
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 29, 1993                   TAG: 9312290092
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Short

WHITES ASKED TO LEAVE BOSTON KWANZAA EVENT

Discrimination or cultural preservation? That was the question after the white mother of an interracial child was asked to leave a Kwanzaa celebration.

Arthur Hardy's mother, Marie Doubleday, left the celebration at the Roxbury Boys and Girls Club on Sunday night. Several white journalists also were asked to leave.

"The spirit of Kwanzaa was ruined that night, as far as I was concerned," Hardy, 13, said Tuesday. His father, who was black, died 10 years ago.

Sadiki Kambon, chairman of the Community Kwanzaa Committee, said the committee has a long-standing policy of asking - not telling - whites to leave.

"We've had a tradition of it being an all-African event for people of color. We have never told any white person they could not attend," Kambon said. "We're asking you to respect our tradition."

Political scientist Maulana Ron Karenga invented Kwanzaa in 1966 hoping to unite the black community. It is now celebrated by about 18 million people worldwide.

by CNB