Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene rants against ‘fake religion’ Kwanzaa as Black holiday begins
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene denounced Kwanzaa as a “fake religion” just as millions of Black people start to celebrate the weeklong holiday.
The far-right Georgia lawmaker berated the national College Republicans for “pandering and BS” after the GOP group tweeted a seemingly innocuous happy holiday message.
“Stop. It’s a fake religion created by a psychopath,” Greene said. “People are tired of pandering and BS.”
She was apparently deriding Kwanzaa founder Prof. Maulana Karenga, who was convicted of felony assault in the 1960s in what he says was a politically motivated prosecution spurred by his involvement in Black nationalist politics.
Greene suggested that the College Republicans should avoid political correctness if it wants to galvanize the conservative base of the GOP.
“You aren’t bringing in new voters, you are turning them away,” she added.
The College Republicans, which bills itself as a home for young conservatives, did not directly respond to Greene’s criticism about the tweet, which misspelled the name of the holiday as “Kwanza.”
On Monday, the GOP group instead retweeted a “happy Kwanzaa to all those celebrating” message from her fellow right-wing Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida.
It also sought to show that other Republicans feel the same by retweeting past Kwanzaa messages from the national GOP and state parties in Ohio and Texas — as well as former President Donald Trump’s tweet of his own “Happy Kwanzaa” message early in his administration.
Greene notably did not criticize her political hero for the greeting despite finding fault with others.
Some Republican groups seek to highlight putative Republican values like personal responsibility, faith and prosperity to reach out to traditionally GOP-skeptical groups like Blacks, Latinos, gays and Jews.
But hardcore white Christian conservatives like Greene consider such outreach amounts to the watering down of their message to the base of GOP voters.
Kwanzaaa, which lasts for seven days, is a holiday festival, not a religion as Greene claims.
It was created in 1966 as a way to allow Black people worldwide to celebrate their common African roots. It includes days to celebrate concepts like unity, responsibility and self-determination.
Millions celebrate it alongside other end-of-year holidays like Christmas and Chanukah.
