While the vast majority of my fellow countrymen will sit down to a Thanksgiving Day feast tomorrow with their biggest concern being a political discussion started by a crazy uncle or grandfather, many native Americans will have a day filled with existential terror as they mark another celebration of their stolen birthright.
Most of us grew up and marked the Pilgrim's first "Thanksgiving" with their native sponsors. With nearly half the Massachusetts Bay colony having perished during their first winter in the New World, they came together, probably a lot earlier than the fourth Thursday in November to celebrate their continuing existence and supposedly thank "Squanto" for teaching them how to grow native American crops.
That's the Thanksgiving most of us are familiar with. However, thanks to modern day historians who documented the systemic violence against their native benefactors, the Wampanoags and the cheating of the tribe which resulted in the Pilgrim's expropriation of native land, we can now feel guilty even before that extra helping of turkey.
It turns out that many, if not all of the historical events we commemorate during the course of the year are built on a foundation of racism, misogyny and cultural appropriation. We may not appreciate being reminded that these myths are finally being exposed for the horrors they visited on natives, blacks and women, but we need to acknowledge them and try to live up to the ideals we piously express, especially on Thanksgiving.
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