summer break-that is what is should be called. Or just call it administrative days. Even if they did this (and they sort of did), the Muslims will still find something to complain about-they are more entitled than the snobs of Bethesda.

Guess what, this is America! Some of those Bethesda snobs ARE Muslim.


Anyway, the mini-break/spring break/etc idea won't work. And that's not because of a sense of entitlement. The issue is that the Islamic calendar lunar and Eid moves up about 10-11 days each year. Eid-al-Adha is currently in the Fall and slowly moving into the summer.

and doubly entitled!

Lol okay. Thanks for turning every attempt I made to have an actual discussion about the issue into a joke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fall mini break-winter break-spring break and summer break-that is what is should be called. Or just call it administrative days. Even if they did this (and they sort of did), the Muslims will still find something to complain about-they are more entitled than the snobs of Bethesda.

Guess what, this is America! Some of those Bethesda snobs ARE Muslim.


Anyway, the mini-break/spring break/etc idea won't work. And that's not because of a sense of entitlement. The issue is that the Islamic calendar lunar and Eid moves up about 10-11 days each year. Eid-al-Adha is currently in the Fall and slowly moving into the summer.

and doubly entitled!