Laying in bed the night of Thanksgiving, my belly stuffed with food from two separate Thanksgiving meals, a bandage made of gauze wrapped in two bandaids—firmly but not too tightly—around my finger, and a sore hand with a story to tell. I am reminded of what Thanksgiving and moreover, the holidays as a whole really means to me.
I want to express what Thanksgiving started from; a celebration of the murder of countless Native American tribes at the hands of colonizers from many countries exploring the ocean, most famously Britain. And the theft of their land. Along with what Christians do with most religions, blending several different traditions from several different beliefs, some of them older than the belief of god as Christians know it, to form a “new” holiday.
That Thanksgiving is fucked. Plain and simply put, it is an ass backward holiday on the highest caliber of ass backward-ness.
The one I believe in, the one I celebrate is not the celebration of the white man's ability to steal, kill, and degrade. The holiday I celebrate is the one where all the people I have come to love and care for, my family. Both blood and self-described, come together to celebrate the old memories made before and the new ones made now, that will soon join the old, cherished forever in the countless retellings in the years to come. Spending time with family even if this means answering and dodging the same questions asked every year and putting up with that one relative that just says too many wrong and weird things. Or, funny enough getting bit by a dog that isn't your own for once.
Holidays are about the food. Enjoying beautifully immaculate hams, the most tender of tender porks, and the juiciest of turkeys, together. With crispy marshmallow-topped yams, the stuffiest stuffing with green beans, corn, and mash on the side, dripping with the brownest of gravies. Of course, who could forget the even more scrumptious desserts that I could go on and on about
Most importantly Thanksgiving is no longer a celebration of the blood spilt for this land but a day of remembrance and solidarity for those who had what was rightfully theirs taken in the most gruesome of manners. Although their history is lost, their land taken and their bodies buried. We remember what we can about what they have left behind and stand together with our families, having the biggest feasts in their name, in their honor.
Be thankful for what you have, it may just be taken one day by men blinded by power and greed.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving and thievery, I leave you with this,
The Air that I breathe
By The Hollies
The Air That I Breathe, was originally written by two musicians Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood in 1972. It was released by The Hollies, a 1970s psychedelic pop rock band in their 1974 self-titled album Hollies. Today it is one of their most popular songs. A song very in tune with what was popular for the 70s, it carried a very whining, echoed and frankly depressing sound—truly a beautiful song.
20 years later, in 1993 a blossoming rock band known as Radiohead released the album Pablo Honey, second in their tracklist, the song ‘Creep’ very quickly became their most popular song to ever be released, with over a billion listens on various platforms today.
Taking a listen to both songs with a trained ear, it becomes apparent that they undoubtedly have a very similar sound. They do not open the same nor do they close the same but without a shadow of a doubt, Creep, Radiohead’s most popular song sounds almost exactly like The Air that I Breathe. Cover bands on YouTube have released tracks of both songs mashed together and they fit together very very well.
According to a statement by Albert himself in 2002, the publishing company that held the rights for The Air I Breathe, Rondor Music, had decided that the similarities between the two songs were too great and sued Radiohead for copyright infringement. Radiohead acknowledged that they had in fact taken inspiration from the song and thus they were not sued to the point of losing their song. Instead, they came up with an agreement, Albert and Mike would get a part of the royalties for Creep as well as writing credits and Radiohead would keep their rights to the song.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Byee for now, I'll see you soon <3
Thank you B for reading over this and making sure it's good enough to post. <3