As we near Thanksgiving, I find myself filled with… dread. As the traditional Thanksgiving tells a story of supposed Native-settler cooperation, one would think we would appreciate that.
But the story wasn’t so rosy, especially for someone of Pequot descent. In fact, soon after the feast, the settlers would commit massacres among Natives, led by Myles Standish, who was lionized by America for well over a century as the military leader of the Plymouth colony.
Kinda hard to celebrate a token peace of a time of conflicts led by a bigoted warmonger.
It’s hard for me to enjoy having to deal with racist white relatives year after year, especially in the last four.
Plus, what do I, a Native American, have to be thankful for? Having my people forced off of their land? Decimated by diseases? Massacred by whites?
What gratitude should I have towards a country that sterilized our women without consent or knowledge up until the last few years? What thanks should I have to a government that, for almost a century, took our children away and forced them into schools to take our languages and destroy our cultures? What appreciation should I have towards a government that deliberately took our kids away to be adopted by white families under false pretenses, for decades? When the Republican Party wishes, openly, to revive that program?
It’s hard to be thankful when a racist wannabe dictator is trying to undermine the results of the election which he lost. When he’s packed the courts with people who are more than willing to ignore human rights, as shown even in recent days.
It’s hard to be grateful during a pandemic that the President has made worse by constantly downplaying it. When my own mother, who is immunosuppressed, has been in nigh-constant danger due to the pandemic.
When a President has made vague threats of his followers starting violence in the streets, and when he has covertly been complicit in acts of genocide (the sterilization of minority teenagers, both Native and Latino). When a president has made life more dangerous for those of us who are LGBTQ+, and repeatedly try to dial back our protections. His court-packing means that it will be years before we can undo all the damage he has done.
I suppose the only thing I have to feel thankful for is that he will be out of office, soon. But, for me, 2020 really sucked. Sure, there were some great moments, but it was a really trying year.
I am ready for the year to be over.
