Thanksgiving, Immokalee Style

This past Tuesday, after spending the previous weekend in Ft. Benning, GA for the School of the Americas protest, and the previous week hosting an immersion trip, my parents came to visit me in Immokalee. Despite my non-stop schedule, I was excited for my parents to see the community I have been living in and all the people in it that make it what it is. It was extremely special to me that my parents were able to share in Thanksgiving dinner with my community.

Like most things have been this year, Thanksgiving did not fail to be a go-with-the-flow, inclusive and unpredictable day. It started with a knock on the front door at 9am sharp by our Guatemalan friend from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, along her daughter and two turkeys in tow. She excitedly greeted us and went right to our kitchen to put the turkey in the oven. Soon after, her brother arrived with a propane tank and some contraption used to cook his special hot chile pepper turkey.

Throughout the morning, people came rushing in and out of the kitchen, checking on this or that. Because the Thanksgiving meal was set to begin at 4pm, my parents and I decided to visit the lake down the road around noon. As we pulled out of the driveway, though, we were stopped by a crowd of people who just arrived.

“Where are you going?” our friend asked in Spanish. I told her we were going to the lake and she asked, “Why? We are going to eat now.” I looked at the group of people climbing out of the truck behind me, arms full of various food dishes and yet another turkey. “But I thought we were going to eat at four?” I said. “We will eat again at four!” she said. “Come eat!”

I parked the car and my parents and I joined our Guatemalan friends on our porch. I introduced everyone to my parents, and then we began to eat the turkey, green beans, corn, and pico de gallo—which we all ate with tortillas. And despite the wonderful and copious amounts of food, we were hungry for round two at 4 o’clock. It was wonderful getting to reciprocate our gratitude by sharing our U.S. version of a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

In solidarity,

Julie