My regular readers will know that I usually give my thoughts on the ambiguous meanings of Thanksgiving, and this year is no different. I think, though, that the election of a black man named "Barack Hussein Obama" to the Presidency gives us a bit of a good feeling this year that the often ambiguous ideals of America, celebrated in holidays like Thanksgiving, are closer to fulfillment than ever before. This year my thoughts on Thanksgiving are not that much different than last year's (unlike my recent Columbus day diary, which had some new info), but my thoughts this year do have a certain sense that America has taken a huge, historic step forward in fulfilling the ideals it was founded on. The election of Obama as President has caused even people like Black Nationalist Muhammed Yungai to reassess his generally angry feelings towards the US:

And now we have a President Obama! The mold has been irrevocably broken! The possibilities of opportunity in American life have been exponentially expanded.

I am still wary of the promise of these opportunities because of the gross structural inequities built into “the system.” But given the psyche-shattering results of this election, I am willing to at least meet anyone halfway in the new pursuit of that promise.

America, in my mind, always had huge promise. Yet it has never lived up to it. As long as slavery existed it never could even come close to fulfilling it's promise. As long as Jim Crow existed, it couldn't come close to fulfilling its promise. And even more recently, under Republican administrations that put greed above justice, oil above blood, intolerance above inclusiveness, America could not fulfill its promise. But there have always been steps towards fulfillment. The Bill of Rights. The abolition of slavery. The legalization of unions. Voting rights for women. The elimination of Jim Crow (at least as it was enshrined in actual law). The Civil Rights movement. And the election of Barack Obama.

Together, Columbus Day and Thanksgiving are the foundation myths of America. I have been ambivalent, in the litteral meaning of the word, towards Columbus Day for years now. I celebrate America and Columbus' "discovery" of the "New World" because the result of his discovery and the ultimate founding of America is that my family, myself included, is alive and thriving today. Without America, my family would have been exterminated in the genocide of Nazi Germany if not before that in the genocide of the pogroms in Tsarist Russia and later Stalin's genocide in the Soviet Union.

But there is another side to the events celebrated on Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. For those descended from slaves or from Native Americans, these days represent the beginning and continuation of some of the most horrible series of events in World History. I am not going to review them again, but for those interested in the horrors that accompanied colonialism worldwide, I covered them in some detail in my Columbus Day diary. The spread and elaboration of slavery and the decimation of the Native American populations were also outcomes of the events celebrated on Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. These holidays represent BOTH the opportunities offered many of our families to survive and better our conditions, AND the horrors of slavery and genocide. We cannot deny either side of these holidays. Both sides are factual and are important.

These two sides of Thanksgiving, the ideal and the horrible, have generally been my focus. But there is also a third side of Thanksgiving and that third side is the genuine intended meaning of the holiday. The holiday may commemorate vaguely real events from the 1600's, but it really dates from 1863 when Abraham Lincoln initiated a holiday in an attempt to reunify and reinspire Americans in the midst of a Civil War. Today, after the Democrats have soundly defeated the currently corrupt and anti-Constitution Republicans and elected its first black President, this message of reunification and reinspiration is particularly important. The Republicans under Bush have been frightening and dividing us for years. Even before Bush, they were doing the same thing under the leadership of the now disgraced Newt Gingrich. In a recent book called The Yamato Dynasty about the history of Japan and its oligarchs from the Meji Restoration to 1999, I learn that this kind of fear mongering and naked, corrupt greed by the Republican Party dates all the way back to Herbert Hoover and Douglas MacArther and has been pretty much a constant within the upper echelons of the Republican Party ever since (with somewhat better behavior under Eisenhower who was no fan of the Hoover/MacArther wing of the party).

Right now America has soundly rejected Republican intolerance, greed, corruption and fear-mongering consistently since 2006. And I feel that is a good sign. The Democrats, uniting progressives and moderates, represent renewed hope for a united and inspired America. One cannot find genuine inspiration in fear and divisiveness and greed. That is what Bush represents. We need to represent something different: unity, new ideas, progress, equality. This Thanksgiving I am contemplating the genuinely inspiring new ideas from Democrats that I have been highlighting since before the election.

It is right and proper for any nation to celebrate its foundation myths, and it is particularly appropriate to celebrate the opportunities offered to us by America at its best. And more than ever I want to celebrate the BEST side of America as represented by this year's alliance of progressives and moderates that defeated the right wing extremist Republicans. But I also want to acknowledge what was lost when our American culture was founded and spread. In this light I simply want to point people's attention to a few ways to help the surviving Native Americans should you find that this makes your Thanksgiving even more special.

I will first mention the American Indian College Fund, which provides scholarships to American Indian students and helps Tribal Colleges. Education is part of the secret of my family's success. Can we give the same kind of opportunity to those whose homes and rights were lost when this nation was founded? If you think we can, please donate to the American Indian College Fund.

I want to also mention the Native Energy Project, which builds an alternative energy infrastructure and helps both Native Americans and American farmers at the same time. They help build wind power generation projects in areas ideal for wind power and in many cases these projects are Native American-owned and operated or are owned and operated by American farmers. This project is a way to energy independence for America, to create new jobs right here in America (rather than in Saudi Arabia) and to create a solid economy in the Native American nations that co-exist within the borders of the United States. They also have a neat way that you can offset your personal carbon dioxide load by helping build alternative, clean energy for America.

Finally, I want to emphasize political rights for Native Americans. Education, economy and political power are what Native Americans need to survive. For political power I want to remind you of a relatively new project started to help Native Americans who run for office as Democrats. This project is the Indigenous Democratic Network. From their website:

The Indigenous Democratic Network is the only grassroots political organization devoted to recruiting and electing Native American candidates and mobilizing the Indian Vote throughout America on behalf of those candidates. We are dedicated to making a unified Indian voice heard at the local, state and national levels by helping Indians build and run effective campaign organizations and to win elected offices across America.

In order to do so, we will be supporting a select group of Indian candidates for state and local offices across this land in 2006. This will be the first step in training a new generation of Indian leaders at the national level. The Indigenous Democratic Network identifies Democratic Indian candidates running for state and local office and recommends them to our members. INDN’s List will also keep members informed of political events and news headlines via, newsletters, e-mail alerts, direct mail, and our website.

In addition, as a member you will receive invitations to meet with other members, candidates and office-holders across the country. Your membership is what you make it.

Helping the Indigenous Democratic Network helps both the political power of Native Americans, AND helps the Democratic Party. Here is their website.

So if you want to celebrate our founding myths AND want to show your appreciation for the cultures we replaced/absorbed, donations to these groups may be a good addition to your Thanksgiving traditions, particularly in the context of the original intention of Thankgsgiving as a unifying holiday to bring all Americans together. I urge you to give a little bit to one of these groups this year and every year. That way your Thanksgiving celebration can celebrate BOTH the founding of the nation that has given most of us new opportunities AND the cultures that were hurt most by that process.