Chris Thomas and Kwanzaa

Just saw on Fox News that our local Christmas/Kwanzaa flap has made their "War on Christmas" meme.

Local politician Chris Thomas tried to stop a Kwanzaa celebration scheduled to be held in a .gov facility, ostensibly because he said it was a religious celebration. He was unsuccessful, because Kwanzaa isn't a religious celebration, it's cultural.

Had he focused on the taxpayer dollars being spent on this, he might have had more luck.

Kwanzaa isn't my cup of tea. Maybe because I'm not black, which I'm sure many would say. But, it doesn't seem valid to me. Started in the '60's during the Black Freedom Movement, its purpose, in my opinion, is to divide instead of unite.

Black people in America are no more African than I am Irish. Admittedly, I have some cultural ties, but it mainly consists of eating corned beef and cabbage on St Patrick's Day.

Black Americans, however, have no such ties. Due to the circumstances of their arrival to this continent, all cultural heritage was purposefully denied to them. This is a crime of the highest order, yes. But what it does is to begin a new culture, one grounded strictly in America.

Like the late FAMU professor Dr. James Eaton (whom I've met) liked to say; "Black History is the History or America".

That's very true, it's too bad more folks don't get it.

Don't get me wrong, if Kwanzaa's your thing, go for it. Anything that keeps people out of clock towers is a good thing, in my book.

But I have to wonder, should the taxpayers be paying for it?