{"id":224496,"date":"2022-11-28T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=224496"},"modified":"2022-11-25T06:14:20","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T06:14:20","slug":"indigenous-people-push-back-against-us-thanksgiving-mythology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/11\/indigenous-people-push-back-against-us-thanksgiving-mythology\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous People Push Back Against US ‘Thanksgiving Mythology’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“We will not stop telling the truth about the Thanksgiving story and what happened to our ancestors,” says Kisha James, whose grandfather founded the National Day of Mourning in 1970.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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“Many of the conditions that prevailed in Indian Country in 1970 still prevail today,” Kisha James said in Plymouth, Massachusetts on November 24, 2022, pointing to life expectancy, suicide, and infant mortality rates\u2014along with the rising death rate for Native women.
(Photo: screenshot\/hate5six\/YouTube)<\/p><\/div>\n

24 Nov 2022 – <\/em>The United American Indians<\/strong> of New England and allies gathered at noon Thursday at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts for the 53rd National Day of Mourning\u2014an annual tradition that serves<\/a> as “a day of remembrance and spiritual connection, as well as a protest against the racism and oppression that Indigenous people continue to experience worldwide.”<\/p>\n

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“It has continued for all these years as a powerful demonstration of Indigenous unity and of the unity of all people who speak truth to power.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“We don’t have any issues with people sitting down with their family and giving thanks,” Kisha James\u2014who is an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and is also Oglala Lakota\u2014told<\/a> BBC<\/em>. “What we do object to is the Thanksgiving mythology.”<\/p>\n

In a Thursday speech, James\u2014whose grandfather founded<\/a> the National Day of Mourning in 1970\u2014challenged the lies of “mythmakers” and history books, instead highlighting “genocide, the theft of our lands, the destruction of our traditional ways of life, slavery, starvation, and never-ending oppression.”<\/p>\n

“When people celebrate the myth of Thanksgiving, they are not only erasing our genocide but also celebrating it. We did not simply fade into the background as the Thanksgiving myth says. We have survived and flourished. We have persevered,” she declared.<\/p>\n

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#Thanksgiving<\/a> should be a day of remembrance and reflection on the history of the genocide, violent assimilation, and marginalization of #NativePeoples<\/a> throughout US history. <\/p>\n

Join @mahtowin1<\/a> tomorrow in Plymouth, MA, or watch the live stream on Youtube https:\/\/t.co\/pGSVrsaBXL<\/a><\/p>\n

— Cultural Survival (@CSORG) November 23, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n