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Greetings everyone,
I am wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. And a Peaceful one too. Enjoy your day.
Here's a short story I'd like to share with you: When my family and I arrived in the US of A decades ago, we inherited and embraced this American holiday. Thanksgiving Day. Our family gathered, ate a multi-course meal that included roasted turkey. My mother's culinary training and years of loving service to her family gave that turkey the finger-licking attribute we all enjoyed. And it was a joy to be with family members, who live here, who we did not see as often as we would see them when we all lived in Jamaica, W.I.
Here's the catch: The dominant ubiquitous culture to which we were exposed, promoted Thanksgiving Day as the commemoration of a friendly meeting of the English settlers and the Wampanoag tribe for three days of feasting and thanksgiving in 1621. We bought that story. Unquestionably.
It has since come to my attention that for many Native Americans - the indigenous peoples that English immigrant settlers found here - Thanksgiving is a day of mourning and protest; because for them, it commemorates the arrival of settlers in North America and the centuries of oppression and genocide that followed. And in 1970, the United American Indians of New England organized and recognized the fourth Thursday in November as the National Day of Mourning for Native Americans and their allies.
You can quote me on this as I like to say: "every story has at least three sides." Here's one source where you can read more - click here.
So as we say Happy Thanksgiving with our family and friends; as we share the blessings with which we have been gifted; maybe Happy Reflective Thanksgiving is a more descriptive slogan we can adopt. How would you rephrase our greeting for Thanksgiving Day? Click here to email me your thoughts on this.
Blessings my friends,
Claudette Joy
P.S. Please feel free to share this message with your family and friends. And your fans too!
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