As America gathers to give thanks, the woke left plots to cancel this “racist” holiday. Can they succeed? They erased Columbus Day. They turned “Merry Christmas” into “Happy holidays.” Now — hold onto your turkey — rising voices on the left are calling for an end to Thanksgiving. On October 3, 1789, George Washington signed a proclamation that declared “Thursday the 26th day of November…be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being…That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks…” Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving an officially recognized observance in 1863 in a proclamation that instructed Americans to “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving.” Who could be opposed to that? Philadelphia Tribune correspondent Michael Coard for one, who asserted in a 2021 opinion piece that “Thanksgiving, as an American holiday, is a celebration of that racist genocide and massive land robbery.” In 2019, MSNBC host Joy Reid called Thanksgiving a “problematic” “food holiday.” Reid doubled down during on-air remarks in 2022 which she used to “unpack the myth of Thanksgiving.” The holiday, according to Reid, erases the idea that America is “a country founded on violence.” A 2020 blog by Gustavo Oliver on the Subvert website encouraged readers to view Thanksgiving as a “National Day of Mourning” and to “decolonize your playlist” if you listen to music while preparing the feast for family. And in a 2020 piece for the New York Times, author Nicole Daniels suggested America “rethink” Thanksgiving through “a lens of environmental justice and history.” If you think these are fringe voices, think again. A 2019 piece in the Washington Post encouraged Congress to “rename Thanksgiving to Indigenous People’s Day.” During a November 2019 rally, President Trump issued a warning: “As we gather together for Thanksgiving, you know, some people want to change the name Thanksgiving. They don’t want to use the term Thanksgiving.” He continued: “Now we’re going to have do little work on Thanksgiving. People have different ideas why it shouldn’t be called Thanksgiving.” “We’re not changing it,” Trump vowed. Trump isn’t alone in his insistence. Amid the growing cacophony of voices on the left calling for Thanksgiving’s cancellation, Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin was asked for his reaction. “I think we should not have an oversimplification of what interaction between Pilgrims and Native Americans were,” he said. “There were times when there was some working together but there was a great deal of times when there was strife and there was war and there was injury done.” But when it comes to ending, renaming, or “reimagining” Thanksgiving, Chief Hoskin draws the line. “I think it would not be good for the country, not good for Indian Country if we somehow got rid of Thanksgiving,” he insisted. We agree.
