Hannah Greene | Sports Editor
From the get go, we are told that Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends to come together, have quality time, catch up and eat a lot of food. Sounds like a solid plan, but this plan was based on false customs and false history. Meeting up with family and friends to cook together and enjoy each moment can be a beautiful thing — so why do we only “celebrate” this once a year? Why aren’t we making a Grateful Holiday to be a few times a year? The world may never know.
According to the History Channel, the “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated ages ago in 1621 where Native Americans joined the Pilgrims for their first harvest, which lasted three days during October. Thanksgiving became a national holiday during President Lincoln’s time in office, that was to be held every November. The original story presented throughout adolescent education makes the holiday seem bright and cheerful, but in reality it masks the bloodiness of the time between the Native Americans and the settlers.
This day was constructed on lies and stories of “positive” exchanges of pilgrims and Native Americans. The pilgrims learned from the Native Americans about growing crops, harvesting those crops, how to hunt and fish from the foreign land and “became friends” with each other. Though the settlers did learn — quite a lot — from the Native Americans, it is in fact “false,” in the voice of Dwight Shrute, that these people were friendly among each other. What the bright, happy story covers up is the bloodshed, battles, rape, murder and disease the pilgrims brought upon the Native people.
Rather than celebrating a holiday based on the pain and suffering of people native to this land, let’s acknowledge what our past pilgrims have done, how the Native American people helped propel us to where we are now, and have rememberance in the destruction of the Native American culture and the taking/raping of their land and women. By turning a blind eye to these events, without respecting the Native American people, we continue to be those same selfish pilgrims.
Enjoy the food, create new memories, try to not let Suzie bring up politics and RECOGNIZE what our forefathers did and how this affected Native Americans then and continues to today. Mourn for the fallen, for the raped, for the murdered and give thanks to selfless acts of the Native Americans in aiding the new settlers on this land and teaching them their ways of survival.
Contact the author at hgreene18@wou.edu
