Historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz on Thanksgiving: "It Has Never Been About Honoring Native Americans"

[CousinIT]

Actually, it's never been about honoring Native Americans. It's been about the origin story of the United States, the beginning of genocide, dispossession and constant warfare from that time -- actually, from 1607 in Jamestown -- until the present. It's a colonial system that was set up.

There's a sort of annual calendar for this origin story, beginning with Columbus, October 12. Why celebrate Columbus? It was the onset of colonialism, the slave trade and dispossession of the Native people of the Americas. So, that is celebrated with a federal holiday. That's followed then by Thanksgiving, which is a completely made-up story to say the Native people welcomed these people who were going to devastate their civilizations, which is simply a lie. And then you go to Presidents' Days, the Founding Fathers, in February, and celebrate these slaveowners, Indian killers. George Washington headed the Virginia militia for the very purpose of killing Native people on the periphery of the colony, before, you know, when it was still a Virginia colony. And then we have the big day, the fireworks, July 4th, independence, which is probably the most tragic event in world history, because it gave us -- it gave the world a genocidal regime under the guise of democracy. And that's really the -- I'm a historian, so that's the historical context that I think we have to see Thanksgiving in, that it is a part of that mythology that attempts to cover up the real history of the United States.

It actually -- when it was introduced as a holiday by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, there was no mention of pilgrims and Native people or food or pumpkins or anything like that. It was simply a day for families to be together and mourn their dead and be grateful for the living. And I think that's an appropriate holiday, that -- how people should enjoy it. But they should take Native Americans and Puritans out of the picture for it to be a legitimate holiday of feast and sharing with family and friends.

So, that's -- you know, the people at Plymouth, I send greetings to them. They have, for many years -- I think it's almost 40 years now -- stood up and testified to the lie of Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower, the pilgrims. And this is very hard for people to give up. This is the national -- nationalism. It's actually -- Americanism is white supremacy and represents negative things. There's almost no way to reconcile it. It simply has to be deconstructed and faced up to; and, otherwise, there will be no social change that's meaningful for anyone.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38498-historian-roxanne-dunbar-ortiz-on-thanksgiving-it-has-never-been-about-honoring-native-americans

[Mosby]

1. independence day is the most tragic day in human history?

I think the author needs to give back her PhD from wherever she got it.

[Statistical]

2. Yeah she lost me there.

I mean it is likely the American colonist (as British citizens) were all equal rights with native Americans and super progressive. Then suddenly July 4th started mass murdering every non-white in sight.

[leftofcool]

4. You would have to be Native American to understand this concept

You would have to have lived your life on a Reservation to understand it. Walk a mile in Indian shoes, read some books by Vine Deloria then I believe you will see instead of judging. And yes, I am native American and lived on the Reservation until the age of 5.

[Warpy]

3. No, it started as a rather god soaked harvest celebration

in a mostly agrarian country. Now it's all about stuffing a huge meal down your throat as quickly as possible so you can either snore in front of a TV showing football or join the crowds elbowing each other out of the way, your purchases rung up by people who also swallowed their dinners like pills but only because they had to get to work.

Yes, I'm jaded. Thanksgiving with my bunch back in New England was a hide from the family holiday that we spent with each other, the dinners being covered dish affairs and always good, if sometimes a little lopsided and strange.

The pious mouthing about the Indians is just that. Yes, the Wampanoags shared food with the Pilgrims for a while but the good feelings soon soured completely. I've heard the Wampanoag take on Thanksgiving and we white folks don't come off too good in it.

Stan Frebiurg did it best:

[leftofcool]

5. The author is correct on all counts!