The "Giving" of Thanksgiving

Hey all,

I present to you..my first article featured in the New Orleans Catholic Worker newsletter! I hope it offers good food for thought as you (and I) approach the Thanksgiving holiday.

Also, check out the rest of the newsletter at our website: http://nolacatholicworker.org

The "Giving" of Thanksgiving

This year, I approach the Thanksgiving table with not
only thanks, but also with a special invitation for others
and myself. I’ve learned that in order to give, we must
unlearn how we take. And in so doing, we must unlearn
what we’ve been taught about Thanksgiving.

In classrooms, we learn a storybook version of
Thanksgiving, one that embraces patriotism, generosity,
and mutuality. Like other children, I believed that the
goodness of the Plymouth Pilgrims and the Native
peoples was a perfect example to us all.

It was only later in my teen years that I
discovered my history textbooks had sorely misguided
me. The Thanksgiving story was just a story, one full of
charming fabrications and an appeal to American
idealism. Our popular story not only gives an overly
simplified version of the exchanges between the Pilgrims
and Native peoples, but also permits an unpardonable
omission of facts.

It most often goes unmentioned, for instance,
how the Pilgrims took over land that was already home
to others, literally building over fields that Natives had
cleared to plant corn and other food sources. Our story
omits the details about the house robberies that took
place, the forced conversions to Christianity, the
epidemic of plague that wiped out thousands of Native
peoples; all events that fall into a larger continuum of
cultural and ethnic cleansing.

After learning this truth, I knew that my days of
celebrating Thanksgiving
with joyful naiveté were
over. I can’t disregard
actual reality, even if it’s
uncomfortable, even if it
disturbs my ability to
celebrate something in
feel-good fashion. I am
accountable to what I
learn, and holidays are no
exception.

If we want to
truly focus on the
“giving” aspect of
Thanksgiving, we could
begin by recognizing how
our dominant culture rewards acts of taking. This reality
supports why we have history books that depict the
Pilgrims’ colonialism as something destined and
democratic. No doubt we see similar characterizations of
contemporary figures and corporations who legitimize
such acts as the displacement of marginalized peoples
from their communities, to follow a self-serving agenda.
Thanksgiving is not an isolated incident in history. It is
sustained, like it originally was, through ongoing forms
of racism, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia.

Once we recognize this degree of taking we can
actively resist it with our giving. I do this by maintaining a type of gratitude that does justice. I do this
by showing awareness of how I too embody
a colonizer’s legacy through my white racial
identity, my middle class status, and so on.

I have a lot to be thankful for; my
strong network of family and friends, access
to education, and financial support. When I
utilize these resources with a will to give, an
occasion like Thanksgiving becomes an
invitation into dialogue. It becomes a call to
action.

So, with moving gratitude, I
approach this Thanksgiving with a sense of
responsibility. I too can undo how I take in
order to give. Ω

"some people just don't have a choice"

Despite the tourist appeal of the famous Bourbon street, I'm not much for it. I've ridden my bike through the French quarter a few times and try to dodge the street altogether, avoiding ingesting its garbage-grease-stale beer aroma.

On Halloween night, however, I decided to face the swarms (and the stench) in the Quarter and went out in my homemade scarecrow attire. And a strange thing happened. Even in the midst of all the chaos, a feeling arose in me, like a switch inside turned on and suddenly I began to feel a little bit at home.

"Some people just don't have a choice." My housemate, Dan, said this a few nights ago, in reference to the allure of New Orleans. We had watched New Orleans' musician Kermit Ruffins perform, and energy was high.

I've heard people mention this allure frequently, this irrepressible draw of the city. I've heard it and thought, "Yeah, I could see that..." but hadn't really understood it, not until recently. And I still couldn't understand it like the folks who have lived here all their lives can, or like the ones who lived here and haven't been able to return. But I think I'm getting an idea.

In the past week it's begun to feel like the fall season. Blue skies, dried colored leaves on the ground (I was afraid these would never come), and cold that urges sweaters and hats. It's beautiful.

I continue babysitting (got the job!), busying myself with community events, and participating in the life at the Catholic Worker. On Wednesday mornings we bring a light breakfast and chat with folks looking for day work at a Home Depot. We've kept this weekly tradition for over a year. We have hosted a couple guests these past few weeks, and continue to explore ways to offer support and allyship to our neighbors and greater New Orleans.

This Friday evening we are hosting a potluck and dialogue about the School of Americas protest, happening next weekend Nov. 19-21. I hope to be able to go with my housemate Joe and a few friends. An update will come about that later!

I hope you are well wherever you're at.

Blessings,
Steph