Thanksgiving and why it’s wrong. Thanksgiving is not what you think it is. Thanksgiving is celebration of thousands of deaths and literal genocide. This event reminds Indigenous people of the theft of their land and the relentless assault on Native culture as a whole. Many Indigenous people use this as a day of mourning and suffering because of this so-called holiday. Vast amounts of people historically died and suffered on this day. These are some of the reasons why Thanksgiving should be transformed into a day of mourning out of appreciation for our fellow Native Americans. Reminding someone of the genocide that happened to their people should not be treated as a holiday, Thanksgiving had nothing to do with the actual Native American people not this cultural lie that we have been told . The historical lie we have been taught is that friendly Indians welcomed Pilgrims to their land, taught them how to live on the land, had a grand dinner together, and vanished. This is not what happened, the real story was more violent than this.

 

           Thanksgiving true story.

The myth that is thanksgiving.

As previously stated, Thanksgiving is a reminder of millions of Indigenous people dying, the theft of their land, and exploitation of their culture. Why should we “celebrate” a genocide?

What really happened?

-Peace did not last 

Columbus Day

 

             Many states have already made Columbus Day into Indigenous Day already. Let’s make Indigenous Day a holiday throughout the United States. Christopher Columbus was a horrible person. We should not treat him like a saint. He did not discover land ;it belonged to Indigenous people before he arrived that had been living there for centuries by the time he arrived in 1492.

What did he do to Native people?

-Enslaved Native people.

-Treated them with extreme violence and brutality.

-Forced them to work for him to profit.

-Those left behind were forced to search for gold in mines/work on plantations.

-Columbus ordered a brutal crackdown where many Native people were killed in an attempt to deter further rebellion. 

-Columbus ended up bringing new diseases over to Native lands. This impacted many of the New World islands/communities.

 

Our demands

-Turn Columbus Day into Indigenous People Day.

-Turn Thanksgiving into a national day of mourning.

-Teach the real history of what happened for Thanksgiving and Columbus Day. We have been celebrating a lie for ages.

 

What you can do instead :

-Donate to organizations that help and support Native Americans

-Support Native owned businesses

-Do not shop from stores such as Urban outfitters, they profit off of Native cultures/traditions.

-Do not speak over Indigenous voices. Share them instead. Help them spread the word.

-Learn more about Native American history. 

-Don’t treat Native culture like a costume. Their culture is not your Halloween costume.

-Check out this website for more ways to be an ally.

How to be an ally to Native Americans 

-Watch this video for some more information.

Thanksgiving decoded