A THANKSGIVING REALITY CHECK

Here's a thought: This Thanksgiving, you might want to give thanks that you weren't/aren't a victim of the white rampage through the Americas that began in the 15th century and resulted in the vast torture, death and exploitation of the indigenous peoples.

We're talking millions of natives killed.

First there was Columbus, then others like Richard Grenville -- who'd just as soon burn a village as toast a marshmallow -- and then the Puritans. (And then the rest of us.)

I recommend this article -- "Why I Hate Thanksgiving" -- by author Mitchell Cohen.

Here is the footnote that appears below his article:

From the Community Endeavor News, November, 1995, as reprinted in Healing Global Wounds, Fall, 1996

The first official Thanksgiving wasn't a festive gathering of Indians and Pilgrims, but rather a celebration of the massacre of 700 Pequot men, women and children, an anthropologist says. Due to age and illness his voice cracks as he talks about the holiday, but William B. Newell, 84, talks with force as he discusses Thanksgiving. Newell, a Penobscot, has degrees from two universities, and was the former chairman of the anthropology department at the University of Connecticut.

'Thanksgiving Day was first officially proclaimed by the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 to commemorate the massacre of 700 men, women and children who were celebrating their annual green corn dance -- Thanksgiving Day to them -- in their own house,' Newell said.

'Gathered in this place of meeting they were attacked by mercenaries and Dutch and English. The Indians were ordered from the building and as they came forth they were shot down. The rest were burned alive in the building,' he said.

Newell based his research on studies of Holland Documents and the 13-volume Colonial Documentary History, both thick sets of letters and reports from colonial officials to their superiors and the king in England, and the private papers of Sir William Johnson, British Indian agent for the New York colony for 30 years in the mid-1600s.

'My research is authentic because it is documentary,' Newell said. 'You can't get anything more accurate than that because it is first hand. It is not hearsay.'

Newell said the next 100 Thanksgivings commemorated the killing of the Indians at what is now Groton, Ct. [home of a nuclear submarine base] rather than a celebration with them. He said the image of Indians and Pilgrims sitting around a large table to celebrate Thanksgiving Day was 'fictitious' although Indians did share food with the first settlers."


Conclusion

There is nothing wrong with giving thanks. Every Thanksgiving table I've sat down at has been the scene of quiet prayers and the purist of sentiments. It can be a very humbling, joyous experience.

At the same time, it is our responsibility to know our history. As it really happened. And to be sensitive to those who have been victimized and "misremembered" by history.

Obviously, the next step is to apply that knowledge so that the world might be a more just and bountiful place for those who still lack or suffer due to the persecution, prejudice or ignorance of others.

I'm all for a day of thanks. In fact, let's make it a day of thanks and inclusion. Let's move the date, dump the phony Pilgrim pretext, and pray for a world where mercy and benevolence towards all human beings is the norm, regardless of race, creed, color, religion or anything else.

Yes. That would be progress.

Take care,
Adrian Zupp

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