We, at NEO Law Group, wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!
When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.
– Maya Angelou
Among the many things I’m grateful for this year is what I hope is still a largely independent judiciary, something highlighted in an exchange between President Trump and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts the past two days (see Chief Justice Defends Judicial Independence After Trump Attacks ‘Obama Judge’). And an independent judiciary is something worth fighting for.
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. … What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for” – Chief Justice John Roberts
The arc of the moral universe is long, and, over the long run, it has bent toward justice, but it will continue to do so only if people stand up and fight for justice – social justice, racial justice, environmental justice.
Thanksgiving 2018 (History.com)
Throughout that first brutal winter, most of the colonists remained on board the ship, where they suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease. Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he returned with another Native American, Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe who had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and sold into slavery before escaping to London and returning to his homeland on an exploratory expedition. Squanto taught the Pilgrims, weakened by malnutrition and illness, how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. He also helped the settlers forge an alliance with the Wampanoag, a local tribe, which would endure for more than 50 years and tragically remains one of the sole examples of harmony between European colonists and Native Americans.
A few things you (probably) don’t know about Thanksgiving (National Geographic)
The pilgrims stole from graves, the Wampanoag were devastated by disease, and the peace between them was political.
7 Ways to Be An Ally to Native Peoples This Thanksgiving (Teen Vogue)
In the United States, so much of what Americans are thankful for — our families, homes, the foods we enjoy — are the products of ongoing colonization. We might feel grateful for the place we grew up, but that place exists on stolen land. Coming together with family can be challenging, as we all have different ideas of what “America” is. Yet, if there’s one thing many folks can agree on, it’s that in the history of this country, Native people were wronged.
How Addams Family Values taught me the racist Thanksgiving history I never learned in school (Hello Giggles)
“You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now, my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the roadsides. You will play golf and enjoy hot hors d’oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation…” – Wednesday Addams