Got the Christmas Blues?
. ,:
y
/
w appeal filed
for Maurie Carter
ROSS, For one
inm te of the ichigan pri n
y tern, Chri tma came early
thi year.
urice Carter ju t hope
that the appeal fil d on his
half la t month ith the i h­
igan Court of Appeal do sn't
fall th w y of many Christm s
gift - 10 t shortly after th
h liday .
Carter' troubl began on
another Chri tma - Christma
of 1973.
A Benton Harbor police offi­
cer, Thomas Schadler and his
wife ere opping in down­
to n Benton Harbor on De .
21, 1973. They entered the
Harbor ig Shop where a lone
male had been pe tering the
cl r for four or five minutes
prior to the Sch dlers' entrance.
The gunman let 100 with
a volley of shot from a small
hand gun held directly at the
�l�ef' h
officer ended up in the hospi­
tal miraculously not hurt badly
enough to tay more than two
Continued on Pa e 10
ries
urice Carter
been battlin to clear
nam of fel n nviction
he e r he did not commit.
lie detector test dminis­
ter d by C during it film­
in earlier thi year bears Car­
t r ut.
belp on
Page 4
2St
ofth ir
nd Jo
HU
AA
ZA
y
By Henry Duvall
Howard News Service
As many American wrap up
their Christmas Day observance ,
Kwanzaa is just getting under
way in the homes of many Black
Americans.
A product of the 1960's
Black awarene move men t,
Kwanzaa has urvived and
grown. Today, it is belived
that veral million Americans
embrace the spirit of Kwanzaa,
a cultural expre ion to reaffirm
African heritage.
The Afro-Am rican holiday'S
name derives from the Swahili
word, kwanza, which mean
'first". It i ob rved for even
day -Dec. 26 to Jan. I-based
on the African tr dition of cele­
brating the harves of the first
fruits.
"Whil it' not African, it
comes out of an African envir­
onment:' y Dr. Robert J.
Cumming , director of Howard
University' African Studie and
Research Program. "Kwanzaa
grew out of the knowledge of
African cultural life."
One of the values of Kwan-
zaa, Cummings emphasize is
that it eek to counteract the
commercial a pect of Christmas.
Per onally made gifts re en­
couraged in the celebration of
Kwanzaa.
Kwanzaa was introduced in
1966 by Black activist and·
educator Dr. Maulana renga,
executive director of the Insti­
tute of Pan-African Studies in
Los Angeles. "Kwanzaa is not a
religious holiday. It's cultural
holiday,' Karenga maintain.
He believe some seven mil­
lion Blac Americans and others
today celebrate Kwanzaa, while
other sources estimate three to
five million ..
K wanz a is basically ob erved
in urban areas by a cro s- ction
of people of different reJigions
class and age.
ore people celebrate Kwan­
zaa in ew York, Lo Angeles,
Chicago and ewark, .J., than
in any other major cities, say
Karenga, who is also a visiting
profe or of fro-American stu­
dies at San Diego State Univer-
ity nd th University of ali­
fornia-Riverside.
"It ha moved more and more
into the main tream of Black
family life," stre es thel­
bert ille r, director of the
Howard University Afro-Amer­
ican Re ource Center.
Karenga pints out that
K nzaa demonstration and
ob ervances are even growing in
the nation s public chools. Thi
is becau of the Adem nd of
cultural plurali m" that each
American ethnic group be repre­
sented by its own culture
language and holiday.
Each of the seven day of
Kwanza is dedicated, r pee-
tively, to th principle of
umoja unity), ujichaguli If-
determination , ujima collective
work and responsibility , uj rna
(cooper tiv economic), nia
(purpo ), kuumba creativity
and irnani (faith).
On each of the d y of ob­
servance, there are family or
community gathering, or rit-
Contin 3
