What does it mean to celebrate a holiday of giving thanks for a freedom acquired through colonialism and genocide? When I sit with my origin story, it does not feel comfortable.
For indigenous communities, America’s Thanksgiving is a day of mourning.
I am not indigenous to this land renamed America. The shelves of my childhood classrooms were filled with my white-washed history that lauded Christopher Columbus and the hardships endured by the pilgrims. In music class, we sang America’s patriotic songs, which proclaimed this beautiful land as rightfully ours. The mascot of my high school was “The Red Raider” until just a few months ago. Never did we speak of those who were displaced, murdered, and robbed of their land. Never did we talk about the true origin story of acquired land.
Ignorance should never be an excuse for comfort and complacecy.
My ancestral origins are spread across the European continent. Although I may not be directly responsible for the colonizing this land, it is my origin story. If I am going to take a seat at a Thanksgiving table it should not feel comfortable.
The Light Behind the Story 
Strangely enough, in the 19th century they did write the indigenous people into the Thanksgiving myth as if the original inhabitants were happy to have these invaders take their land. The local tribes did help the “pilgrims” survive, and there may have been a joint feast. The whole thing was promoted in later years because having people coming here to escape religious persecution and being helped by the indigenous people made a better story than the earlier Jamestown, which was 100% for profit, exploited the land and welcomed the first African slaves. Oh well. Yes, I do agree with you. There is little we can do about what our ancestors did, but we can know the truth and remember where we came from, and those who called this land “home” before our ancestors knew it existed.
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Indeed, we’ve been fed a lot of convenient myths to make us feel better about our appropriation. 😔
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Oh well said, and so on point. This is such an important conversation, at this time especially. Here in India, we know how brutal colonization was and the devastation it wrought. Thanks for writing this.
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These stories need to be spoken about and acknowledged or we’re never going to achieve true equality.
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Absolutely.
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Thank you for sharing important insights, Alethea. As someone of mixed Ojibwe and Euro-American heritage who has taught diversity courses and worked to address the consequences of historical oppression and the legacy of intergenerational trauma, I have learned that we have all inherited oppressive societies that those of us living today didn’t create. And sadly, too few have had access to the kinds of education that helped provide a foundation for thinking critically about that history.
But it’s immobilizing to be mired in guilt for the legacy our ancestors, many of whom escaped oppression in their homelands, We need to understand the past through many other lenses in order to address the legacy of harm if we wish to avoid repeating the brutal mistakes of the past, not an easy task on either a global, national or personal level.
I am grateful to you for sharing an important perspective. It’s a crucial step in creating a kinder, more inclusive world.
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Thank you, Carol for being a compassionate provider of this much needed education to create, as you said, a kinder and inclusive world. I have a lot of faith in the younger generations. They seem to be much more aware.
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💜
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We don’t have Thanksgiving in Australia but we have Australia Day that celebrates the arrival of the first fleet of white settlers. Many aboriginal people call it Invasion Day.
As white people it is very difficult to know where to position ourselves as our awareness of the true history of the land we call home becomes more widely known. There are no easy answers for we are part of our own culture but we also aware that our culture is based on lies, oppression and murder. We are not responsible for the sins of those who did these deeds but we are responsible for how we relate to the traditional owners of the country. Honouring their values, understanding their deep connection to the land and their finely attuned ways of caring for the country is something we can do.
Maybe in broadening your understanding of what Thanksgiving is really about and bringing that awareness into your celebrations in some way could one way you could continue to celebrate it with your family.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Suzanne. You raise a lot of important points about a global issue.
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I get angry every time someone says that the immigrants should just go home…whose home is this? Where did your ancestors come from? At the same time I find the idea of land “belonging” to anyone to be false. What was done to the Native Peoples all over the world was wrong–and yet we all came from the same place in the beginning. No land “belongs” to any one self-described tribe of peoples or even to humans to the exclusion of everyone else, or any other living thing. But conquering and ruling, insisting that others follow your ways and believe what you believe, are also false narratives.
Still, I think you can celebrate Thanksgiving without including the baggage, and truly give thanks for the blessings you have–family and friends, food, shelter. (K)
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I agree with you. Ultimately we all share the same land with no beginning or end, which is our globe of Earth. I hope someday we can truly honor our diverse background while realizing we all belong here. The power struggles, though, as you say, need to go away.
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I Love this article. Thank you!
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Thank you 🙏
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