The Hard Truth – The case for a National Repentance Day

28th November 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Min. J. Kojo Livingston
Contributing Columnist

Like most activists and most Native Americans, I have real problems with the holiday dubbed Thanksgiving. For most people it’s difficult to understand why anyone would object to having a day directed at being thankful to the Creator.

But even on a spiritual level there should be a problem with having a single day set aside for giving thanks or doing anything else that should happen all day, every day. In spiritual terms a “Treat People Right Day,” or a “Tell the Truth” day would make about as much sense as having a day set aside for breathing or using the restroom. If you need a special day for it, then what do you do the rest of the year?

As unpopular as it is, thinking people should seek out the real purpose and story behind the holiday. Exploring the lies we’ve been told can give us clues as to why this day was really established.

If you think that most or all of the pilgrims came to this land seeking religious freedom, then you don’t know the truth. First, most of the pilgrims were sent to the “New World” as punishment for crimes ranging from murder and arson to theft. They were banished to a land that many were not expected to survive. According to historian J. A. Rodgers “in 1611AD, governor Dale of Virginia urged King James I of England to banish all condemned persons to Virginia.”

In fact had it not been for the kindness of the natives they would not have survived. That kindness came back to haunt the natives in terrible ways. Not only did the settlers begin claiming ownership of land that Natives believed belonged to everyone, they began to attack and enslave the Natives. What killed off a large number of the Native population were the new diseases that Europeans brought with them to this part of the world.

The rigors of the New World killed the majority of the pilgrims and drove most of the remainder insane, according to the historical records of Massa­chusetts and Virginia. Grap­hic tales of cannibalism on the part of the settlers are recorded in such reliable works as The General History of Virginia, 4th book in which Capt. John Smith describes the barbaric behavior of the colonists toward the Natives and each other.

So why do you believe that Thanksgiving is all about peace and racial harmony? Because those in power want to “sanitize” the truth and make it something to celebrate. Nothing could be further from the truth. The clues are already there if you start putting two and two together.

Most Black people know that 20 captured Afrikans were brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, one year before the pilgrims landed. When the so-called first Thanksgiving was held Euro­peans had already begun enslaving Natives and kidnapped Afrikans.

The purpose of the holiday seems more insidious the more you dig for information about it. It truly is the same as thanking God for allowing you to steal a car and asking the victim to join you in that celebration. The rulers of this nation have said, “Let’s ignore/forget the killing and stealing we did and just focus on one happy meal we all had together before we went buck wild on them injuns.”

The perpetuation of the Thanks­giving or Thanks-for-Genocide deception is so important that it is the only holiday that always gives you a four-day weekend. Yes, it is an opportunity for families to gather but it’s certainly not the only such opportunity during the course of a year. And a people who practice Self-Determination and Creativity will arrange to make time to celebrate that which is true and beneficial to themselves.

There several alternatives to consider regarding this day. The first is to ignore it completely, a bit difficult since everything is closed and because most of the people that you love are neck-deep in turkey and dressing at that time.

A second alternative was introduced by Philadelphia native Edward Simms, Jr. in 1971. It is called UMOJA KARAMU which is Swahili for Unity Feast. This is a unity feast designed to be a ritual of solidarity for the Afrikan family. Simms created Umoja Karamu to “inject new meaning and solidarity into the Black Family through ceremony and symbol. And to bridge “the gap between diverse religious persuasions through a ritual which is easily understood and appreciated by all the participants.”

The ritual is divided into five parts or periods which depict various aspects of the Black experience just before and after our transportation to America. The periods are: 1) The Black Family in the Mother Country 2) The Slavery Horror 3) The Period of the Emancipation Fight 4) The Liberation Struggle and 5) The Black Family Looks At The Future.

Personally I don’t warm to the idea of doing Umoja Karamu at the same time as Thanksgiving. It’s kinda like building our celebration on top of the other celebration.

What I propose is that the U.S. and anyone on Earth who has ever benefited from the exploit­ation and injustice done here participate in a day of National Repentance for crimes against God and Humanity. I think that everyone can participate be­cause to some degree we all benefit from what happened to the Black, the Red, the Brown, the Yellow and yes even the White people who have been abused to make this country the great power that it is. Leaders at all levels should humble themselves before the Creator and ask “What must we do to make this right?”

What goes around comes around. The law of sowing and reaping is eternal and transcendent. If this nation does not willingly try to repair the damage it has done then the Almighty will extract a terrible price that none of us will enjoy…

…And That’s the Hard Truth!

This article was originally published in the November 28, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper