A New Thanksgiving Feast

Back in 2016, I was writing the song New Thanksgiving Feast. Mid-way through I called my producer to play him what I had so far. It was at that point mostly a catalog of images from America past and present, followed by a lot of editorializing. His advice was, “This is a song of images. Don’t editorialize”.

For a song that starts with the whitewashed Thanksgiving story most of us Americans were taught in school, then ranges into topics like immigration, the women’s march, counterprotestors, Colin Kaepernick taking a knee and the Dakota Access Pipeline, this was great advice. Editorializing would have been a mess, and likely, no one would have listened.

When I wrote the song we were not yet living under the first Trump administration. I was reaching for some higher collective truth. At the risk of sounding crazy, I still reach for that truth.

For so many reasons, it feels more important than ever to support and learn from the Indigenous communities who have access to a more rooted and sustainable relationship with this planet.

New Thanksgiving Feast is available on my Bandcamp with all proceeds going to support The Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, the folks who inhabited the land I live on, before European contact. The mission of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi is to support the preservation, protection and promotion of their history, culture and traditions; while providing social, economic and educational resources, opportunities and services that contribute to the well being of the tribal community.

Many thanks to my friends at Macum Creek House Concerts in Maryland, for filming New Thanksgiving Feast the first time I performed it.

Here is the full lyric:

We traced our hands and made paper cutouts
We pasted feathers on
And we would shout out
“I made a turkey”
“I made a headdress”
“I made a pilgrim’s hat”
Then it was recess
And the bell would ring
We’d run into the streets
Called Iroquois, Council Rock, Cayuga
Those street signs hid the truth though

Dad put the football on
It felt like family
We’d eat the most we could
Pass out in front of the TV
Grandma and grandpa
They were from Russia
They wouldn’t talk about
What it was like though
I think they would have died
If they had never tried
To come here
Another family knowin’ that fear

Now I think about the English-Irish Servants
Africans they drug across in chains
Chinese and Italian families riding on the waves
While along the pitch pine highway
Near Plymouth Beach
A Wampanoag fights to keep his right to fish the sea
A Wampanoag fights to keep his right to fish the sea
When we all meet our Creator
Which will it be?
Paper cutouts and hollow shells
Or a new Thanksgiving feast
Or a new Thanksgiving feast

Out on an icy plain
Wrapped in blankets and beads
Elders with weathered faces
Faces that read like history
Say a prayer for all of those who’ve come to stand
And a prayer for those firing water canons
It is a prayer for
The Creator

While on a football field
A man refuses to rise
To salute a country that would let his people die
And though the rage and fear
Swirl around him like a twister
He’s committed to his brothers and his sisters
He’s made a choice he knows
So peacefully he sits there

While along the chilly streets of Boston,
Charlotte, Seattle and DC
People pouring out in numbers never seen before
When we come to face our shadows
Shadows too angry to ignore
Are we gonna tell ourselves it’s down to either/or
Or will we finally realize we’re meant for something more?
When we all meet our Creator
Which will it be?
Towing the lines, pretending we’re blind
Or a new Thanksgiving feast
Or a new Thanksgiving feast

Be Part of My Next Podcast - Ask Me Anything - Submit your question by 12/2!

For the next episode of Jess Klein’s Big Table: I’ll be answering questions from you! Ask me anything about my albums, songwriting process, tour life, anything you’ve heard me say on the podcast, my own spiritual/social justice journey, or even ask my advice on a challenge you’re facing in your life!

To submit a question, hit REPLY to this email, shoot me a message at jess@jessklein.com or leave a comment below and I’ll consider your question for a special Ask Me Anything Episode to air in early December!

It’s been an inspiring education for me, this first season of Jess Klein’s Big Table, conversations with Artists, Activists and visionaries! I hope it has for you as well! I’ll release two more episodes this year before taking a break for the holidays.