A day to give thanks and look forward – The Bay State Banner

Time to celebrate your blessings.

Every year, many families gather around the table for a Thanksgiving meal. For some, it is a time to reconnect and reflect on what they can be hopeful and happy about. For others, it’s a way to think about and reach out to the less fortunate while discovering how to give these people a way to enjoy the day. This core belief is a tenet of Native American cultural ideals surrounding Thanksgiving—a day of giving without expecting anything in return. This national holiday also falls in November, which is also celebrated as Native American Month. In the first celebration of this holiday, with the colonists, the Wampanoag tribe provided the necessary information about farming and hunting, as well as food for the group celebration. However, many indigenous people consider this a day of mourning. People gather at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth for an organized memorial service. Additionally, most people don’t realize that the following day, called Black Friday, a retail extravaganza, is also celebrated as Native American Heritage Day.

This 4th Thursday of the month has always been complicated for many indigenous peoples because of its association with the colonization and genocide of Native Americans. For black Americans, the holiday often carries its own complex history, tied to slavery and the systemic oppression of African descendants. This tension between the myth of the pilgrims’ peaceful celebration and the reality of colonial violence and exploitation often leads to calls for a more nuanced understanding of the holiday.

Black families can relate to many facets of the Native American narrative.

Thanksgiving in the black community can be a deeply meaningful and culturally rich celebration. While the holiday itself has roots in Native American and colonial American history, African-American traditions surrounding Thanksgiving often blend elements of family, food, faith, and community, all shaped by the history and experiences of people of color.

According to the African American Registry, “Thanksgiving expression of the American black community began as a church-based celebration. Black pastors often gave sermons that could be heard loud and clear throughout the many small black churches. The sermons would be about struggles, hopes, fears and triumphs. The preachers usually mourned the sufferings of the black people; and often prayed that an awakening to a slave-free America would soon come.”

On November 30, 1876 (Thanksgiving), African Methodist Episcopal minister Benjamin Arnett did just that to a predominantly black congregation with the following words: “We call upon all American citizens to love their country and look not upon the sins of the past, but to arm ourselves for the future conflict, gird ourselves with the abilities of righteousness, march forward with the courage of a Numidian lion and with the confidence of a Roman gladiator, and meet the demands of the time and fulfill the duties of the time.”

This is now a time to come together, where generations share meals, stories and anecdotes. There will be a special sense of unity and togetherness that extends beyond the immediate family in 2024. Based on the results of the election, November 28th will be part of the continuing struggle for equality, recognition and healing from what most black people and brown feels are. a huge sense of loss. For much of the country, it is difficult to understand that this election celebrated the return of a convicted felon who used his position to once again demean a number of people he considers “less than.” A quick look at the electoral landscape shows that a large part of each coast is dark blue, while the rest of the United States glows red. Many of us did not want to come out of our homes because of this election, but now we have to come together and talk about how to move forward as a group. Along with turkey, collards, sweet potato pie, and cornbread, there needs to be an openness about how we feel and what we’re thankful for despite this year’s shortcomings.

We on Banner are grateful to our amazing staff who are committed to publishing a paper every week without fail. Our writers, Yawu Miller, Avery Bleichfeld, Mandile Mpofu, Deirdre Montague, Celina Colby, Olivia Grant, Jimmy Myers, Scott Haas, Susan Saccoccia, Jack Drewry, Bill Banfield, Malia Lazu, Jordyn Britton, Rachel Amster, Eloise Binder, Gabriel Martins and Karen Miller; everyone works diligently behind the scenes.

Our managing editors, Jamyra Perry, Meghan Irons, Brian Wright O’Connor and Ken Cooper do the same.

We thank our copy editors Anthony Neal, Sanda Larson and Dorothy Cark. Our accountant Joe Wheeler; our production staff Joanne Storin, Carole Allen, Cagen Luse, Ron Wilhelmsen, Joe Johnson, Mike King, Dillard Morrison, Lori Morrison, Max Cyril and Ron Milton. All deserve praise.

Our sales and marketing team is Colin Redd, Rachel Reardon, Pat Bonner Duval, Lyn DuVal Luse and Maliaka Shepherd. We owe them all a debt of gratitude.