Thanksgiving thoughts from a Native American perspective

Google elevates Native American thoughts of Thanksgiving

I wanted to find out exactly Thanksgiving was all about. Before I’d gone two steps, I found the Oyate web site – a Native American site dedicated to ensuring that histories are portrayed correctly and in balanced way.

In a sobering (and from what I’ve read, accurate) account of the relationship between the first Pilgrims and the indiginous peoples of America, the site deconstructs 11 ‘myths’ about Thanksgiving – and ends with this:

For many Indian people, “Thanksgiving” is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation.

As currently celebrated in this country, “Thanksgiving” is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship