Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US thanksgiving holiday. 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.
36th NATIONAL
DAY OF MOURNING Thursday, November 24, 2005
12 Noon
Coles Hill
(the hill above Plymouth Rock)
Plymouth, MassachusettsJoin us as we dedicate the 36th National Day of Mourning to our brother, Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier. Add your voice to the millions worldwide who demand his freedom. Help us in our struggle to create a true awareness of Native people and demonstrate Native unity. Help shatter the untrue glass image of the Pilgrims and the unjust system based on racism, sexism, and homophobia.more
Nobody but Americans celebrates Thanksgiving. It is reserved by history and the intent of “the founders” as the supremely white American holiday, the most ghoulish event on the national calendar. No Halloween of the imagination can rival the exterminationist reality that was the genesis, and remains the legacy, of the American Thanksgiving. It is the most loathsome, humanity-insulting day of the year – a pure glorification of racist barbarity.
Thus begins Black Commentator’s superb piece on the reality behind the traditional advent of the American Shopping Season.
But what is the real story? This is not a diary that needs many words from me.
As for the infamous 1621 feast we Americans refer to as `The First Thanksgiving’ – the reasons and events are speculative…
The 1621 feast between the Pilgrims and the Indians was not the official first Thanksgiving. That title goes to a 1637 celebration, proclaimed `Thanksgiving’ by Governor Winthrop, an event honoring those who participated in the massacre of the 700-800 Pequot Indians in Connecticut….more
…At the point where the Mystic River meets the sea, the combined force of English and allied Indians bypassed the Pequot fort to attack and set ablaze a town full of women, children and old people.
William Bradford, the former Governor of Plymouth and one of the chroniclers of the 1621 feast, was also on hand for the great massacre of 1637:
“Those that escaped the fire were slain with the sword; some hewed to pieces, others run through with their rapiers, so that they were quickly dispatched and very few escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire…horrible was the stink and scent thereof, but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to enclose their enemies in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy.”
The rest of the white folks thought so, too. “This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots,” read Governor John Winthrop’s proclamation. The authentic Thanksgiving Day was born. more
Since 1970, American Indians and supporters have gathered in Plymouth, Massachusetts on top of a place known as Coles Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock, a well-know tourist attraction. It was in 1970 that the National Day of Mourning began. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts had invited Frank James, a Wampanoag Leader to give a speech. When the Commonwealth of Massachusetts learned of the content of Frank James·intended speech that day, they rescinded their invitation and it was that attempt to silence truth, which gave birth to the National Day of Mourning.
It was the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims.
When Frank James, known to his people, as Wampsutta learned his words would be changed by the Pilgrims at the Annual Thanksgiving Feast in Plymouth he left the dinner and went to a hill where a statue of Massasoit, who was the leader of the Wampanoag people when the Pilgrims arrived and he spoke his words before a small group who had gathered. At that spot, overlooking Plymouth Harbor and the replica of the Mayflower, Frank James spoke about the take over of Wampanoag Traditions, Culture, Spirituality and the theft of Ancestral land.
The attempt to censor the words Frank James intended to speak that day to those at the Annual Feast, gave birth to what is known as the National Day of Mourning…
On Thanksgiving Day in 2005, remember as you sit down to dinner with your family and friends that there is real truth to be told. We may not want to hear it; it may conflict with our own apple-pie version of what this day is all about; it may not fit in with the football games you will watch but we must teach our children the truth.
We cannot change the past ·but we can change the present and make a better future for all people. By teaching our children the real truth of the history of how Thanksgiving Day came about and not our apple-pie version, we will ensure truth for the generations to come.
The original inhabitants of this land have not disappeared and will never be conquered. The past and present of the First People clearly demonstrates that. more
