| More identity politics please, keep the dividing people going. |
WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. |
We left for Catholic school two years ago. It’s been much saner and great sense of community. POC |
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This list may be helpful: https://www.firstnations.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Revised_Book_Insert_Web_Version_March_2018.pdf
The facebook group Kid's Books for a Better World is helpful for these sorts of questions. I've taken my kid to the National Day of Mourning event in Plymouth, MA. 2020 is probably not the year to attend, but it's a powerful event and I really recommend trying to go some year: http://www.uaine.org/ |
Add in a construction paper turkey headband and Mouse on the Mayflower movie- that will do it. I'll skip the football |
I read the website you linked. Interesting that took your kids to a “highly political” protest event where the participants put KKK robes on statues. I understand the horrible things that happened to native groups when settlers arrived. What I don’t understand is why that makes what happened in the fall of 1621 in New England a “myth.” The native Americans did help the Europeans, they did have a feast, and they did have a peace treaty that lasted for 50 years. So why is Thanksgiving itself so controversial? Columbus Day, I understand, but not this. |
| We just went over the 80,000 people a holiday Aztec sacrifice ritual here in Spanish class. Kids had no issues with it at all. The artwork was a little gory... |
The more I study history, the more I realize that our moment in time is anomalous for NOT having human sacrifice. The Aztecs just tended to do more of it than many ancient cultures. |
From the website: "Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience." I wouldn't say Thanksgiving is controversial, but when I think of it from the point of view of the Wampanoag, having suffered so many losses to the epidemics of the early 1600s, making an uneasy alliance because they were pressed on all sides, suffering more devastating losses in the war to come, having their surviving members sold into slavery in the Caribbean and New England. The popular memory of early America that became Thanksgiving stripped all that away. My people have lived here since the 1700s, were colonized in their countries of origin, and became settler-colonists here. Having been raised in an active republican Irish-American family, I would never celebrate the twelfth of July, and I approach thanksgiving similarly. |
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Maybe Squanto's Journey? It's by Joseph Bruchac, who is indigenous but not Wampanoag. He cites his Wampanoag sources in the back.
Also for indigenous peoples, while We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga isn't exactly about the origins of Thanksgiving, it does explain how the Cherokee interwove gratitude throughout their year. |
F*******off |
Wait, do you really think that's the real story of what happened, or is this a joke? If you're really confused, start reading up. Here's one link to start: https://www.salon.com/2019/11/29/celebration-or-day-or-mourning-the-fascinating-true-story-of-the-first-thanksgiving/ (Also, for the record, even if this was the actual story, there are still tons of depictions of American Indians out there that are quite racist, so it would still make sense to look carefully for a book that isn't.) |
Yeah, no, this isn't true-- white people have tried the "let's not think or talk about race" thing for decades and clearly it's not working. There's no way we or our kids are going to be able to make progress on addressing racism in society by pretending it's not there and that talking about race or racism is a bad thing. |
| Let’s make it Indigenous People Day, Part II! |
Yes, everyone is a victim. No one has personal agency. Everything is someone else’s fault, even centuries ago. |