Three Genocides
Happy Thanksgiving, I guess
I’m a geriatric millennial so for most of my life Thanksgiving has been a pretty contentious holiday. As one tiktoker put it- “I like the food but I don’t give a f about the pilgrims”. Even back when we had good years, Thanksgiving was at best a day to emotionally eat while either being tortured by family or depressed about your lack thereof, and at worst a cheery celebration of the genocide that built America. Well, one of them anyways. But it’s 2023, the days of “good years” are over, and today we are commemorating one genocide while three others take place right under our noses, and worse, are being perpetuated with our money.
Palestine. Congo. Sudan. You’ve heard of the first, I’m really hoping you’ve heard of the other two. If not, today is a good day to Google. There are endless reams that have been and will continue to be written about these horrific events, but I think today of all days (and especially tomorrow) it is critical for us to remember that none of these literal war crimes would have started or could continue without the direct complicity of the Western world, and especially America. Our taxes, our technology, our blatant disregard for how climate change is causing death and destruction in parts of the world no one cares about, are all the reason that the mass death, slavery, assault, and torture are happening right now. Right this second.
Of course, none of us really have control over this. We don’t get a say in where our taxes go, basic survival depends on having access to phones and internet, and taking shorter showers is not going to end climate change. We are, all of us, pawns in a system that took over our worlds long before any of us were born. We are powerless.
Individually.
Together, not so much.
That’s what we should all think about today. The system is changing. We have yet to reckon with how much COVID changed us.
The adults in the room don’t see how much a generation that was raised with the understanding that the people in power don’t care if their planet is burning or if they are shot in their elementary schools just absolutely does not have any reverence for anyone in any kind of position of authority.
No one gets how much the generation before them have finally figured out that no matter how hard we work, how much of ourselves we give, or how much education we will be paying for until we die, the dream that was sold to us was a rancid lie.
And absolutely no one understands that while some Boomers are living footloose and fancy free, far, far more of them are struggling financially, have almost nothing saved for retirement, are watching their children and grandchildren struggle in a world that is falling apart, and are absolutely done believing the lies of the people they were taught to worship. This is the generation that came of age in the 70s, after all. They haven’t forgotten.
The best part? This schism in the world as we know it is happening right before an election for the “leader of the free world” (LOL) between a racist, doddering old man who cheerfully advocates for the destruction of an entire group of people and a racist, doddering old man who cheerfully advocates for the destruction of an entire group of people.
These will only be our only options if we allow them to be. Vox populi, vox dei. Today, on Thanksgiving, as this god awful year ends and an even worse one begins, let’s be thankful that this is not how it has to be, it is just how it is right now. And let’s start working on changing the world, this time for the better.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Kat