Why My Thanksgiving Dress Code Is Black

I like celebrating Thanksgiving just as much as the next person but how do you dress for it? And what exactly are we celebrating?

Thankgiving is a celebration of being friends with the actual Natives of this land. Natives that were later brutally murdered and are still discriminated. That’s an article for a whole other day.

The older we get, the more we think critically about why the hell we follow certain traditions. Now I don’t want to be the killjoy of the family and outright denounce Thanksgiving day, because at the same time, it’s become a family gathering that I enjoy attending. I’m also too poor to give up any kind of free food offered by my parents, aunts and uncles.

So I make a statement in how I dress instead. All black. It’s a sign of mourning or remembering those who have passed. Being a native of the Americas, I definitely identify our peoples’ plight with those of the US but ours are really different. Most of Mexico and all of the countries South of it are made up of “mestizos,” meaning that we’re mixed. Even so you can tell by our features and skin color that we’re natives of the land. The US however, is predominantly ruled and controlled by descendants of colonizers who are predominantly white.

The natives of the US face strifes that no one seems to care about and while we share many similarities, the struggles we face due to assimilation are completely different.

As we continue to gather information that has been omitted by American textbooks, completely made up or embellished, it’s impossible not to feel somber about it. The genocides that took place to make America what it is today shouldn’t be ignored and while we give thanks for what we have, we can take the opportunity to figure out how to reach out and help one another.

In the end, we are one and they are our brothers and sisters.