music: “Mama” by Beth Hart “confused by own illusion … she said it’s only my pride … “
For a large part of my childhood I was raised in
With “Thanksgiving” upon us everyone is screaming “Happy Thanksgiving!” with NO consideration to the BASIC truths that most people know about the holiday. Every time I hear it, I slightly cringe. Usually I say Happy Turkey Day …. I’m sure most of you are aware Native Americans were annihilated off the planet and what that stands for in terms of Thanksgiving, but I wanted to share with you the FULL story. It is graphic, sad and reflective … I recommend everyone to think before saying “HAPPY THANKSGIVING.” I’m about to have an Oprah-esque moment … I believe words are extremely powerful, especially words that a NATION uses like THANKSGIVING. It’s paramount for people (especially black folks who have all the rage when all 50 states do not honor Dr. King’s birthday as a holiday, but could careless that Thanksgiving is a celebration of America’s greatest [yes, I said GREATEST atrocity) to be cognitive of what they give life to through words. If you have any thoughts please feel free to share (although I know this ain’t gonna get 50 posts like my celeb pic entries – I know, we like it trashy!!!) …
*************
A harvest feast did take place in
No turkey, cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie was served, no prayers were offered and the Indians were not invited back. The Pilgrims did, however, consume a good deal of home brew. In fact, each Pilgrim drank at least a half gallon of ale a day which they preferred even to water. Contrary to popular mythology, the Pilgrims were no friends to the majority of local Indians. Just days before this alleged Thanksgiving communion, a company of Pilgrims led by Myles Standish actively sought the head of a local chief. They deliberately caused a rivalry between two friendly Indians, putting one against the other in an attempt to obtain "better intelligence and make them both more diligent." An 11-foot-high wall was erected around the entire settlement for the purpose of keeping the Indians out.
Standish eventually got his bloody prize. He beheaded an Indian brave named Wituwamat and brought the head to
To see them frying in the fire, and the streams of their blood quenching the same, and the stench was horrible; but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave praise thereof to God.
This event marked what was most likely the first actual Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims were pleased with the result. Any goodwill that may have existed was certainly now gone and by 1675
The ruthless executions, the cruel sentences ... were all aimed at the same goal--unchallenging white supremacy in southern New England. That the program succeeded is convincingly demonstrated by the almost complete docility of the local native ever since.
When Captain Benjamin Church tracked down and assassinated Metacomet, his body was quartered and parts were "left for the wolves." The great Indian chief's hands were cut off and sent to
In the midst of the Holocaust of the Red Man, Governor Dudley declared in 1704 a "General Thanksgiving"--not to celebrate the brotherhood of man---but for:
[God's] infinite Goodness to extend His Favors … In defeating and disappointing … the Expeditions of the Enemy [Indians] against us, And the good Success given us against them, by delivering so many of them into our hands… Just two years later one could reap a $50 reward in
The model of the Indian reservation system in
Bon Appetite!
Fore more information on this check out Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen.
Question-
Was the blockage of migratory fish by grist mill dams part of King Philip’s complaint? Looking for references to this matter that initiated a wholesale deprivation of food for peoples upstream, both Indian and colonists.
Never before my family’s welcome-table is there spread no praise for murderers or racists.
Nor those who hate, rape, or pilage for the sake of elavating themselves above spirit.
Instead we take the time to share time and break bread in the midst of the grand ancestry of earth.
We give thanks together
and rest for before
shouldering our battle gear again.
~ Regina
I also take offence when people make comments about “picking at old wounds”, or not “letting the past” go. When you live under a government that WILL NOT acknowledge in any of its history books that genocide happened, first with the Natives, then again to the imported Africans, how can healing happen? It is npt picking an old wound, it’s more akin to pulling the sheet off a dead body…..it’s been rotting for years….you may have covered it with a sheet, but it still stinks to high heaven.
why are people accusing clay of picking old wounds? the history of this country and others was not built on the fair and honest cooperation of differing cultures and tribes. it is built on the backs of slaves, murderers, rapists and others who felt that their way of life should be forcibly imposed on others.
remember Manifest Destiny? How do people think that the U.S. was able to spread to the west? peaceful cooperation between us and the Indigenous peoples who lived in this part of the country? i don’t think so.
giving people the truth is important. this blog post will actually go a much longer way towards healing any wounds than will just brushing the truth under a rug. how many people actually benefit from secrets and lies in the long run?
good job clay
A quote from Joyce Meyer’s (Yes, a Christian speaker)
“Feelings buried alive, stay alive.”
Yes we can all learn from history so that it doesn’t repeat itself. That I agree with.
But there’s a fine line between ‘having history not repeat itself’, and ‘rehashing old wounds to be blamed on others’.
Now it’s not even a matter of whites killing blacks, Germans killing Jews, or any other holocaust. We’re now faced with races killing their own kind “today”.
Also, as for you Clay, a blog forum where people can discuss the issue you brought forth on the table is “okay”—and you have to know, not one person is going to agree with another.
After Appolonia’s bit about Christianity being the biggest source of massacres, she then said,
“So all you Xians can put that in your peace pipe and smoke it.”
Not a very ~peaceful~ way to conduct a discussion on your forum. Some people would have taken that the wrong way. Sable may have displayed his faith in God, but I displayed my faith in being a Christian…so the attack was probably for me.
However, I believe he meant, “people like yourself”, make the problem worse by rehashing old wounds.
If you keep picking at a wound, it’ll never have a chance to heal.
Learning about history is one thing- but can’t we get past this?
If not, I can see that we’re still in this racial and holy war.
Keep the hatred mindset, and you’ll start to notice, the people who surround you, are only “your own”…
Best to you!
Very eye opening, and very well written. More of these kinds of stories (truth) need to come to light. We’ve surly been brainwashed in the public schools.
I always hated the history books. Why should I listen to his story, the white, abled body, rich, christian man that is.
Of course you’ll never hear the real story in the history books. You always get the glamorized version.
Good Post, Clay…Gee, I wonder why we don’t hear about such things from our media.
Seems like history is written by the victors. Thanks for another eye-opening viewpoint.
I have a t-shirt with a picture of 4 native Americans (Geronimo is one of the 4), and the caption, “Fighting Terrorists Since 1492″.
sable – apollonia was not responding to you — you did not mention being a christian and others referenced your “long-dead” comment after you. Please refrain from insulting people with – “you are part of the problem,” which you personalized to her. Having dialogue and exchange about this issue is helping the problem.
I have got such a “on the fence” attitude about this. Generally, I’m a pretty cynical guy…hence the blog title I’ve got…but when it comes to Thanksgiving, I don’t want to be. Even without the knowledge that you just dropped on us, I don’t think it would be too hard to come up with the truth about what really happened between the pilgrams and the Indians.
But, even though the message is based on a lie, do you still want to destroy the message? The message I get is that of two races, working in peaceto came together to celebrate a bountiful harvest. It speaks of racial and cultural tolerance. And this is exactly the kind of education that our youths need.
I’m not condoning ignoring the truth. It just needs to be packaged differently, so the message stays true but the truth of past can be spread so that these horrific mistakes never take place again.
How is anyone ever going to trust anyone else if we continue to fan the flames of hatred across racial/cultural lines?
Apollinia, let me reiterate, (and don’t get me preaching, ’cause you won’t win a debate with me) I don’t do revisionism.
As I wrote, I was teaching this in middle school while the teachers were teaching something else. I’ve studied American, European, & African history. I WENT to segregated schools in the South – didn’t READ about them.
Genocide has existed in every conquest of every people. It still exists in the Middle East, in Africa, wherever pockets of hatred exist.
And, my chillun, ALL of TODAY’S genocide come from hatreds THAT WON’T DIE. I was trying to be diplomatic, but you are part of the problem, not the damn solution.
Those of you who choose to buy into revisionist history, how sad that you use the excuse that those who were responsible are long dead. History unfortunately tends to repeat itself, and we need to take the lessons of what happened in the past to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Genocide has been alive and well since the first thanksgiving and many of the responsible are alive and well. Also, Christisnity has been at the helm of most of history’s greatest massacres. So all you Xians can put that in your peace pipe and smoke it.
I understand that the people who did this stuff are long dead and that some Caucasians were persecuted by others so whites as a whole cannot be held accountable etc.
What gets me in the craw,though, is that I didn’t know this before and would have made different choices if I had. If nobody is any longer accountable and nobody has anything to hide, then why are these stories buried so deep?
Why isn’t this version taught in history along with the fuzzy, furry one?
I’m no apologist, but I will say that I am pretty ashamed of what white Americans have done in the past (and nowadays, as for the Bush supporters). If I were alive back in the ancient days, I can’t imagine falling for the simpleminded bullshit that people bought into.
I know the whole historical sense of Thanksgiving is a shit package, like most textbook history.
Sabledawn said:
“But those guilty, are long-dead.”
I think that holds true for any negative event that took place long ago. There are still people who are very angry at caucasians for the history of slavery. Those who are guilty of it—are long dead—as Sable stated.
Why are we still angry over things that people did so long ago? It’s kind of sad really.
It sometimes better, to make a negative event/date of occurrence into a positive event and/or holiday—to ‘remember’ and be thankful for our family & friends.
It was horrible what happened years & years ago, but if we can only get past that- and “forgive and forget”, then I would be thankful for just that.
As a Christian myself, forgiving AND forgetting is something that God wants us all to do. (In my beliefs)
Great post. Thank you for sharing this.
As a student of history, let me say simply that the foundation of all civilizations (great and onerous) lie on the bones of the weak, the innocent, the dead.
There are those who celebrate the Pilgrims. They are elementary school children. We would be better served fighting to correct history books than wallowing in white/black/redness.
A major weapon in the conquest of the US was the use of blankets infected with smallpox. The fact that natives were succeptible to disease is the primary reason for the importation of african slaves. They were simply, hardier. We are all victims in this.
True, Abe Lincoln formalized this holiday that was based on european conquest. You will find such stories in American, in Europe, in Asia, and yes, in Africa.
So what is the message here? Should we cease to be thankful? Should those of us who were never included boycott thanksgiving? Or should we, as humans, lobby for a day when all of god’s people stop, and give Him thanks, in whatever way they can.
After torment, there are always two paths: one of vengance and anger, and one of forward thinking. I do not advocate forgeting, and moving on. I used to argue these stories when I was in elementary schools.
However, understand that we no longer give thanks to god for saving us from the heathens. We simply give thanks for finally, beginning to learn the lessons.
I praise you (like my friend Escritora in her blog) for raising these stories. But those guilty, are long-dead.
THAT IS NOT TRUE WE DON’T ALL LIKE IT TRASHY.
(Just when appalling things are broadcasted, like the Vibe awards.LOL)
I love your educational pieces, is that what you learn at Rutger’s?
Don’t make me get to looking them up on collegeboard. But Rutger’s is too close, so it doesn’t matter.
I always say that we shouldn’t celebrate this holiday to people, because, the Caucasians killed the Native Americans. No one ever listens, and seeing as I have both races inbedded in my veins. I feel like it is going against myself. Now I have facts to back it up.
I still ate all the baked macaroni and cheese I could though. LOL
God Bless
-Marz
‘Tis true. A lot of our present is borne out of blood.
Well, tough read. I didn’t know much of this. The basics, yes, but I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know more.
We appreciate the day to get together with friends and family and give place to all the things we have to be thankful for. I said earlier that every year ‘health’ is a major mention, but this year it had a whole new meaning with my husbands treatments going so well. We give thanks. I don’t mean to dishonor our American natives at all, I’d never disrespect anyone.
I’m ashamed that I didn’t know this, but it’s never been told to me before, and thanks to Clay, I’ll want to know more now.
Granted, with my pale skin, lot’s of freckles and green eyes, I am about as ‘white’ as they come. But that doesn’t put me to blame at all for what happened before me. It does hurt me somewhat that anyone would include me in a statement such as: “I could just hear the white people groaning and the collective flipping of many channels. You know they hate to relive any of their history of slaughter and sacrifice to its truth.” My history is that I’ve raised two great boys to love, respect and encourage others.
Sorry, Clay, that I spoke so much. You know I love and admire you. I’m also thankful for the blessing you are to so many.
We are most confused with much of our history and what REALLY happened. To celebrate the day of…and I remember learning in school that it was the day that Pilgrim and Native got together to celebrate the harvest and sharing…remembrance of slaughter is just barbaric. But it’s not the fault of most of us. Most of us don’t really know what happened back then because we weren’t there – We’ve relied on the school system, whose truths come from the winners of the old fights who want us to see it their way. Could you imagine that we be taught what really happend on this continent after it was “discovered”? Or what really happened to cause us to bomb Japan twice with nuclear weaponry? The winners tell the story – and they only tell it to make themselves look good. It’s sad – It’s typical – It’s predictable. It’s up to the rest of us to tell our children the truth.
Me.
Preach on it, Clay. You could even extend your perfect retelling of His-story to include how Thanksgiving and Christmas have now become co-opted by Corporate America and hailed as sacred holidays while all the while serving as last-minute profit-generating mechanisms to pad their bottom lines . . .
Keep shining that light of truth, brotha!
Talk about food for thought…
Clay, thanks for reminding us about the sad history of this holiday. While we celebrate our families and our many blessings, we should all pause to reflect on the ongoing atrocity that is being doing to our American Indian brothers and sisters.
Regarding Christmas…I highly recommend “The Battle for Christmas” which shows that it was a pagan (harvest & solstice) holiday hijacked by the early Christian church and later capitalists.
When people are celebrating Thanksgiving they I believe are doing so because they are thankful for the blessing they have and because this is probably a tradition in their families. I for one celebrate this because it has been the tradition to do but I am thankful everyday. Thanks for sharing that information…..
You know its interesting. Ever since I was a child, I wondered about thanksgiving.
If the pilgrims and the indians were such great friends… then what happened? It didn’t reconcile with the stories of war between the europeans and indians. And if there truly was resolution way back then, why were not the indians on equal footing today? I actually asked questions like that in grade school, and I never got any real answers.
I guess I should have stayed on it to learn the truth. Thanks for the lesson bruh. I copied and pasted this into an email and sent it to my friends… hope you dont mind. (I gave you credit… lol)
Hats off…loved what you said about being freed from religious structure. I’m interested in seeing that post in full – subject close to my heart.
Yes. Great post! Capitalism is wrapped up and delivered with such sentiment at this time of year, as our dollars flow freely.
Almost all of these celebrated holidays have violent and vicious beginnings…so much of what we accept…
look I can’t even continue…
I get what you are saying however I think most Americans, especially black americans, have come to terms with the “holiday” by celebrating it as Giving Thanks. All cultures have a harvest celebration and I guess this was the only way to maintain that little bit of our past. People should keep in mind however that Kwanzaa is a non-religious, harvest celebration as well so if you don’t feel comfortable celebrating Thanksgiving, you can celebrate thanksgiving in other ways. Thought provoking piece, Clay.
Clay your posts are always thought provoking and idea expanding for me. Although I am still happily Christian for reasons of my own, and in my own way, I heartily concur with your remarks about a thanksgiving holiday.
A preacher at the thanksgiving sermon I attended prefaced his remarks by saying that we like to forget that thanksgiving was pre-cursor to the genocide of the Native American nations, cultures and lifestyles. He also stated that as thanksgiving was taking place, slavery was in its infancy.
Yet I think some where some how we have to take a break to say thanks, whether it be to a higher being or a just a pause in gratitude for what we have and have accomplished, it is a good
thing and a human thing to do.
Once again keep it real clay!
SMH and sighs… Well thanksgiving is reduced to “turkey day” and Christmas is “gimme presents day” nobody knows or cares about the history behind anything beyond their own personal family celebration it seems..
it’s kind of rough when you think like that. For some reason, I’ve never been one for the “mainstream” way of thinking, which is why I take another route and have devised my own way of thinking for the holiday.
I work. It’s just that many people I know are barely able to do that. By working, I’m giving thanks to the Gods for filling my bank account with money for last minute New York trips, the pretty new car in the driveway, the house that driveway belongs to… It gives me a better sense of being.
I’m weird like dat. Happy Turkey Day.
Bravo. To everyone who still celebrates on this day, and there are many, you can do so and honor the spirit of the Natives instead of celebrating the false history that has miseducated so many for so long.
Cane, excellent post and I look forward to the religious commentary you alluded to. However, please try not to make it “scathing.” Leave the judgement for another… I grew up christian and have had enough of the hypocrytical judgement that occurs. That facts will be sufficient! Bon Appetite indeed
FINALLY…
some truth…
Thank you Clay
We really don’t celibrate the Pilgrams anymore, its more of a day of eating and meeting with the family. reconnecting, kinda, sorta.
And, you’e absoultely correct. Indians were slaughtered, and no one really recalls that fact.
I saw “What’s Cooking?” It was hilarious. The family was so appalled. And I watched this History Channel program about Thanksgiving. It was great. I could just hear the white people groaning and the collective flipping of many channels. You know they hate to relive any of their history of slaughter and sacrifice to its truth.
Great post Clay. And yeah, I knew the origins of this holiday were not filled with sunshine and happiness. It’s so hard reconciling the horrors of history with the traditions (mainly gluttony and cheesy family get togethers) we were conditioned with while growing up.
You gotta see this film called “What’s Cooking?” where one of the college kids comes home and says a “prayer” at the dinner table with a lot of the history you presented… it was so freaking funny!
OK… I’m out. Have a good one!
I knew about this and still wondered why they call it Happy thanks giving!
We in the Uk dont have it and my work colleagues thought it was a celebration to mark that christmas time was a month away *duh* oh well i had to educate this morning and they were quite shocked! Anyway have a happy turkey day
Tell me why you made me feel really dumb right about now. Thanx for this post, Imma print it out and show a couple people.
HAPPY TURKEY DAY! :)
Clay, I’m like you. “Happy Turkey Day” it is, b/c it’s the same thing with all the other holidays (like Easter), too Most people never really know (or even care to know, for that matter) the Truth behind something. Everything’s all retail and sales, and keep it in your mind that it’s all about family, yada-yada-yada. My mom always told me that Christmas is 365 days a year, and as I get older, things like this post make me think about that more and more.
Now, I didn’t know all THAT about Thanksgiving, but I feel where you are coming from. Now, I’m JUST as bitter. ;) It’s just another day of the week to me. I’ll just enjoy house hopping tomorrow, and see what I can get. In college, you almost forget what real food tastes like… lol
Anyway, Thanks for sharing your insight. Now I can raise hell about something tomorrow when someone says Happy Thanksgiving… ;) lata
Damn you’re right…now I feel bad…I totally forgot…So No Christmas either…hmmm!
We’ll let’s just Eat with Family and Friends and not say “Happy Thanksgiving”…