Now that we got us a sanitized version on Part 1, let’s get REAL.

The Thanksgiving Paradox: A National Day of Mourning

For a significant number of Native Americans across the United States, the annual Thanksgiving holiday, celebrated by many on the fourth Thursday of November, is not a moment of shared celebration, national unity, or gratitude. Instead, it is solemnly and profoundly observed as the National Day of Mourning. This powerful, contrasting perspective fundamentally recontextualizes the day, transforming it into a painful, yearly reminder of the cataclysmic historical events that immediately followed the arrival of European colonists to the continent.The True Historical Context of Mourning

The designated day of remembrance, which has been formally observed since 1970 when Wamsutta Frank James’s planned speech was censored by state officials, serves as a crucial, ongoing effort to correct the historical record and honor the memory of the millions of Indigenous lives lost. It marks the long and brutal centuries of state-sanctioned genocide, a campaign of violence and disease that decimated Native populations.Systemic Dispossession and Cultural Trauma

The observance underscores the devastating historical processes that continue to impact Indigenous communities today. It marks the violent and systematic dispossession of ancestral lands—a process enacted through broken treaties, forced removals, and military campaigns—that stripped Native nations of their territories, resources, self-determination, and economic stability. Furthermore, the National Day of Mourning highlights the systemic, intentional breakdown of their millennia-old cultures, languages, political structures, and traditional ways of life. This deliberate cultural trauma, often carried out through institutions like forced assimilation via boarding schools, has resulted in a historical and intergenerational wound from which many communities are still actively recovering and fighting to heal.A Call for Justice and Action

By observing a Day of Mourning, participants do more than simply remember the past; they issue a clear, urgent call for present-day justice. The observance is a protest against the enduring legacy of colonialism, including the ongoing federal and state policies that continue to infringe upon tribal sovereignty, deny land rights, and perpetuate systemic inequities in areas like healthcare, education, and economic opportunity. It is a demand for meaningful respect, the return of stolen lands, and a truthful acknowledgment of history, challenging the sanitized and often mythical narratives of “first encounters” that dominate mainstream education.

Challenging the Traditional Narrative

The perspective of the National Day of Mourning stands in stark, unyielding contrast to the pervasive, romanticized American narrative taught in schools, which often portrays the “First Thanksgiving” as a harmonious, one-time feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people in 1621. This widely disseminated myth minimizes the complex geopolitical reality of the time and ignores the underlying power imbalance.

From the Indigenous historical lens, this day is instead viewed not as a moment of amity, but as the beginning of an era defined by profound betrayal, escalating warfare, and catastrophic devastation. The arrival of European settlers irrevocably altered the life, land, and culture of the Wampanoag and other Native nations. The most immediate and brutal impact was the devastating effect of Old World diseases—such as smallpox, measles, and influenza—to which Indigenous populations had no immunity. These plagues swept through communities, leading to demographic collapse that weakened Native resistance and cleared the land for colonial expansion.

The fragile peace of the early years quickly fractured, culminating in conflicts like King Philip’s War (1675–1678), a brutal and devastating conflict that effectively ended Native American sovereignty in Southern New England and resulted in the enslavement, murder, and displacement of thousands of Indigenous people. This period marked the beginning of a relentless, systemic effort by the nascent and then established United States government to enact policies aimed at the forced assimilation and the eventual cultural and physical erasure of Indigenous identity. These policies included the forced removal of nations from their ancestral lands (e.g., the Trail of Tears), the establishment of a destructive reservation system, and the creation of federal boarding schools designed to “kill the Indian to save the man” by stripping children of their language, culture, and familial ties.

The modern, commercialized, and nationally sanctioned observance of Thanksgiving, with its sanitized focus on food, family, and football, frequently and tragically overshadows the profound, deep-seated, and lasting historical trauma experienced by Native peoples. This annual celebration perpetuates a convenient historical fiction that whitewashes centuries of genocide, broken treaties, and systemic oppression. This erasure of true history—the ongoing impact of colonization, the resilience of Native nations, and the truth of the Wampanoag’s experience—necessitates the call for the National Day of Mourning. It is a vital counter-narrative, demanding a shift from celebratory feasting to somber remembrance and critical reflection on the unfulfilled promises and ongoing injustices that Indigenous communities continue to face.

A Day for Remembrance, Reflection, and Activism

Consequently, many Native Americans and their allies choose to use the National Day of Mourning not for passive remembrance, but as an active, potent platform for political and cultural resistance, making it one of the most critical annual events for Indigenous peoples in the United States. This commitment to active resistance transforms the solemn day into a dynamic assertion of presence, identity, and rights.

The focal point of this activism is the annual gathering at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, situated directly overlooking Plymouth Rock, the purported site of the first colonists’ landing, and near the location often cited for the contested “first Thanksgiving” feast. This deliberate choice of location—a place imbued with the mythology of American origin—serves to powerfully confront and recontextualize the dominant historical narrative.

The events held on this day are meticulously structured around a core set of demands and principles, centered on political speeches, prayer, and highly organized activism. Attendees listen to leaders from various Indigenous nations and allies who speak on the ongoing struggles faced by their communities. These oratorical efforts are not simply historical accounts; they are living political declarations dedicated to a broad, urgent agenda:

• Cultural Preservation and Revitalization: A major focus is dedicated to preserving their endangered cultural heritage and actively revitalizing their ancestral languages, which are foundational to their identity and worldviews.
• Environmental and Land Justice: Activists fight tirelessly for environmental justice, addressing the disproportionate impact of climate change and pollution on tribal lands, while simultaneously demanding the return of stolen lands and the enforcement of treaty rights.
• Assertion of Sovereignty: Most critically, the Day of Mourning is an unequivocal assertion of inherent tribal sovereignty—the internationally recognized right of Native Nations to govern themselves.

The National Day of Mourning is, therefore, far more than a simple counter-holiday. It is a crucial, annual commitment to truth-telling, functioning as a necessary, systemic act of historical correction that challenges the sanitized version of colonial history taught in schools. It stands as a powerful and ongoing demand for justice, recognition, and the full implementation of self-determination for all Indigenous peoples across the continent. It is a regenerative act of resistance that fuels their movements throughout the year.

NO PRIDE IN GENOCIDE!