By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal

For my “Sooner” State friends.

Lawrence Ware

Lawrence Ware

Lawrence Ware is a professor and lecturer in philosophy at Oklahoma State University; pastor of Christian education at the Prospect Missionary Baptist Church in Oklahoma City; a member of the Choctaw Nation and a member of the US’ largest Marxist organization, Democratic Socialists of America.

In a message to his DSA comrades, comrade Ware lays out why Thanksgiving is a day of shame, rather than of celebration.

Writing in Democratic Left:

It’s Thanksgiving once again: the day every year when we all engage in gluttony to celebrate the fact that White People were saved by Native Americans — at least that is how it has been framed historically…

Let’s be honest: every year on the last Thursday of November, we celebrate the beginning of a European invasion that ends with the death or relocation of millions of native people. While many have tried to redefine the meaning of Thanksgiving into a time when we cultivate a sense of gratitude, the undeniable truth is that the blood of native people stains the genesis of the holiday…

No longer should we allow Thanksgiving to be about the Pilgrims who survived. It should be about the Wampanoag who gave selflessly; it is not about the beginning of Manifest Destiny, it is a day clothed in melancholy — remembering what was lost. Take back the holiday from colonial hands. Let us make the holiday about the voices that were silenced instead of the cultural forces that silenced them.

Let us be mindful of all oppressed people during this holiday — especially those who are economically marginalized. In the same way that Thanksgiving Day has been coopted by powerful colonial forces, powerful economic forces have commoditized the night.

Let us honor those who were marginalized by colonization by standing in solidarity with those who are marginalized by capitalism. Across this country, workers who do not make a living, saving wage will stand up for their rights on Black Friday. Let’s stand with them.

As an influential educator in the Baptist Church, comrade Ware has the power to influence thousands.

Why does the Baptist Church allow an open Marxist to preach from their pulpit?