What do we have to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day?
Today is Thanksgiving Day 2020 in America.
It’s an understatement to say that this has been a rough year. 2020 is one for the ages.
Some may ask what’s there to be thankful for given all the disruptions, pain, and death we’ve had to endure because of COVID-19—especially, when many Americans will not be observing this Thanksgiving Day in the traditional way?
COVID-19 has inflicted much havoc in our world. And because of the most imbecilic, immoral, juvenile president of our time, America is in much worse shape than other countries (including those in the so-called “Third World”) because of the ravages of this pandemic.
In America, the death toll is now nearly 270,000 Americans—with much higher percentage rates for Black Americans, and other minorities, according to the Centers for Disease Control, compared to whites.
Black businesses are being negatively affected, with many closing at much higher levels. Many Blacks, Latinos, other minorities, and some working-class whites, face serious economic insecurity, with high job losses. Some of us are dealing with the real prospects of being evicted from our homes.
These represent just a few of the problems we face, especially, since COVID-19 has fully exposed the economic exploitation and inequality which underpins the fiscal foundations of America. COVID-19 has revealed how vulnerable we really are in this system of largely unchecked malevolent corporate greed.
Our healthcare—or sick care—infrastructure has been unmasked for what it really is: just another perverted money-making business scheme.
Particularly, in Black communities the COVID-19 crisis has clearly illustrated that healthcare is not treated as the human right that it should be in this America. Even with Trump’s bungling, we should now realize why Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is correct in saying the American healthcare system needs a massive overhaul if it is to really satisfy the needs of average Americans.
So, what do we really have to be thankful for now?
Well, first of all, if you are reading this, and you are not in an intensive care unit, or being hospitalized on a deathbed, you should be thankful. There are now nearly 13 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in America. If you are healthy that is the number one thing to be thankful for.
This November, you may be somewhat miserable because you weren’t able to celebrate and feast with you family and friends. Still this November hasn’t been all bad. Right?
Why? Well, wasn’t Donald Trump just fired by a majority of American voters?
True, he’s telling laughable lies and making idiotic, baseless, claims about fraud while trying to suppress the votes of Black Americans, and other minorities, in an attempted slow-motion coup. However, we’ve just seen the certification of votes in places like Pennsylvania and Michigan, which has virtually secured the final nails in Trump’s election coffin.
So, come January, President-Elect Joe Biden will become President Joe Biden. And Donald Trump will be sent slithering and crawling back to his Mar-A-Lago swamp.
After the chaos of his four-year apprentice presidency, this ranks high as something we should be thankful for. We now don’t have to worry about another four years of Trumpian white supremacy, corruption, ineptitude, child separation, babies in cages, etc.
Moreover, Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris will make history becoming the first woman, first Black woman, first Asian-American, and first Jamaican-American, vice president of these United States of America. Surely, there is much to be thankful for in that reality.
Many of us, unlike other American families, lost no one to COVID-19. We may not be able to see them in person, this year, but we can talk to them through a myriad of ways made possible by modern technology. Isn’t that one of the most important things we should be thankful for?
Some may say the above doesn’t apply to me. They may say they lost a father, mother, child etc. Indeed, 2020 has been a tough year of upheaval. But even those who have had loss, should look around and realize the other family members, and friends, they still have who are here helping them through this difficult time. Unfortunately, oftentimes when we lose someone close it makes us truly appreciate those that are still with us.
Today, many white Americans will be giving thanks, but most will not remember those who welcomed them with open arms into this country: the Native Americans.
Honest white Americans should realize they owe a debt of gratitude to the benevolent Indigenous Peoples who never attacked them as “illegal” immigrant “invaders,” when they first came from the then barren wanting wastelands of Europe. Native Americans willing shared their land—until they realize the hungry European visitors they were helping were infected with a rapacious greed for land and gold that would never be satisfied.
Today, white Americans should be making atonement for the crimes that were done to Native Americans over the centuries by their European ancestors.
Those of us who are Black should give thanks today for the sacrifices our Black African and African-American ancestors made so that we could have a little more freedom today than we had yesterday, in this America made wealthy by slavery. We should remember the great many who gave their lives so we could have a better life than they did.
We should remember all those who valiantly marched, fought—and died for us.
As the saying goes “count your blessings.” Give thanks for what you have got.
