Vantage Point Vignette
Comments and Commentary by Dr. Ron Daniels
Originally Penned on November 28, 2024
On this day, which has come to be known as Thanksgiving, it is important that Black people and all people of conscience and goodwill, pause to remember and reflect upon the betrayal of Native Americans, the original inhabitants of this land by the Pilgrims, Europeans fleeing England because of religious persecution. Lest we forget that these Europeans seeking freedom in a strange land were welcomed to these foreign shores and helped, taught to survive by the indigenous people of this land. In an initial gesture of gratitude, these foreigners gathered with their newfound friends to celebrate and give thanks to their God for having survived.
However, lest we forget, Native Americans were soon betrayed by the God-fearing, religious, freedom loving Pilgrims whom they had rescued and befriended. The imperial instincts of the Pilgrims and their progeny soon became clear. They were not content to live in peace within the boundaries of the territories defined and bequeathed to them by the original inhabitants of this land. This unquenchable imperial appetite for more and more land was the genesis of the brutal and unconscionable conquest and dispossession of the Native Americans, the indigenous inhabitants of this land; the original but not only sin of the “birth of a nation.”
The enslavement and ruthless oppression and exploitation of Africans was the next in the unfolding of serial sins in the birth and development of the USA. Therefore, our righteous black consciousness dictates that we pause to remember and reflect upon the conquest and dispossession of the original inhabitants of this land who were betrayed despite their good deeds. They have yet to be made whole.
Hence, we declare this day Black Thanks; a day for Black families, neighbors and friends to gather, dine, fellowship and reflect on the betrayal of Native Americans, the enslavement of our ancestors, and our survival and development as a people; a day of recommitment to the victorious struggle for full freedom, dignity, equality and self-determination for Africans in America, Black people and all people who have been dispossessed, exploited and marginalized in this imperfect union. #BlackThanks
