Alli Adams
Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board.
In late November, weeks before the end of the semester, fall break comes at a perfect time. It brings relief from the anticipation and seasonal burnout of finals. Coupled with crazy airport travels and reverting back to your 16-year-old self when your mom tells you to clean your room, the primary reason for this brief hiatus is the “great” American holiday of Thanksgiving.
Known for turkey, pumpkin pie, family arguments, cozy vibes and the classic cousin herb walk, this national day of thanks should also be a time of remembrance for more than 250 years of buried history. It should be a time of appreciation, apology and reparation for Indigenous peoples, whose lives and cultures were significantly disrupted by European colonization.
Thanksgiving is now too ingrained in our culture and capital gain to ever successfully cancel it. But the least we can do, in an attempt to ethically celebrate, is erase the fantasy of the holiday and honor the true history.
First, we must comprehend that this annual celebration is a result of continued indoctrination and intentional myth-making. These methods encourage colonial propaganda by preserving a false national identity and perception of our history, thereby ignoring the horrors, motives and realities the pilgrims pushed onto Indigenous peoples.
“Before you sit down for turkey and stuffing, do your research; actively put in the effort to acknowledge and listen to Native voices.”
The myths commonly taught in our elementary schools were about the welcoming exchange of dinner and advice between the pilgrims and the American Indians — an overly vague description of a specific tribe that grouped together hundreds of independent nations despite distinct differences in culture, politics and language. The Wampanoag people were the ones involved in the actual first Thanksgiving feast of 1621.
This prevailing extension of manifest destiny’s false advertising frames this story as the cordial and sanitized transfer of the land from the Wampanoag to Plymouth Colony settlers. Every year, second graders make paper hats and sit around a table as they are taught about how our country peacefully came to power while the Wampanoag just magically disappeared. Meanwhile, those with Native blood are reminded of centuries of massacre and genocide.
Thanksgiving was first established as a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln as a way to unify the North and South — and the U.S. and Indigenous people — amid the Civil War. Used to tell a deceptive story of unity, President Lincoln and other supporters of this proclamation failed to relay the reality of cultural erasure.
The Potawatomi Nation reported “The True, Dark History of Thanksgiving” on its website. It highlights how Plymouth colonists brought various diseases to the region that wiped out more than 90% of costal New England inhabitants; how the pilgrims rationalized this mass death as “divine provenience;” and how the actual story of Squanto, a member of the Wampanoag, underscores his enslavement and the reality he faced upon returning to a tribe whose population had declined by 75%.
Platforming and providing access to Indigenous voices should be at the forefront of Thanksgiving education. While researching the true history, it was nearly impossible to find articles from actual Indigenous people. I was regularly met with sources written or distributed by white people rather than by the very communities whose history was erased.
This is not to say we should stop celebrating Thanksgiving, as it’s the only time for many to visit extended family members. But this legacy of genocide and misinformation is deplorable. Though this doesn’t necessarily mean you must read a land acknowledgement after you all say grace, we must be willing to recognize our country’s truth. We must identify similar patterns today as families are separated and displaced due to mass deportation.
Before you sit down for turkey and stuffing, do your research; actively put in the effort to acknowledge and listen to Native voices. Continuing to ignore our country’s true history will only further perpetuate this cycle of erasure — one that we have no business being grateful for.
Reach Caroline Studdert at letters@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.