A week or so ago in connection with foreign species such as kudzu and water
hyacinth which have proven spectacularly suited to new environments in
America I made mention of the "vigor" of my European ancestors who pretty
thoroughly overwhelmed my Native American ancestors (I have both). I was
roundly criticised by one reader for some of the things this European
"vigor" implied. Since I am neither ignorant nor unaware of the history on
both sides of the Atlantic I'd like to post this tribute from our Georgia
Greens List to European peoples' dominance once they invaded this continent.
I'm certainly not saying this dominance was fair, nor am I wringing my
hands about it. It is what it is, and I think it deserves a good look. If
we want the future to be better than the present we need to consider the
present realities without flinching.
Best,
Hugh Lovel
From: "Suzanne veaudry" <VEAUDRY@nwf.org>
To: <grns-ga-forum@judi.greens.org>
Subject: Thanksgiving perspective
Thanksgiving: A National Day of Mourning for Indians
by Moonanum James and Mahtowin Munro
Every year since 1970, United American Indians of New England have
organized the National Day of Mourning observance in Plymouth at noon on
Thanksgiving Day. Every year, hundreds of Native people and our supporters
from all four directions join us. Every year, including this year, Native
people from throughout the Americas will speak the truth about our history
and about current issues and struggles we are involved in.
Why do hundreds of people stand out in the cold rather than sit home eating
turkey and watching football? Do we have something against a harvest
festival?
Of course not. But Thanksgiving in this country -- and in particular in
Plymouth --is much more than a harvest home festival. It is a celebration
of the pilgrim mythology.
According to this mythology, the pilgrims arrived, the Native people fed
them and welcomed them, the Indians promptly faded into the background, and
everyone lived happily ever after.
The truth is a sharp contrast to that mythology.
The pilgrims are glorified and mythologized because the circumstances of
the first English-speaking colony in Jamestown were frankly too ugly (for
example, they turned to cannibalism to survive) to hold up as an effective
national myth. The pilgrims did not find an empty land any more than
Columbus "discovered" anything. Every inch of this land is Indian land. The
pilgrims (who did not even call themselves pilgrims) did not come here
seeking religious freedom; they already had that in Holland. They came here
as part of a commercial venture. They introduced sexism, racism,
anti-lesbian and gay bigotry, jails, and the class system to these shores.
One of the very first things they did when they arrived on Cape Cod --
before they even made it to Plymouth -- was to rob Wampanoag graves at Corn
Hill and steal as much of the Indians' winter provisions of corn and beans
as they were able to carry. They were no better than any other group of
Europeans when it came to their treatment of the Indigenous peoples here.
And no, they did not even land at that sacred shrine called Plymouth Rock,
a monument to racism and oppression which we are proud to say we buried in
1995.
The first official "Day of Thanksgiving" was proclaimed in 1637 by Governor
Winthrop. He did so to celebrate the safe return of men from the
Massachusetts Bay Colony who had gone to Mystic, Connecticut to participate
in the massacre of over 700 Pequot women, children, and men.
About the only true thing in the whole mythology is that these pitiful
European strangers would not have survived their first several years in
"New England" were it not for the aid of Wampanoag people. What Native
people got in return for this help was genocide, theft of our lands, and
never-ending repression. We are treated either as quaint relics from the
past, or are, to most people, virtually invisible.
When we dare to stand up for our rights, we are considered unreasonable.
When we speak the truth about the history of the European invasion, we are
often told to "go back where we came from." Our roots are right here. They
do not extend across any ocean.
National Day of Mourning began in 1970 when a Wampanoag man, Wamsutta Frank
James, was asked to speak at a state dinner celebrating the 350th
anniversary of the pilgrim landing. He refused to speak false words in
praise of the white man for bringing civilization to us poor heathens.
Native people from throughout the Americas came to Plymouth, where they
mourned their forebears who had been sold into slavery, burned alive,
massacred, cheated, and mistreated since the arrival of the Pilgrims in
1620.
But the commemoration of National Day of Mourning goes far beyond the
circumstances of 1970.
Can we give thanks as we remember Native political prisoner Leonard
Peltier, who was framed up by the FBI and has been falsely imprisoned since
1976? Despite mountains of evidence exonerating Peltier and the proven
misconduct of federal prosecutors and the FBI, Peltier has been denied a
new trial. Bill Clinton apparently does not feel that particular pain and
has refused to grant clemency to this innocent man.
To Native people, the case of Peltier is one more ordeal in a litany of
wrongdoings committed by the U.S. government against us. While the media in
New England present images of the "Pequot miracle" in Connecticut, the vast
majority of Native people continue to live in the most abysmal poverty.
Can we give thanks for the fact that, on many reservations, unemployment
rates surpass fifty percent? Our life expectancies are much lower, our
infant mortality and teen suicide rates much higher, than those of white
Americans. Racist stereotypes of Native people, such as those perpetuated
by the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, and countless local and
national sports teams, persist. Every single one of the more than 350
treaties that Native nations signed has been broken by the U.S. government.
The bipartisan budget cuts have severely reduced educational opportunities
for Native youth and the development of new housing on reservations, and
have caused cause deadly cutbacks in health-care and other necessary
services.
Are we to give thanks for being treated as unwelcome in our own country?
Or perhaps we are expected to give thanks for the war that is being waged
by the Mexican government against Indigenous peoples there, with the
military aid of the U.S. in the form of helicopters and other equipment?
When the descendants of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca flee to the U.S., the
descendants of the wash-ashore pilgrims term them 'illegal aliens" and hunt
them down.
We object to the "Pilgrim Progress" parade and to what goes on in Plymouth
because they are making millions of tourist dollars every year from the
false pilgrim mythology. That money is being made off the backs of our
slaughtered indigenous ancestors.
Increasing numbers of people are seeking alternatives to such holidays as
Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. They are coming to the conclusion that, if
we are ever to achieve some sense of community, we must first face the
truth about the history of this country and the toll that history has taken
on the lives of millions of Indigenous, Black, Latino, Asian, and poor and
working class white people.
The myth of Thanksgiving, served up with dollops of European superiority
and manifest destiny, just does not work for many people in this country.
As Malcolm X once said about the African-American experience in America,
"We did not land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us." Exactly.
[Mahtowin Munro (Lakota) and Moonanum James (Wampanoag)
are co-leaders of United American Indians of New England.]
************************************************
Suzanne Veaudry
National Wildlife Federation
Southeastern Natural Resource Center
1330 West Peachtree Street, Suite 475
Atlanta, GA 30309
(404)876-8733
www.nwf.org
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