![From the eyes of a Native American](https://weberwarriornews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Ad-Space-Banner_3.png)
Large amounts of food. Distant relatives. Giving thanks. For many Americans, these things are Thanksgiving staples.
Students are taught to believe that the celebration itself was created when the Pilgrims and Native Americans/indigenous people came together to share a meal in the 1600’s during a time of segregation and hunger, to symbolize peace and equality. What many non-Native Americans forget is the thousands of massacres, wars, and extinction of tribes that also occurred when Europeans came to the New World. Do these historical injustices have an impact on Native perceptions of Thanksgiving to this day?
In an article by Native Hope, a newspaper dedicated to sharing Native American stories, they said that, “It’s important to know that for many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning and protest since it commemorates the arrival of settlers in North America and the centuries of oppression and genocide that followed.”
Later in the same article it mentioned that a great number of Native Americans will not even celebrate Thanksgiving because they don’t see the point in it.
Some will take the time to reflect spiritually upon themselves and have fun with family. The Salt Lake Tribune, a well-known Utah newspaper, recently highlighted a certain member of the Fort Duchesne reservation named Kerry Cesspooch, who shared her personal perspective on how to properly celebrate. “As Native people we always get together and find reasons to feast, to go out into nature and give thanks.”
A guest writer for Smithsonian magazine, Dennis Zotigh, shares his story of misinformation and prejudice: “The Thanksgiving myth has done so much damage and harm to the cultural self-esteem of generations of indigenous people, including myself, by perpetuating negative and harmful images to both young Indian and non-Indian minds. There are so many things wrong with the happy celebration that takes place in elementary schools and its association to American Indian culture; compromised integrity, stereotyping, and cultural misappropriation are three examples.”
The Thanksgiving myth has done so much damage and harm to the cultural self-esteem of generations of indigenous people
Even though November is Native American Heritage month, many Native Americans have claimed there is no effort to support struggling indigenous people during Thanksgiving. Native Americans are usually forgotten during this time of year, and are forced to live in reservations just to seek education and employment. In fact, over 30 percent of Native Americans live in reservations, which are known for their harsh environments and poor weather conditions. According to the NCRC (National Community Reinvestment Coalition), Native Americans have the highest poverty rate within all minority groups, which is 25 percent. Not to mention that more than 100,000 Native Americans are actively homeless. How do we expect Native Americans to celebrate their culture on Thanksgiving when they can’t even afford turkey and mashed potatoes?
Weber High sophomore, Lily Lee, whose father is in the White Mountain Apache tribe, shares how she perceives the holiday and how her family celebrates.
“I really like Thanksgiving because it showcases the Natives coming together with the Pilgrims and settling their differences,” she said. “We usually eat Thanksgiving dinner with just my family. Occasionally, we drive down to Salt Lake to my aunt’s house and eat dinner with them. Rarely but sometimes here and there, my family from Arizona drives up and spends the weekend with us and shares our dinner and eats pie. We usually end the day by watching a movie.”
One of Lee’s favorite holidays is Thanksgiving, and so naturally she enjoys the original story of how Thanksgiving came to be. When asked if she thought the story of Thanksgiving was outdated, she responded with “I don’t know if I would say it’s outdated but more of it being unknown. I feel that many kids don’t know the whole or even sometimes the true story of the coming of Thanksgiving. I feel that when we learned the story in elementary school, it was not taught well enough to stick in our brains and not everyone really knows why we celebrate or even what we are celebrating.”
Lee also shared a special memory from the holiday: “Around seven years ago, my family from my dad’s side came up to our house from Arizona and spent Thanksgiving with us. It was a fun time because we don’t really see that side of our family very often and it was fun to see them after so long. We didn’t do anything crazy special, but it was just nice to see my relatives.”
Lee was given the opportunity to spread a message about what she wanted the public to know about Native people, and responded with “I would like to say that we are still here. We never left and we’re not going anywhere. Our culture is beautiful and I am sad that not more people know the beauty of our culture.”
As underwhelming as the situation is for some Native Americans, there are still ways for non-indigenous people to reach out and help. By donating to charities to help preserve tribes and giving back to those struggling with poverty, relearning the true history of Thanksgiving, making an effort to highlight Native Americans rights and feelings, reaching out to Natives you may know on how you could improve their housing and healthcare, and committing to returning lost land are all impactful to the lives of indigenous people.
This Thanksgiving, spread thanks and try giving back to the people who started it all.