Thank You, America
Since Thanksgiving is looming, I’d like to take a moment to remember America’s ancestors. It’s been a tough election cycle, and the Thanksgiving table is sure to see a record number of heated political debates this year. So, let’s really take time to think about what your uncle is really saying when he slams his fist on the table and says “Make America Great Again.”
First, to Christopher Columbus–for boldly going to a different destination than he meant to but still calling it a win; for partaking in one step for Europe, multiple giant plagues for humankind; for having a huge case of White Man Syndrome.
Next, to the Pilgrims–for escaping religious persecution only to begin persecuting others; for biting the hand that fed them; for their enduring puritanical values that still infect our politics centuries later.
And you, the Revolutionaries–for tarring and feathering; for destroying £10,000 worth of property in one night; for opposing your government; for organizing; for fighting;
To the Indigenous People of North and South America–for giving them Hell; for losing everything; for carrying on in spite of it all.
To millions of enslaved African peoples–for building America; for losing everything; for carrying on in spite of it all.
To Abigail Adams–for asking the fathers to remember the mothers.
To the Founding Fathers–for forgetting the mothers; for disenfranchising others to uplift themselves; for designing a country for wealthy white men.
To President Andrew Jackson–for the Trail of Tears (and so, so much else).
To President Franklin D. Roosevelt–for Japanese Internment Camps and fearmongering
To President Ronald Reagan–for fighting HIV/AIDS with silence
To President Barack Obama–for keeping composure
And now, to the GOP–for going back to their roots; for not understanding their roots.
To Black Lives Matter–for protesting; for organizing; for fighting; for enduring; for not taking it.
For women, POC, LGBTQ+ individuals, non-Christians, etc–for facing taxation without representation.
Again, to Indigenous People–for dealing with beautified narratives of peaceful co-habitation ad nauseum this time of year.
To Turkeys–for being killed and eaten every year to commemorate an imagined past.
And finally, to the memes–for doing…whatever it is that they do.
I hope we all survive the holidays.
Thanks for reading,
r.d.
The Junction Journal 