|
Tuesday, 21 November 2006 14:41 |
| | Janese Johnson |
Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as an official holiday 242 years after the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth.
The story that most of us grew up with about Thanksgiving is a wonderful one. It is a story of true sharing, abundance and of cultural exchange. Most Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with a lot of fun, food, family and friends. We see this as a time to remember our gratitude.
Do we really know the true story of what happened in 1621 or is it possible that the atrocities that our ancestors did was so atrocious that we made up a story in order to justify our existence here on this continent?
In
wasnët until the 1970s that the true facts started surfacing from both
native and Pilgrim sources that shows a different story. What this
story reveals is quite sad, and seems more likely to be true. Here is
the story that is not often told.
When the
Pilgrims came to Plymouth in 1621, they were ill prepared to survive
the harsh winters. They did not know how to live off the land. They
built their village near the Wampanoag Indians.
The Wampanoag
Indians had just experienced an epidemic that wiped out their
population from 12,000 living in 40 villages to 2,000 by the time the
Pilgrims had come. Due to their loss, they were quite welcoming of the
visitors.
When the natives
saw that the visitorsë crops were failing, and they were starving to
death, they would not only bring them food and tools, but they also
taught them how to live through the harsh winters.
Massasoit is
known as one of the main natives who was able to bridge the
communication gap. The visitors thought Massasoit was, but they saw the
rest of the natives as savages. When the visitors invited him to eat
with him, he did what was customary amongst his tribe and invited up to
90 of his tribal members to join 50 of the visitors for a feast. It has
been found in a journal of one of the Pilgrims that they were not at
all pleased with this arrangement. This is what we refer to as the
great feast.
Within 50 years
of this "historical" feast, the visitors managed to kill almost all of
the remaining natives, and most of the land, leaving only 400 left to
live on a small parcel that was given to them by the visitors. They
were treated as slaves, and not allowed to live by their customs or
speak the language.
Children were sold offshore as slaves, and an
Indian scalp was worth a lot of money. The natives lived the rest of
their days and continue to do so oppressed by the "visitors," and we
celebrate this event with happiness and indulgence.
Some would say
that we did not do this to the natives; others might say that they are
not of a European ancestry so why should we feel responsible?
Whether we are
European or not does not matter. What should matter is that we are
living on a land that was stolen and the original caretakers of this
land are oppressed. As long as they are oppressed, how can we say that
we are grateful, and not try to do anything to help those who have
given so much to us?
They had an
ideal that we could all live together. They attempted to foster that
idea, and in the end lost everything. Isnët it up to us to attempt to
bring that ideal back in, and bring in that balance? How can we do that?
I believe that
there are many ways to achieve that, and I believe we first have to get
out of denial about why we are celebrating Thanksgiving, and what
really happened. As long as we believe in the warm fuzzy idea, then we
will not change.
We are all here
because of imperialism and control, not because we were welcomed here
to take up the whole of everything, and destroy the land in the
process. I believe that we owe it to the natives to treat the land with
greater respect, and help the natives in all ways that will help.
So this
Thanksgiving may we take a moment and really acknowledge the truth on
what really happened ÇƒÓ and apologize from the bottom of our hearts to
the natives that had lost so much just so we may have a gain.
ï
Janese Johnson
has been doing intuitive counseling nationally for more than 20 years.
She may be contacted at janesej-at-buncombe.main.nc.us.
|
