The Horrors of Thankstaking Continue to This Day

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman discuss the theft inherent to the capitalist system, how struggle is an act of reclamation of the things stolen under capitalism, and the importance of joy in the struggle against exploitation.

In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, Chair of the Social Justice Committee of Macedonia Baptist Church in Bethesda, Maryland to discuss an attempted development of a historic African cemetery in Bethesda, Maryland, the desecration of the burial site under the watch of a so-called progressive county government, the victory won by the community over wealthy white developers, and what that victory means for other communities around the nation and in the current political moment.

In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Justin Williams, co-host of Red Spin Sports to discuss militarism on display in NFL games in games surrounding Veterans Day, what’s really behind the displays of militarism during games, the exploitation of the memory of Pat Tillman to serve a militaristic purpose despite his anti-war trajectory before his death, and the Department of Defense’s broader hand in entertainment.

Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, and author of the book “The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean” to discuss the thanksgiving myth and the mythmaking that is designed to obscure the horrors exercised on indigenous people, how these myths connect to the rise of the far-right and fascism today, the challenge that China poses to US dominance and imperialism through its people-first policies, and how the sham of the COP 26 conference connects to the movement more broadly.