Who invented Kwanzaa?

Wikipedia tells us that Kwanzaa was conceived as a synthesis of African festivities, by one Maulana Karenga:

Sounds like a pretty straightforward, informative, innocent article, no?

Well, here's what Wikipedia won't immediately tell you about the creator of Kwanzaa:

So, the creator of Kwanzaa is originally named Ronald Everett.  Not only did he adopt a fictional name, he also made a fictional holiday "from black people", and a few years down the road he became a brutal women torturer (archive) (sadly, this activity was not fictional). 

“Deborah Jones, who once was given the Swahili title of an African queen, said she and Gail Davis were whipped with an electrical cord and beaten with a karate baton after being ordered to remove their clothes,” a Los Angeles Times article reports.

[...]

“The victims said they were living at Karenga’s home when Karenga accused them of trying to kill him by placing ‘crystals’ in his food and water and in various areas of his house.”

What a stunning jewel of a human being!  You'd think a world-class encyclopedia entrusted to provide relevant info — rather than, say, cultural propaganda — would remember to note this character fact  in a visible spot, no?

You may wonder, why is this even important?  It's important because those who create and normalize our social  rites and mythology determine our culture — and our culture is upstream of nearly every important decision and choice our society takes.   Stewardship of our cultural mythology is too important to leave to monsters.  Put it simply: who would celebrate a holiday made up by (let's say) a serial killer, if they knew that the creator was in fact a serial killer?  The question "do you celebrate a rapist's made-up holiday?" is never going to be answered (by decent people) with a "of course, naturally!"

And this is why it's relevant that Wikipedia — as well as every other medium which writes positively of Kwanzaa — deliberately excludes this information from every relevant place where it should be prominently featured.  By instigating ignorance of this knowledge, they rob you of the chance to make important decisions — in this case, the decision is whether you, through your own actions, legitimate the activities of a monster or not.

Curious omissions of important facts are forms of deception and manipulation too.  Remember: oftentimes, what you're not being told responds to agendas, and is often more important than what you're told.

Merry Christmas!

¹ An archive for the news article is available here.