I Don't Want to Sound Like Oprah

Being of tribal descent, this time of year can be very trying.  I certainly don't want to sound like Oprah and say everyone who disagrees with a person of ethnicity is racist, because well that is painting with just too broad a brush.  Racism comes in all colors, including brown and black.  I guess to offer variegation to a frequently used phrase, "Some of my best friends are white."  That doesn't change our history, however; nor do they owe reparation.  I do know what Native Americans have gone through to be considered humans in the country that was first ours, but I didn't pay that price, I just do some mouthing.  I am also aware of some of the atrocities that were inflicted upon my ancestors, but no one alive today did that.

I don't choose to celebrate a day when unchecked immigrants changed the culture of my people, after being kept alive by my people.  Seems a bit more than ungrateful, to say the least, but that was a long time ago.  I don't need to carry an old grudge to not participate in a celebration that doesn't evoke a celebratory concept.  I have dealt with those of European blue blood ancestry and to be honest, "Little Big Horn" is a fond image . . . but I digress.

I did find an interesting passage in Scripture in which Jeroboam made a celebration of his own choosing in the eighth month, which does align with November most years.  He even incorporated the images of calves in the celebration.  I can't help but wonder, since calves were being honored, if some sort of fowl was not the main dish, but that is only a question of my own thoughts, nothing to confirm.  Scripture very clearly states that this day of celebration was of Jeroboam's choosing, and not a Set Apart Holy Day.

And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
                                                                           I Kings 12:32, 33


I'd urge you to read in I Kings 12 and 13.  Jeroboam is listed as one of the kings who did evil in the sight of YHWH.  Besides this year, Hanukkah celebration is to begin this week!  So technically, this year Thanksgiving is not taking place in the eighth month on the Biblical calendar.  Not to insist that others embrace ancient tribal ways; but I'm still brown and not terribly thankful for the loss of my culture.