At a recent New York event, the President of the Foreign Press Association Ian Williams declared, before an approving audience, that it is time “to reclaim the narrative on Palestine”.

This phrase - ‘reclaiming the narrative’ - is relatively new to the Palestinian discourse. Years ago, the concept, let alone its implementation, were quite alien: the pro-Israel crowd refused, and still refuses, to acknowledge that Palestinians, their history and political discourse matter; some in the pro-Palestinian movement relegated Palestinian voices as if they were simply incapable of articulating a coherent narrative. 

For many years, I, along with other Palestinian intellectuals, raged against the misrepresentation and marginalization of Palestine and the Palestinians, not only by Israel and its allies in mainstream media, but also against the elitism that existed within the Palestinian movement itself. 

For a brighter Thanksgiving in our troubled times, I share my carefully chosen, over a number of months, roster of diverse age and origins Young Heroes. They give me hope and cheer. I hope they will do that for you and your families too . Enjoy.

Zaila Avant-garde, 14 year old first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She also holds three Guinness World Records for basketball dribbling.  Zaila Avant-garde Talks About How She Came To Her Spelling Success : NPR

Tani Adewumi, 10 year old Nigerian immigrant to New York City, youngest in history chess master. Meet America's Newest Chess Master. He's 10 : NPR

November is Native American Heritage Month and November 26th is Native American Heritage Day. For some Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning.
 

This past Spring Equinox, former First Lady of Ohio, Hope Taft, set off on foot from southwest Ohio for 160 miles over back roads visiting the state’s most noteworthy Native American earthworks, which are on the threshold of becoming World Heritage sites as determined by the United Nations.

If successful, this places Ohio’s earthworks with Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Giza and makes them the state’s first World Heritage designation. 

Yet well into the 21st century, white Christian men, Mormons in particular, are still seeking to re-write and even erase Native American history in “Ohi:yo,” which is Iroquois for “the great river” and the inspiration for “Ohio.”

Thursday, November 25, 12noon-2pm, Gokul Cafe [that serves Indian vegetarian cuisine at its finest and most authentic], 2685 Federated Blvd.

Let us celebrate Thanksgiving together in a very vegan way. No need to kill an innocent bird or exploit other animals.

Hosted by Columbus Vegan Meetup.

Former Columbus City Council candidate Joe Motil, who for several years has been Columbus’s most outspoken critic of the Mayor and City Council’s blanket tax abatement policies, states that, “You can certainly tell that the Columbus City Council election is over and it’s back to business as usual. It has been nine months since a $54 million tax abatement was handed out to an unknown data center operator. Heaven forbids that such an outrageous one night of nine unjustified tax abatements of just over $55 million be given out during the election season that could give an opponent and the media something of concern to bring to light to the voters of Columbus. Well, I guess we can only hope that they will be enlightened by this historic moment this evening of continued thievery by the mayor and city council members of our property tax revenues.”                   

Motil states that it has been reported that, “Central Ohio’s warehouse market was so hot last year that the only impediment developers saw as of January was a shortage of available land.” A warehouse firm executive stated, “there is tremendous demand for warehouse distribution centers.”