Fwd: Thanks and Giving

[damali ayo]

Email family-

I am forwarding this thanks giving email from Matt Nelson, Senior Editor of my new environmental+social justice web portal, Black. Brown. Green. (dot com, of course).

Matt truly sums up so much of what needs to be said as we enter this "holiday."

Warmest thoughts this day and every day to you all,

damali

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To people who I give thanks everyday that I am blessed to know:

Thanksgiving still reminds me of being arrested 4 years ago while I was riding my bicycle. The reckless abuse of the power by law enforcement will continue throughout our lifetimes unless we stand up! Thankstaking Day also reminds me of the legacy of an abuse of power that has remained largely hidden from our society's consciousness.  I share the following with you again to honor our compassion and the love we have for our families.

Also, to honor the oppressed, the fallen, and the indigenous whose day this really is. Be well and please continue to treat each other with love and respect. - Matt Nelson

On Thanksgiving evening (11/27/03) at 9:10pm I was stopped by 4 police vehicles and no less than 5 officers, while riding my bicycle in a bike lane on the well-lit 2100 block of South KinnicKinnic in Milwaukee, WI. Then, I was questioned, harassed, handcuffed. My belongings were searched without my consent and I was not read my rights. I was denied my right to contact an attorney and detained, threatened, searched, photographed, fingerprinted, and placed in a holding cell against my will.  This was the cops' way of staying true to the historical truth of Thanksgiving . . . except they did not kill me or take my land, and for that, I give thanks.

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Excerpt from Thanksgiving or Thanks-taking?

By Ralph de Unamuno

Thanksgiving in the United States is a part of this tradition that celebrates the subjugation of non-Western people for colonial purposes. Its roots are more directly connected to the events that occurred in the Northeast in the year 1637, when 700 men, women, and children of the Pequot Tribe, gathered for their "Annual Green Corn Dance" in the area that is now

known as Groton, Connecticut.

While they were gathered in this place of meeting, they were surrounded and attacked by mercenaries of the English and Dutch. The Indigenous people were ordered from their ceremonial structures and as they came forth, they were shot down. The rest were burned alive in their homes. The next day, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared a day of Thanksgiving, thanking God that they had eliminated over 700 Pequots. Subsequently, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a Governor or President since was to honor that victory, thanking God that the "battle" had been won. The holiday on the 3rd Thursday of November we celebrate is in observation of that massacre and upholds this colonial mentality.

These are the true religious and political motivations that formulated the white supremacist mindset that was the foundations for the economic colonization of the Americas and its Native peoples.

How will you celebrate Thankstaking day?

Many Native People fast on Thankstaking in remembrance of those who were murdered in the process of the Western expansion of Europe in the Americas. In the Bay Area, Indigenous peoples from across the continent have gathered for many years to observe the day with a sunrise ceremony, organize by the International Indian Treaty Council on Alcatraz Island.

Starting at 4:30 AM, thousands of people take ferries from Pier 39 to the Island to participate in this ceremony; this is done to remember our ancestors and to reaffirm the ongoing struggles to resist Western colonization. Alcatraz is maybe a little far, and for others, missing dinner with the family is not an option.

Well, let's look at what that typical dinner contains: Turkey (or tamales), Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Corn, Cranberries (sauce), and Pumpkins (pie), are all foods that were found only in the Americas prior to 1492. Thankstaking dinner is a collection of foods indigenous to the Americas. Europe, Africa, and Asia would have had a hard time prospering without the nutrition they derived from the "New World".

This Thankstaking I hope you all take time to remember our ancestors, all the contributions that our people from Alaska to the tip of Tierra del Fuego have given the world, for nuestra voluntad to resist colonization, and for our ability to persevere with dignity -- despite 513+ years of colonization.

Peace and Be safe,

Matt Nelson

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damali ayo
http://damaliayo.com
Have you fought racism today?