Thanksgiving 2020 will be a sign of the times. This Thanksgiving is a new 1st: we’re in the midst of a pandemic, unemployment numbers are incredibly high, traveling is still risky, COVID testing is expensive, and rates are surging. California is back in the purple stage and lockdowns are increasing nationwide. Because I work the overnight shift and a 10pm curfew has been imposed, my manager gave me a signed letter verifying I’m an essential worker in case I get stopped on my way to work. 2020 has been a weird, terrifying, and dystopian year. Daily life and holiday traditions have been upended, and we’ve all been forced to grapple with our new reality.
This Thanksgiving, I encourage you to find ways to give back to those in your community who are in need. The lack of access to period products has increased due to the pandemic. People are struggling to put food on the table. Winter weather is here and as it gets colder outside, eviction moratoriums are expiring and homelessness rates are rising nationwide. Congress is still stalling on passing a second stimulus bill and people need help. Mutual aid, in brief, recognizes the government’s ineptitude and helps your fellow citizens access the essentials they need to survive. Mutual aid is different from charity, in the lack of hierarchy and bureaucratic structure. While mutual aid is more directly beneficial to marginalized community members we seek to help, charities can also help accomplish these goals.
Please consider donating food, period products/sanitary items, socks, clothing items, shoes, masks, sanitizer, and your time this Thanksgiving. Rather than getting together in a big group, inevitably engaging in family arguments, and forgetting the bloody, genocidal advent of the holiday, let’s instead seek to better our world through community involvement.
- Find a Local Food Bank!
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Most food banks are accepting monetary donations, food donations, and volunteers to deliver and assemble food packages. Find a food bank near you here: https://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank
- Find a Local Homeless Shelter or Domestic Violence Shelter!
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Socks are one of the most commonly requested items. Pads, tampons, clothing, and blankets are also incredibly helpful! Reach out to the nearest shelter to see if they need donations or volunteers! Find one near you…
- Find a Mutual Aid Network and Get Involved, Not Just on Holidays!
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Learn more about the concept of mutual aid, ways you can contribute, and find a network near you!
- Help the Indigenous Community!
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Considering the sterilized version of the first Thanksgiving we were told as children, you may find it easy to think of Thanksgiving as a fun excuse to gather with your extended family or friends, have a ton of delicious food, and give thanks for what you have in your life. Gratitude is great, and there isn’t anything wrong with enjoying the feelings you have towards celebrating. But that shouldn’t eclipse the harsh truth that Thanksgiving is representative of the ways in which Manifest Destiny and European colonization of the Americas displaced and killed a majority of the Indigenous population. I came across a great livestream fundraiser, “For 13 years Indigenous Action has hosted No Thanks, No giving! as an anti-colonial event to bring together radical Indigenous voices, share traditional foods, and benefit unsheltered relatives at Táala Hooghan Infoshop in Kinlani (Flagstaff, AZ).”
Indigenous communities are also being overwhelmed with COVID-19, and this Mashable article provides multiple ways to help the Navajo Nation!
Suggested Listening: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-bastards/id1373812661?i=1000499402559