Email from Bill Penzy of Penzys Spices for Indigenous Peoples Day

[7wo7rees]

When events have a family member hurting or a close friend is going through a rough patch, there is much to be said for letting them know we care and that we are thinking about them. When a people have faced five hundred years of more or less relentless horror, them having to think about us thinking about them probably does pretty much the exact opposite of making them feel better.

So with today’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day, maybe for those of us who are not Native Americans it’s not so much time to send thoughts and prayers, but instead take a look inside ourselves and work to be better. With this in mind I would like to share this quote from groundbreaking film director Melvin Van Peebles, who died this past September 21st at the age of 89, as told by his son Mario Van Peebles: "True liberation did not mean imitating the colonizer's mentality. It meant appreciating the power, beauty and interconnectivity of all people."

Our country’s founders overthrew those who colonized this land but failed to overthrow their mentality. And obviously none of us were alive back then, but how much of that colonizer’s mindset still lives on in all of us? It’s been a little over 500 hundred years since Columbus first arrived and started maiming and killing those he found here for refusing to give him spices and gold they didn’t have. In those years we’ve made progress. My hope is, somewhere before we reach 1,000 years on we realize what makes this place amazing isn’t what was brought here by the Europeans, but in the complex, vibrant, empathetic culture already ongoing for thousands of years before they arrived.

Peace—let’s put it in a pipe and smoke it together. How awesome is that?

Thanks for reading. Let’s be better,



Bill
[e-mail]

I think it is beautiful and speaks to my heart. As I was reading I felt I had to share with DU.
Ms. 7wo7rees
This tune came to mind ....... Fogerty and his kids....
"Don't You Wish It Was True"

[abqtommy]

1. Thanks for this great op! nt

[7wo7rees]

2. Very welcome and grateful to share. n/t

[Tetrachloride]

3. I used to live a mile west before Penzeys existed

A relative of my high school’s best practical joker worked there.

[Karma13612]

4. We have purchased their spices

Over the years. Love them.

Back in August, I was visiting in Buffalo NY and happened on one of their Brick-n-Mortars on Elmwood Ave. Wonderful aroma when you walk in….

Put a major dent in my wallet that day!!!

[7wo7rees]

5. We have a brick and mortar here in North Dallas.

Since 2005. And yes, open the door and walk in and it smells delicious!! Always a serious dent.
I give as gifts always and have given 2 wedding crates.
Much love!!!

[Karma13612]

7. Oh my gosh! How thoughtful! Eom

[lagomorph777]

6. It was the pursuit of spices that drove Columbus to rediscover Hispaniola.

Or so the legend goes. I think he already knew there was another continent, thanks to knowledge handed down from the Vikings, through the Templars.

[csziggy]

8. Or the Basque fishermen who fished the Grand Banks! nt