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Thanksgiving, Ferguson tragedy, American dream
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AMERICANS recently enjoyed their Thanksgiving, a unique holiday like Spring Festival in China. You can feel its influence even in China. Kids take this day to express their gratitude to teachers and family. Surprisingly, I got a gift — a box of men’s face cream from my 10-year-old girl. It is a great holiday.
Cicero said: “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
In 1621 when the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the white settlers invited 90 American Indians.
A year before, 102 Mayflower passengers arrived and only 53 survived. They knew that without the selfless hospitality of the Indians they wouldn’t survive. They were grateful to the Indians.
Nevertheless, what have the whites done to the Indians? They cheated and deprived them of life, liberty, property and land. Not only American Indians, this great country made Africans their slaves, Chinese their coolies, and they put American Japanese in internment camps.
Thanksgiving means family reunions, turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, football, the Macy’s Parade, and the Black Friday shopping.
What makes this Thanksgiving different is during the dinner many families are talking about two things: First, the Ferguson, Missouri tragedy, where a white police officer shot an unarmed black teenager on a street. The decision by a grand jury not to indict the officer sparked protests, some of which involved smashing and looting, across the nation. Second, President Obama signed an executive order suspending deportation efforts against over 5 million undocumented immigrants. The lame-duck president is trying to fix America’s broken immigration system that mistreated millions of immigrants, mostly from Mexico.
As a professor teaching American culture, I’m writing a book called “American Culture: Dream and Reality.” The history of the United State is full of glories but it also has a dark and even bloody side.
Americans believe in freedom and equality. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” reads the Declaration of Independence, written in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson.
“Equal justice under law” is engraved on the front of the United States Supreme Court building.
America used to review the past and try to make amends for its wrongdoings. It has made a lot of progress but the reality is that great problems remain. Racial discrimination is one of them.
The writer is associate professor in the culture and communications department and research fellow of the Sino-Denmark joint research center on China and International Relations, University of International Relations. Johnliu1963@yahoo.com. The views are his own.
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