What Are You Thankful For?

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Thanksgiving Day is not just around the corner; it’s already here. In just two days, families across the country – and a few Americans somewhere else in the world – will unite both physically and in spirit to celebrate the day which marks the beginning of another Holiday Season.

Families and friends will gather around the table to share thanksgiving dinners but most importantly to express their gratitude. So, what are you thankful for?

Let me go first.

Most children will express being thankful for mom, dad, for uncle Joe, for auntie Annie, for brother Harry, for sister Joanna; most parents will express thanks for having their children. And of course, some will be thankful to have grandparents still alive to share another thanksgiving with the family. Everyone expressing his/her gratitude will most likely be a repeat of last year thanksgiving. So nothing has changed really; it’s same food, same stories, same gratitude; yes, the same boring “I am thankful for…”

Mine is very different. I am not thankful Blacks are still despised in America. I am not thankful Blacks are still denied good education. I am not thankful Blacks are still denied access to good housing. I am not thankful Blacks are still denied mortgage loans twice as often as their white counterparts. I am not thankful Blacks are still profiled. I am not thankful Blacks are still discriminated against. I am not thankful Blacks still need twice as much education as their white counterparts. I am not thankful Blacks are still bypassed a promotion (because they’re black). I am not thankful Blacks are not mentored to move up the corporate ladder. I am not thankful Black entrepreneurs are five times less likely to succeed as their white counterparts. I am not thankful Black women who are raped are twice as likely for their complaints to be ignored as their white counterparts. I am not thankful Blacks are twice as likely to be called lazy (although the country wealth is built on their back). I am not thankful police killing of Blacks is eerily similar to the master killing of the slave (no punishment for the master, no punishment for the police). I am not thankful Blacks are punished twice as harsh as their white counterparts. I am not thankful Black students are sent home twice as many times as their white counterparts. I am not thankful Blacks are always guilty (until proven innocent). I am not thankful Blacks always look suspicious (to everyone). I am not thankful Blacks “are always up to no good” (per everyone). I am not thankful Blacks continue to struggle in a country which owes them everything.

How about you, what are you thankful for?

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