How do you feel about thanksgiving?
What if the Thanksgiving holiday could be transformed to represent a time, every year, to restore justice, healing and reconciliation to our American history of genocide and slavery?
We must come to terms with the unbearable elephant in the room - Thanksgiving is a holiday that is meant to sweep the genocidal history of our country under the rug.
I struggle to put words to this horribly bitter reality.
When I was too young to be aware of the symbolic meaning and historical context of Thanksgiving, it meant driving to my uncle and aunt’s, playing a football game on the street, eating abundantly and watching movies on their big-screen TV.
As I’ve grown up, this tradition remains in my life - my family expects me, and now, my wife and baby boy, to show up and visit with our family. So I do. And, it’s wonderful to see them. But, it’s becoming harder and harder for me to go along with the script of turkey, pumpkin pie, and joyous celebration with family.
Over the last fifteen years, as I’ve become more devoted to the spiritual wisdom of indigineous practice, culture and ceremony, I can no longer pretend that Thanksgiving is anything more than a public relations campaign to help mainstream America forget how we came to live in our homes and play in our backyards - our ancestors stole this land and brutalized the First Nations people who cared for Turtle Island, for generations upon generations.
While it is beautiful to see family every year, and celebrate how we are growing up, as I step more fully into my role in our Alliance for a Viable Future, I am finding myself bound to a different set of commitments that open pathways to new traditions for the future.
Last year, as I was scooping stuffing and cranberry sauce onto my plate, I thought, “ya know, I should really be fasting on this day, not stuffing my face.” But, until now, the gravitational field of family tradition - coming together - has kept me going back.
Next year I would like to commit to fasting on Thanksgiving, in community. I am tentative to put these words into writing - doing so, holds me accountable for moving forward with this new tradition.
I sense that Thanksgiving also needs to integrate a tradition of mourning the spilt blood that has been shed - especially here, in the Northeastern United States, where first contact happened. While this new way of “celebrating” thanksgiving will not be “fun,” I think about it being more “joyous” because it will feel more whole and aligned with values of truth-telling, restorative justice and reconciliation.
I sense that a new approach to the Thanksgiving holiday could open up new conversations that lead us towards a new paradigm of healing the social climate of our country. From a whole-systems perspective, our social climate and the climate change crisis of global warming are intricately linked.
To read more about our approach to restorative justice with the First Nations of the United States, you are welcome to read White Men & Native America: An Unlikely Alliance, published in the Kosmos Online Journal. You are also welcome to attend this Webinar conversation on January 15th: Jewish Men and White Privilege: What Could Mensches Do?. And, please leave a comment to share your thoughts and feelings about this topic. We all have thought leadership to contribute to this topic, as we are all learning how to heal and transform our complex history into a future that we are proud to share with our children.