Background Briefing: November 26, 2020
A Native American Perspective on Thanksgiving
We begin with a native American perspective on this Thanksgiving holiday and speak with Jaynie Parrish, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, Director of the Navajo-Hopi Campaign at the Navajo County Democratic Party and the Founder of Parrish Digital, a social media enterprise specializing in creating, maintaining, and expanding social media content for tribes, organizations, and businesses. She joins us to discuss the Thanksgiving myths that persist of the generosity of the native people to the white settlers which history tells us was met with genocide and plunder. But as families across the country gather, so does Jaynie’s Navajo family gather to give thanks for the food and celebrate, family, friends and community.
What We Can Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving
Then, in spite of the ruination wrought by Trump, we look into what we can be thankful for on this day and speak with Stephan Schwartz, the editor of the daily web publication The Schwartzreport which concentrates on trends that will shape the future. His latest book is The 8 Laws of Change and he joins us to discuss the hopeful sign that America will re engage with the world in the greatest challenge of our lifetime to deal with climate change before it is too late and how the younger generation is showing us the way in their tolerance for racial and gender differences.
The Reverend Billy on the Sin of Shopping
Then finally we speak with the Reverend Billy, the Leader of the Stop Shopping Choir, a group of New York activists who sing and perform while they risk arrest on trespassing invasions of climate-denying banks, chemical plants, pipeline properties and for-profit prisons. With holiday consumption a mortal sin for this church, who see fossil-fuel-based shopping during the pandemic as stupefying, the Church of Stop Shopping has started a radio and podcast show, “Reverend Billy Radio – Preacher for the Planet” which broadcasts on the New York’s WABC, reaching as far as the Mississippi River as well as at the religious column on Neil Young’s website newspaper the Times Contrarian.