Three Inconvenient Christmas Stories

What follows are three little noted Christmas stories, all posted on Consortiumnew.com. The first regards a battle fought on Christmas that reminds us how history is written by the victors.  What we think we know is often suspect.  The second tells how Christmas was transformed by from a brawling and rowdy celebration into one focused on children and charity for all.  The third article discusses how Christmas is once again being transformed into right wing propaganda.  


Regardless of which holiday traditions you celebrate, or whether this is even a time of celebration for you, I wish you all peace and joy, now and in the year to come.  As 2012 approaches I see hopeful signs of positive changes and a growing longing for the truths that will one day reunite us.

A Black/Indian Victory for Freedom

December 19, 2011

History, as we receive it, is usually the narrative of the victors over the vanquished – what those in power want us to think. But the truth can sometimes be ascertained, as William Loren Katz demonstrates in this story of resistance by an alliance of Africans and Native Americans against the U.S. military

http://bit.ly/uneHPV

What Christmas Owes to Abolitionists

December 23, 2011

From the Archive: In the pre-Civil War years of the United States, Abolitionists and other social reformers transformed Christmas into a season for addressing the abuses of slavery and mistreatment of children, creating symbols and traditions that endured, writes William Loren Katz.

Read it here
http://bit.ly/tJ6Y5d

Meaning of the War Over Christmas

December 20, 2011

From the Archive: It’s Christmastime again, so just as families pull their tree ornaments and lawn decorations out of storage, Fox News and other right-wing media outlets dust off their annual outrage over the so-called “war on Christmas,” which is just as phony now as it was when Robert Parry addressed the topic in 2005.

http://bit.ly/tGg5T4