Thanksgiving or Day of Mourning?

Richard S. Dunn - November 23, 2021

This November 25 reminds me of a book by Dr. U-Shaka Craig titled “Shifting Your Paradigm for Optimum Health & Longevity;” which advises us to view food and its effects on physical, mental, emotional & spiritual wellbeing. I would like to borrow on that theme but confine the paradigm change to our mental wellbeing; considering our mental state, how entrenched we are in the enemy’s definition and description of social history. The other reminder is that  this November 25, 2021 marks the 52nd anniversary of the commemoration of the National Day of Mourning declared by the United American Indians of New England. A gathering of Native Americans and other enlightened people at Cole Hill; a site overlooking Plymouth Rock, to pay homage to their ancestors and remember the genocide meted out to their people by the early settlers, misnamed “pilgrims.”

In 1970 a leader of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Nation, Wamsutta Frank James was asked to speak at a dinner, celebrating the 350th anniversary of the settlers in Massachusetts to which he agreed. A copy of Wamsutta’s speech was requested by the organizers of the dinner; however, the speech was not delivered after he was told to rewrite the speech, he refused. The speech in part tells the well-known truth of the reward the Native Americans received from the settlers for their kindness and hospitality. The speech said partially, “the pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod for four days before they had robbed the graves of my ancestors and stolen their corn and beans.”

In a CNN interview with Tall Oak, a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Nation, he said the organizers told Wamsutta: “well, we cannot allow you to read this because 90% of the people would walk out.” The government was also complicit in this suppression and colonization of history, as reported by the United American Indians of New England; they reported that Wamsutta was told by the Department of Commerce and Development that he would not be able to give that speech on the grounds that “the theme of the anniversary celebration is brotherhood and anything inflammatory would be out of place.”

The above examples are nothing new to the enlightened among us; the enemy has consistently and pervasively used every opportunity to re-write history and turn it on its head. The intent is to shape public opinion in favor of bolstering the myth of white supremacy. This practice has relatively eliminated the indigenous people and people of African descent from world and National history. This genocidal holocaust was experienced by indigenous people wherever the European set foot and began in the late 1400’s. According to Christopher Columbus’ chaplain Bartholomew De Las Casa, the island of Hispaniola had approximately 8 million inhabitants; by 1508 there were less than 100,000 and by 1533, the entire inhabitants were all gone.

The indigenous people struggled to prevent the invaders from taking and denigrating their land, for that they were slaughtered. The same fate would be met out to those indigenous people on the shores of the United States; numerous historical records document the various massacres of indigenous people at the hand of the United States government, through the US Army.

Whether it be Yontocket in northwest California, Sand Creek in Colorado, Marias in Montana or the infamous “trail of tears” in Oklahoma and Wounded Knee in southwest South Dakota. As a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, thousands of Cherokee, Creek, Seminole and others were forced to move to so-called native territory. Severely harsh weather conditions and inadequate supply of food and water caused approximately 6 thousand Native people to die. At Wounded Knee, the government through its ignorance of Native customs along with baseless and racist fears, attempted to arrest Sitting Bull chief of the Sioux Nation. About 150 mostly women and children were massacred by the US army including Sitting Bull during this massacre.

The atrocities heaped on Wounded Knee still continues to this day, Leonard Peltier is still imprisoned after 45 years, tried, and convicted on bogus and vindictive charges. For 71 days the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee as a part of protesting socio-economic conditions on the reservation. The government used the violent conflict between rival Native nations to arrest and charge Peltier with the killing of two FBI agents, during an alleged gunfight. The imprisonment of Peltier is politically motivated and US history is replete with retaliatory actions by the state apparatus to punish and try to silence dissent, whether it be W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, Angela Davis, Fred Hampton, or Assata Shakur.

The ill-fated condition of the indigenous people of this country continues to this day; they face severe gap in employment and the “American dream” have eluded most of them. Just as drugs were introduced into the Black community especially in the ‘60’s, the reservations were inundated with alcohol to thwart the development of any progressive social movement and activism. The Obama Administration had recognized the Wampanoag nation Land Trust, but this was reversed by Trump; which means, the Native nation is still in struggle over ownership and control of their land, which is legally and morally theirs.

During slavery, our Native brothers and sisters took us in, hid and fed us when we were lucky enough to escape; we even inter-marry. We both have been demonized, marginalized, and oppressed by the same enemy; we have experienced some of the same genocidal atrocities from the same enemy; we’ve both had our culture, language and customs ridiculed and “written” out of the Nation’s history books. Based on these empirical facts and in the spirit of solidarity with all oppressed peoples; the Native Americans are our natural allies in the struggle for liberation.

Even in the Public Schools, culturally and historically bankrupt teachers engage their students in stupid skits and programs to supposedly celebrate the Native American interaction with the settlers and the misleading meaning of Thanksgiving Day. An article in Teaching Tolerance says it best: “ This imagery contributes to the indoctrination of American youth into a false narrative that relegates Indigenous peoples to the past and turns real human beings into costumes for a few days a year. This is not just bad pedagogy; it’s socially irresponsible.”

For people of African descent, the decision to celebrate and feast on this day is by choice, as ill-advised as it is; however, this choice begs the question how can a socially enlightened person celebrate the genocide of a peaceful and highly spiritual people? In the words of Tonkahaska or Tall Bull: “we never did the white man any harm; we don’t intend to. We are willing to be friends with the white man.” The Native people have a tradition of respect and care for the earth and the environment, and as a custom, encourages sustainability in their farming practices. Every violent encounter between the Native American and the white man has been in defense of their land and sovereignty. The enemy has again changed the narrative to suit their intent of making the world “lily white” and to further the goals of so-called white supremacy. To participate in this farce is to give credence to a lie and a “sanitization” of the inglorious atrocities meted out to the Native Americans, and an ungrateful reward for the genetic and socio-political bond between us.

Leonard Peltier in a letter marking his 28th years in prison in 2004 wrote: “they describe people defending their homeland as terrorists, savages, and hostiles, and accuse us of being aggressors. We have never fought a battle or war that was not on our own land; we never fired the first shot…ever. My words reach out to the non-Indian: Look now before it is far too late – see what is being done to others in your name and see what destruction you sanction when you say nothing. Your own Treaty, the one between yourselves and the government, is being violated daily; this Treaty is commonly known as the Constitution.”

Shifting our paradigm requires serious study and critical thinking.

Richard S. Dunn can be contacted by email: contact@makingitplain.net