Happy Thanksgiving, America.
That once innocent sentiment has become bitterly controversial as our society has evolved.
Traditionally, this occasion celebrates the white man's deceptive friendship with the indigenous population - ending of course in two centuries of imperialism and near genocidal war. To the 'victors' it is a time of romantic reflection on a first meeting between two cultures. To the native American, it is a remembrance of sorrow.
For all, it is a time to reflect. So, what have we to be thankful for, as a nation, on this Thanksgiving?
This past year, we've seen American troops withdraw from Afghanistan, only to be replaced with lightning-swift rapidity by incoming Taliban forces.
Are we to feel thankful that no more American blood is to be spilled on a country we occupied for 20 years? Or, sorrowful for the tyranny and brutality against women, minorities and dissidents sure to come? Or, for the scores of American dead sacrificed in a war that proved as futile - and, twice as long - as our involvement in Vietnam?
Both, perhaps.
The sorrow, for us, lies perhaps not in our idealistic albeit naive belief in fighting the good fight for freedom, but in our apparent refusal to learn the historic lesson that freedom must be won by the oppressed, not handed to them by the liberator (or, occupier posing as liberator.)
Are we to be thankful that three self-appointed racist vigilantes who killed an innocent man have been justly convicted? Or, sorrowful that a 17-year-old all-American boy-next-door can legally obtain a military-grade assault rifle, travel across two state lines and kill two unarmed men exercising their right of political protest all in the name of self-defense?
Both, perhaps.
The sorrow perhaps lies not in the fact that our criminal justice system still ocassionally works - but, in the fact that the 2nd Amendment - which clearly refers to a well-regulated militia, and the collective right of the people to bear arms in upholding national sovereignty - has been woefully twisted and distorted by right-wing judges into a sacred right of the individual to bear arms against his neighbor, developing in tandem with the principle of "stand your ground" which seems designed to encourage vigilantism over law and order. And, over free speech. How many more "good American" white vigilantes armed with automatic weapons can we expect to see turn up at the next demonstrations against racist police brutality in the name of self-defense? How many armed protestors can we expect to see in response? And, is this the path to ultimate dissolution of social cohesion?
Are we to be thankful that the mad talk of wall-building is over? Or, sorrowful that refugees are still being driven in droves from our borders?
I vote sorrowful.
The hope for a better, more compassionate approach to those yearning for safe haven and freedom - the American ideal - is not being realized. Not here, in the land of the free, the shining beacon of hope - or, in Europe. On both sides of the Atlantic, tides of refugees are being turned away, with no solution in sight. In a world where the effects of climate change are being felt more painfully every day - this can only get worse before it gets better.
And, in addition to society failing refugees from abroad - it is also failing to address the plight of the homeless right here inside our borders. Tent cities may be torn down and refugees may be turned away, but people have to go somewhere. If the causes of international refugees and homelessness are not effectively addressed, what is the inevitable outcome as the storms and floods and wildfires and wars continue? What is society ultimately to do with all these displaced people? Slavery? Extermination camps?
On a holiday meant - however hypocritically - to celebrate different cultures coming together in friendship, our country seems to have come full circle to division and alienation. The police - and, to a growing extent, the white civilian population - seem to see African Americans as the new Indians, America itself as the new frontier. And, there's no second great Thanksgiving dinner on the horizon, it seems. Just automatic weapons.
And so...as we give thanks for family, friends and good fortune...let us seek ways to give back more than we take...to honor what this holiday is supposed to be about...in seeking common ground and common effort for a better tomorrow.
God of the pilgrims ... Great Spirit ... if you're there ... We need all the help we can get.
