Wampsutta -Wampanoag-November 1970
I speak to you as a man — a Wampanoag Man. I am a proud man, proud of my ancestry, my accomplishments won by a strict parental direction (“You must succeed – your face is a different color in this small Cape Cod community!”). I am a product of poverty and discrimination from these two social and economic diseases. I, and my brothers and sisters, have painfully overcome, and to some extent we have earned the respect of our community. We are Indians first – but we are termed “good citizens.” Sometimes we are arrogant but only because society has pressured us to be so.
It is with mixed emotion that I stand here to share my thoughts. This is a time of celebration for you – celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People.
I don’t have much to say in this diary. There really isn’t anything that could be said that could add to the words of the man quoted above, or the truth below.
From an old article at the Black Commentator
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.
I’m thankful that I know the truth. I’m thankful that I can teach my children the truth. The truth to counter the filthy lies that they’re taught in school. The truth of their heritage, white and indigenous.
But most of all, I’m thankful and proud that I have ancestors with real American names…
Wampanoag
Narragansett
Massachusett
Shinnecock
Poospatuck
Pequot
Mohegan
Mohawk
Pennacook
Pawtucket
Seneca
Onandaga
Cherokee
Arikara
Lakota
Osage
Cheyenne
Tequesta
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