Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on edge over world events
23/11/2023 11:00
By Daniel Trotta
Nov 23 (Reuters) - Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on
Thursday with heightened security measures in place and tensions
running high over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza,
potentially casting a shadow over a normally joyous holiday.
War in the Middle East has prompted officials to take extra
precautions at airports and shopping malls across the United
States and along the route of New York's signature Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade.
A quintessential American rite, Thanksgiving brings together
family and friends for turkey dinner and watching the parade and
American football on TV. It also marks the most intense week of
the year for travel and start of the holiday shopping season on
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Both are seen as
indicators for the health of the economy.
But this year the holiday takes place against the backdrop
of a war that has provoked a surge in antisemitism and
Islamophobia in the United States. The FBI has warned Congress
that the threat of terrorist attacks are at the highest in
nearly a decade.
Reflecting the anxiety, a fiery car crash on a U.S.-Canadian
border bridge set off alarm bells on Wednesday before officials
announced there was no connection to terrorism.
When asked about protests that may unfold during the Macy's
parade, New York Mayor Eric Adams told reporters the city
respected free-speech rights but would not tolerate any
disruption.
"You're not going to destroy property, you're not going to
injure people," Adams said on Wednesday.
New York police said they were unaware of any specific or
credible threats.
Adams encouraged New Yorkers and visitors to the city to
spend money and "shop till you drop!" but slower economic demand
has retailers concerned that the holiday season could prove
lackluster.
"Consumer demand has been even more uneven and difficult to
predict," Best Buy Chief Executive Corie Barry said.
Thanksgiving Day as an official holiday dates to 1863, in
the middle of the American Civil War, when President Abraham
Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a day to
give thanks and seek healing.
U.S. schoolchildren learn that the holiday roots trace back
to the Pilgrims, who settled in modern-day Massachusetts at
Plymouth Rock. In 1620 the newcomers celebrated the autumn
harvest with the native Wampanoag people. For many Native
Americans, however, Thanksgiving is a day of dark reflection
about the genocide that followed.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California and
Jonathan Allen in New York. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
((daniel.trotta@reuters.com;))