Why should a person of color celebrate Thanksgiving when we should give thanks to God everyday!?

Question

When the Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock, they were poor and hungry -- half of them died within a few months from disease and hunger. When Squanto, a Wampanoag man, found them, they were in a pitiful state. He spoke English, having traveled to Europe, and took pity on them. Their English crops had failed. The native people fed them through the winter and taught them how to grow their food.

These were not merely "friendly Indians." They had already experienced European slave traders raiding their villages for a hundred years or so, and they were wary -- but it was their way to give freely to those who had nothing. Among many of our peoples, showing that you can give without holding back is the way to earn respect. Among the Dakota, my father's people, they say, when asked to give, "Are we not Dakota and alive?" It was believed that by giving there would be enough for all -- the exact opposite of the system we live in now, which is based on selling, not giving.
To the Pilgrims, and most English and European peoples, the Wampanoags were heathens, and of the Devil. They saw Squanto not as an equal but as an instrument of their God to help his chosen people, themselves.

Since that initial sharing, Native American food has spread around the world. Nearly 70 percent of all crops grown today were originally cultivated by Native American peoples. I sometimes wonder what they ate in Europe before they met us. Spaghetti without tomatoes? Meat and potatoes without potatoes? And at the "first Thanksgiving" the Wampanoags provided most of the food -- and signed a treaty granting Pilgrims the right to the land at Plymouth, the real reason for the first Thanksgiving.

Answer 1

What does being a "person of color" have to do with celebrating or not celebrating this holiday? The offical celebration of Thanksgiving was not established until the time of President Lincoln. It is a national holiday when people can take time out before the real hussle and bussle of the Christmas season to get together with family and friends and set a little special time aside to give thanks to whatever Diety they believe in. There is no harm in having a special day of thanks. Certainly, you should be grateful for the things of this world constantly, but there is no reason why you can't have a special day. I agree that many things happened in the past that we of European descent have no cause to be proud of...however, I am, as a 21st century American, grateful for the fact that I live in this country and not another. I am grateful for a government that sets aside a special day for thanks and that allows me the right to thank whatever Diety I wish in whatever way I wish. No matter your ethnic/racial origins, you should be thankful for the way things are NOW and not dwell on the past. A Mandan chief once said something along the lines of not dwelling on things that cannot be changed (things in the past) and living toward changing those things that can (the future). So, have a happy day of thanks.

Answer 2

I'm not a JW and too much a good Christian to convert to this cult, with that being said and after reading their condescending, self loathing, judgmental attitudes in their prospective, although most robotic in their answers, I have decided to answer this question in the tone it which it deserves. While most Christians do understand what this day, Thanksgiving means, at least here in the USA, we celebrate it in the fashion it deserves. One as a Country that is multi-cultured with freedom of religion and that growth into maturity in that perspective. It dwells on the past relationship that go back to it's beginning. A relationship between the Pilgrims and the Indians and how the Indians help the Pilgrims and possibly death and the Pilgrims brought forth both different foods and brought Christianity. These two different peoples celebrated together in fellowship and made exchanges in their cultures and thanked each other and their God. Although, it turned rather ugly later, we still need to remember the good that came forth. The birth of a new Country and religious freedom and Christianity brought into the New World. If not fo this moment in time we Christians would not have had the freedom we so enjoy today and who knows maybe there wouldn't have been a Jehovah's Witness as what Charles Taze Russell did in the early part of your history, probably won't have been allowed! Anyhow, it this thanks that we celebrate to mark this time in history and not to forget what God has done for us and what we can do for our fellowman and do it for God. Can we do this everyday of our lives, maybe but then there are so many moments that we need to be thankful for, have a day to celebrate such an event, I do think God would approve, highly approve. So, I want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving, even the Jehovah's Witnesses, maybe I shouldn't to them but only God can judge them in this way and I will not. I pray that God will open their eyes so they can see what the real love of Jesus can do in their lives. God Bless ALL !!

Answer 3

You asked a question, but you went off the tangent with the diatribe about the native Americans and how ugly the English were with them centuries past. Now, we celebrate Thanksgiving because Abe Lincoln made it holiday!

Of course you should thank God for all the blessings he bestows upon us everyday. However, how many times does the government condone a "religious" celebration? Not many. How many times does the average Dick and Joe takes time off to thank the Lord for these blessings. Not that many either. Thanksgiving is a day of reflection and a day of prayer, not just "Turkey Day" like some people like to call it.

Why we celebrate Christmas? Why do we have to spend more than we can afford? That is what this celebration is turning into and has nothing to do with the birth of our Lord Jesus. At least during Thanksgiving we make a deliberate attempt, at least in my case, to thank the Lord for the bounty and the blessings He so selfishly provided us. I do thank the Lord everyday by the way.

Answer 4

There is no 'should' or 'should not' regarding thanksgiving. It is entirely up to each person whether they choose to celebrate it. If you object to it, don't. It's that simple.