Mit Thanksgiving haben hierzulange vermutlich nur Expats und deren Familien etwas am Hut. Mit Chelsea Manning dagegen schon eher. Die TIME bittet jedes Jahr einige Personen des öffentlichen Lebens um ein Statement zu Personen oder sonstigen Dingen, für die sie dankbar sind . Darunter in diesem Jahr eben auch Chelsea Manning. So schreibt Manning unter Anderem:

I’m usually hesitant to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. After all, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony systematically terrorized and slaughtered the very same Pequot tribe that assisted the first English refugees to arrive at Plymouth Rock. So, perhaps ironically, I’m thankful that I know that, and I’m also thankful that there are people who seek out, and usually find, such truths.

[…]

For instance, the man commonly known as Malcolm X began to openly embrace the idea, after an awakening during his travels to the Middle East and Africa, of an international and unifying effort to achieve equality, and was murdered after a tough, yearlong defection from the Nation of Islam. Martin Luther King Jr., after choosing to embrace the struggles of striking sanitation workers in Memphis over lobbying in Washington, D.C., was murdered by an escaped convict seeking fame and respect from white Southerners. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician in the U.S., was murdered by a jealous former colleague. These are only examples; I wouldn’t dare to make a claim that they represent an exhaustive list of remarkable pioneers of social justice and equality—certainly many if not the vast majority are unsung and, sadly, forgotten.

Mannings vollständiges Statement gibt’s bei der TIME. Außerdem dabei: Kid President und Ai-jen Poo.

(via)