words by Charles Brooks
For the indigenous folk, the 27th was a reminder of loss. Of death. They remember Thanksgiving as a Day of Mourning.
Thanksgiving is now one of those days, another federally recognized holiday that day reminds us of the country’s violent settler beginnings.
As the days got closer to Thanksgiving, I thought more and more about the late Glen Ford - a long-time journalist, and a co-founder of the Black Agenda Report, who served as their Executive Editor until he passed away in 2021. It's an online site that publish stories that examine critical "themes, topics, and debates of concern to the Black radical left".
The very first sentence in Pascal Roberts' obituary of Glen Ford was telling, “Black radical analysis was the foundation of Glen Ford's work….”
That explains why his body of work continues to stand out and remains relevant in a field filled with cheerleaders, stenographers, firefighters, along with hollow commentary disguised as analysis.
His book, The Black Agenda was published shortly after his death. The book is a collection of his
The book opens with a critical essay about Thanksgiving that was published back in 2003. Twenty years later, “The End of American Thanksgivings: A Cause for Universal Rejoicing” takes on an even greater meaning with each passing year as more people become increasingly conscious of America’s settler beginnings.
The essay is a counter narrative highlighting the historical contradictions to the mistruths that continues to sustain the popular narrative around Thanksgiving. “…The Thanksgiving holiday fable is at once a window on the way that many, if not most, white Americans view the world and their place in it, and a pollutant that leaches barbarism into the modern era. The fable attempts to glorify the indefensible, to enshrine an era and mission that represent the nation’s lowest moral denominator….”
Ford goes on to dismantle the mythology around Thanksgiving, redirecting our attention to the core message rooted in a racist narrative that would hold strong for years to come. It's a message that builds the racist propaganda framing the Pilgrims as good, as victims. What Ford does with this essay is reframe the message, observing the narrative as a shield to the crimes against humanity the settlers committed against Native Americans.
He describes the national mythology on display for Act I, The American Dream followed by Act II, African Slavery. “The End of American Thanksgiving” reminds of a American nation, “fathered by genocide and mothered by slavery.”
He tells us of a different account of Thanksgiving beginnings, one that informs us that, “Thanksgiving did not begin as a great loving relationship between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag, Pequot and Narragansett people…” Instead, Ford recounts a story of the atrocities; the smallpox, being sold into slavery, along with brutal acts of genocide.
Ford’s analysis shatters the romanticized view of Thanksgiving, compelling a different discussion and different conclusions about America’s settler colonial beginnings.
Additional Reading and resources:
The End of American Thanksgivings: A Cause for Universal Rejoicing | Black Agenda Report
U.S. Capitalism Born in Blood: From the First Thanksgiving to Today w/ Dr. Gerald Horne,
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