The Federal Aviation Administration likes to remind flight instructors that it is possible to control what one says, but not what the recipient of a communication hears.
The Palm Beach Public Schools prepared a helpful two-page document comparing the multi-day candle-oriented holidays of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. The local first graders were sentenced to read this document and answer questions about it. Our own first grader was asked by the teacher what the difference was between Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. His answer: “Kwanzaa is for Black people and Hanukkah is for white people.” (When he was at dinner recounting the interaction, I corrected this misinformation faster than a Hunter Biden fan working at Twitter. I cued up a Sammy Davis Jr. song and explained that people of any race could convert to Judaism.)
Shutterfly doesn’t seem to offer a tri-fold holiday card with Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year. So I’ve been adding a Kwanzaa stamp to the holiday cards that I mail to friends in Maskachusetts and California:
Happy Last Day of Kwanzaa to all of my readers who celebrate. And, for readers who aren’t following the Lunar New Year, Happy New Year!… please share your resolutions.
My own resolution? Threatened by SARS-CoV-2, a virus that attacks the obese, I’m going to try to eat more healthful and nutritious meals, as promoted by official scientists at the USDA. For example, pizza topped with extra cheese and supported by a cheese-stuffed crust:
- some Wikipedia material not provided to the first grade class… Maulana Karenga: “… best known as the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of Kwanzaa. … he was convicted of felony assault, torture, and false imprisonment of women … He currently chairs the Africana Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach”
- Hanukkah commemorates a revolt against tax rates that we would call “low”
The Sammy Davis Jr. thing was clever but perhaps more relevant is that about 170,000 black Jews (Ethiopians) live in Israel, descendants of one of the Tribes, and notwithstanding being cut off from the rest continued to practice Judaism for many centuries until they arrived in Israel. You could show your kid a map and show him where Israel and Ethiopia are etc. You could tell him about how a large number walked and how about 4,000 were murdered on the way. Then you could take the kid to the Mt. Herzl cemetery in Israel to see the monument to the memory of those people. Just a thought.
The Jews control Hollywood!