text: ASCAC Regions AND COMMISSIONS
  ascacwesternregioninfo@gmail.com
  LATHORNTON5@optimum.net
  YRJONES2015@GMAIL.COM
  CROWEMIDWEST@GMAIL.COM
  CREATIVE PRODUCTIONS COMMISSION
  ROSALIND JEFFRIES AND W. JOYE HARDIMAN
  ROSALIND.JEFFRIES@ICLOUD.COM AND WJOYEHARDIMAN@GMAIL.COM
  connect to a region AND COMMISSION
  Special Message from LaTrella Thornton, Chair, Education Commission
  E e m hotep/I come in peace,
  One of the goals of the Education Commission is the development of the Spiritual Domain, a domain that is omitted in the current education system. This domain has nothing to do with religion. Some of the principles of the domain were presented to the ASCAC general body at several national conferences. One of the principles is Everything is Energy.
  Highlighting the principles through concepts known, understood, and lived, is one way of explaining and bringing greater clarity to the principle under topic. Everything is Energy, the fundamental principle of the Spiritual Domain, is discussed and explored through the American holiday, 'Thanksgiving' in a document on the ASCAC website.
  After reading and beginning to develop an understanding that Everything is Energy through the discussion of 'thanksgiving', to deepen that understanding, I suggest that you begin to look at everything in your life – your thoughts, words, actions; plants, animals, rocks – all things in the universe, as energy, working to understand how and for what purpose this can be applied in your life.
  Please feel free to contact me at lathornton5@optimum.net if you have questions, comments, or for further discussion.
  Shm e m hotep/I go in peace
  A look through the lens of misgivings
  In science we were taught that energy is not created or destroyed, it changes form. As I grew in understanding energy, I learned that Everything is Energy – humans, animals, plants, rocks, thoughts, words, actions, ideas, Ancestors – all things.
  I was extremely sad on the day I call misgivings, the day many call thanksgiving. I was sad because I received many texts offering blessings of the day to me, sad because I realized that most of our people celebrate misgivings, sad because I understand that most of our people have neither historical nor energetic understanding of what misgiving represents and the 'blessings' they're giving.
  We learned in school that the pilgrims gave thanks for a bountiful harvest their first harvest season in this land, made possible by the assistance of the Indigenous People of this land; this was the beginning of the celebration of misgivings. We were not told, however, that the Indigenous People the pilgrims encountered, called Indians by the settlers, were of the Wampanoag Nation, a nation of people who lived on and occupied the land, were "decimated through disease, treachery, and slaughter" not too long after their expression of generosity (Dr. Marimba Ani). The settlers gave thanks after each slaughter of the Indigenous People, having so many misgivings celebrations that Abraham Lincoln made the many misgivings into one day, a national holiday, celebrated as 'thanksgiving'. Misgivings is the most celebrated holiday in this land.
  What does 'thanksgiving' mean to this nation? The nation gives thanks for the genocide of the Indigenous Peoples of this land, which enabled the settlers to claim the land as their own. Without the genocide of the Indigenous Peoples, this nation wouldn't exist. In order to make the land prosperous, this settler nation enslaved African Peoples to work the land. Without the enslavement of African Peoples, this nation would not be prosperous. By extension, on 'thanksgiving' this nation celebrates the enslavement of African Peoples. July 2020, Tom Cotton, senator from Arkansas, said slavery was a necessary evil. Certainly, he gives thanks for the genocide of the Indigenous Peoples and enslavement of African Peoples on 'thanksgiving'. I'm pretty sure he's not alone.
  On 'thanksgiving' this nation celebrates the continuation of its way of life, made possible by the genocide of one people and the enslavement of another. 'thanksgiving' is a ritual, done yearly with purpose, in which the settlers invoke and thank their god for continuing to bless them. As in most rituals, an offering/sacrifice is made to the deity for reciprocity purposes. Approximately 46 million turkeys are slaughtered and eaten on misgivings yearly; this is the offering/sacrifice. This ritual, unfortunately, is participated in by the very peoples whose Ancestors were either victims of genocide or enslavement; they, themselves, remain at the bottom of the social, economic, health, and all other indicators in this settler nation, regardless of their financial and educational achievements.
  If our people knew and understood what misgivings really celebrated, I would hope, with much prayer, we wouldn't celebrate it. To know truth, however, independent study is necessary; the descendants of the settlers will not teach it in their schools, not to our children nor to theirs.
  Some of us who understand the history of misgivings gather with family on misgivings day, using it to be with family. Others say they're giving thanks for the good things in their lives. If we understand the scientific principle that energy is neither created nor destroyed, but rather, changes form, and apply the concept to misgivings, I doubt seriously there would be many of us gathering with family or anyone else on 'thanksgivings' day.
  Everything is energy; energy is not created or destroyed; energy is transformed. Just as those who are now Ancestors were once in human form, seen by other living beings, now no longer seen or exist in the physical world but exist in another form on another plane, so do all things that occurred in the physical world exist in a transformed state on another plane.
  Those of us who relate to Ancestors and pour libation to them, understand that although the Ancestors no longer exist on this plane, they are living energies that can be invoked, communicated with, prayed to, etc. It is understood that the Ancestors exist and impact our lives.
  Everything that ever existed exists always – the energy of the original existence transformed. Just as humans exist in a transformed state on another plane, referred and related to as Ancestors, so do thoughts, words, actions, etc.; all things that ever existed exist in a different form on a different plane; everything is energy. This means that when 'thanksgiving' is celebrated, the energies of the many slaughters of the Indigenous Peoples and enslavement of African Peoples are being energized/fed. The energizing/feeding of the original actions of genocide and enslavement, although they exist in a transformed state on a different plane, grow and become more powerful. These transformed energies, made more powerful each year they are invoked, prayed to, thought about, spoken about, re-enacted, thanked, felt good about, etc., impact the physical world, and are very instrumental in maintaining the power and position of the settlers' legacy through their descendants and those who embrace the legacy in this nation.
  In the African tradition it is understood that when someone dies, as long as the person's name is called, they remain in the World of the Living Dead. When their names are no longer called, they go to the World of the Dead Dead. Traditional Africans understood that speaking the name of the deceased energizes/feeds the deceased, and that the energies of the deceased impact the physical world. When the name is no longer called, the energies of the deceased no longer impact the physical world. As long as the Indigenous Peoples of this nation and African Peoples continue to celebrate/energize/feed misgivings, they feed and empower the original energies, which grow, and grow, and grow and feed the settlers' children, their children, and their children's children, ad infinitum.
  African and indigenous Peoples must do nothingon misgivings, not think about it before it arrives, not on the day, or after the day. No energy in any form is to be given to this day. Our goal it to put it into the World of the Dead Dead!!! We can gather with family and give thanks for our blessings on any of the other 364 days that remain in the year.
  When a thing is not fed, it withers, loses power, and transforms. Let's not feed genocide and enslavement; let's not feed the forms they have taken, as they exist in the physical world at this time. Let us act with wisdom, understanding what is really happening, and do what is required for us to reclaim and hold onto our energy and power. Let us understand that Everything is Energy; Energy is not Created or Destroyed; Energy Transforms. Let us behave as if we understand what this means, and put what we know into practice. Let's liberate ourselves. Let's not feed the vampires.