Los Angeles, Alta California
November 22, 2009
"Thanksgiving Holiday" is an unhappy time for Native Americans
On Thursday November 26th is Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
Originally the holiday was for white immigrants to give thanks to God for
surviving their first winter in America after arriving from England on a
ship called "The Mayflower". The so called "pilgrims" survived that winter
only through the help of Native Americans.
For Native Americans, however, the holiday is a time of mourning because of the suffering these white settlers have brought them. Through 5 centuries, Native Americans have been decimated through genocide, white diseases and forced assimilation.
The massacres of American Natives took place throughout a period spanning over 250 years. The first recorded massacre took place in 1637 and is called The Mystic River Massacre. In this massacre, white immigrants launched a night attack on a large Pequot village on the Mystic River in Connecticut. The "colonists" burned the Native Americans alive and killed the survivors which included women and children . The last known massacre of Native Americans by whites took place in 1890 at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
As white Americans sit around their tables to feast on their Thanksgiving meals, perhaps it would be a good idea to contemplate on all the massacres that took place against those very same Native Americans that once extended their helping hands but were betrayed. Also, perhaps a prayer for all the victims of America's continuing massacres around the globe would be proper, like those that took place in My Lai in Vietnam and in Fallujah in Iraq.
Happy Thanksgiving!
