Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving today with heightened security measures
Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving today with heightened security and heightened tensions over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, potentially overshadowing an otherwise joyous holiday.
The war in the Middle East has led officials to take extra precautions at airports and malls across the United States and along the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a New York City landmark.
A quintessential American ritual, Thanksgiving brings family and friends together for turkey dinner and to watch the parade and American football on TV. It also marks the busiest travel week of the year and the start of the holiday shopping season on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Both are considered indicators of the strength of the economy.
But this year the holiday takes place against the background of a war which has fueled anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the United States. The FBI has warned Congress that the threat of terrorist attacks is at its highest level in nearly a decade.
Reflecting the anguish, the car crash into a bridge that caused an explosion at the US-Canada border sparked alarm yesterday, Wednesday, before officials announced it was not terrorism-related.
When asked about the demonstrations that may take place during the parade, New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters that the city respects the right to free speech. but he will not tolerate any disturbance.
“You will not destroy property, you will not injure people,” Adams said Wednesday.
Police in New York said they were not aware of any specific or credible threats.
Adams urged New Yorkers and visitors to the city to splurge and “shop till you drop!” but sluggish demand has traders worried that the holiday season will turn out to fall well short of their expectations.
“Consumer demand has been uneven and difficult to predict,” said Best Buy CEO Cory Barry.
Thanksgiving as a public holiday was established in 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War, when President Abraham Lincoln declared the last day of November a day of thanksgiving and healing.
Children in American schools learn that the roots of the holiday go back to the Pilgrims, when English settlers founded the Plymouth Colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In 1620 the new arrivals celebrated the fall harvest with the local Wampanoag natives. For many Native Americans, however, Thanksgiving is a sad day because of the genocide that followed.
Source :Skai
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