OP-ED: Kwanzaa 2006: First Shots Fired

The moderate-conservative Republican blogger opines: "This year I have decided to be a little bit sweeter in my defenses of Kwanzaa. So I'm basically going to do a roundup for you so that you can sniff out the haters with a bit of facility. My basic response, which I haven't quite written up yet will be something to the effect that we should pray for people who feel the need to attack Kwanzaa. Maybe that will be my Kwanzaa prayer.....On the off chance that Mr. Minority [who criticizes Kwanzaa] is not beyond redemption let us take a moment to recall that the background and purpose of black consciousness movement was to devise a way for African Americans to break the Negro Church Monopoly. It's what people do who want to separate church and state. Kwanzaa was one of the most successful artifacts of the black consciousness movement. Now there may be some of you who remain convinced that having a black consciousness movement in and of itself is racist. I would politely remind you that the alternative is permanent dependence. Blackfolks, my family included, decide[d] it best to take care of our own in ways the black church hadn't and the rest of America wouldn't or couldn't. So be careful where you tread on that one. We're all better for it, and that's the truth."