Thanksgiving is a Day of Mourning
"It may be demanded...Should not Christians have more mercy and compassion? But...sometimes the Scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents.... We had sufficient light from the word of God for our proceedings."
-- John Mason, who led Puritan soldiers in a massacre of a Pequot village in 1633.
William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth, wrote: "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."
***
If we're going to celebrate today, let's celebrate the spirit of resistance.
"In our family stories we have stories of what happened to our people. I have a grandma. Her name was Dora Hi White Man. She survived the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. As a little child, four, five, or six years old, I remember my grandma Dora. So I'm very fortunate to know a survivor of the 1890 massacre. And today you might think 1890 was long, long, long ago. But it's just recent, because I knew my grandma and my grandma ran from that massacre.
"I live in Oglala. When Wounded Knee 1973 was going on I was a little girl. I looked that way and the whole sky was pink (from the flares being shot up by the government). To me Wounded Knee was just right over the hill there. I was like, Oh right on! Cool! Keep on doing that, man! I was really happy. Little did I know that my nation was trying to make war with one of the big power nations of the world. I was just proud of them. And ever since Wounded Knee I've always been real happy to be an Indian and I'm proud of the fact that you mess with us, we'll mess right back."
-- Arlette Loud Hawk, Lakota, resident of Pine Ridge Indian reservation
quoted in Revolutionary Worker, 1/16/2000
-- John Mason, who led Puritan soldiers in a massacre of a Pequot village in 1633.
William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth, wrote: "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."
***
If we're going to celebrate today, let's celebrate the spirit of resistance.
"In our family stories we have stories of what happened to our people. I have a grandma. Her name was Dora Hi White Man. She survived the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. As a little child, four, five, or six years old, I remember my grandma Dora. So I'm very fortunate to know a survivor of the 1890 massacre. And today you might think 1890 was long, long, long ago. But it's just recent, because I knew my grandma and my grandma ran from that massacre.
"I live in Oglala. When Wounded Knee 1973 was going on I was a little girl. I looked that way and the whole sky was pink (from the flares being shot up by the government). To me Wounded Knee was just right over the hill there. I was like, Oh right on! Cool! Keep on doing that, man! I was really happy. Little did I know that my nation was trying to make war with one of the big power nations of the world. I was just proud of them. And ever since Wounded Knee I've always been real happy to be an Indian and I'm proud of the fact that you mess with us, we'll mess right back."
-- Arlette Loud Hawk, Lakota, resident of Pine Ridge Indian reservation
quoted in Revolutionary Worker, 1/16/2000
posted by Stephanie McMillan at
8:23 AM
8 Comments:
*yawn*
Time for me to peel potatoes!
Not to misinterpret and make a hasty assumption about the author's parents, please elaborate on "yawn."
I went to a Chinese resteraunt to flip off AmeriKKKa.
Look up this: http://www.amnestyusa.org/amnestynow/soulwound.html
About the countless Native American youth imprisoned, beaten, experimented on, sterilized and raped in "Boarding Schools" in AmeriKKKa and Canada.
Thank God those men had the courage to do what had to be done to insure Ted Rall's freedom to draw crappy cartoons and live to oppose everything.
Isn't Thanksgiving just another federal holiday that is given a mock-religious veneer to make it more palatable to the masses? I know it's a cherished tradition for many Americans, what with the family reunion thing and all, but you would do well to get rid of it. And Labor Day too, be it the American one or its socialist counterpart.
The "yawn" had a double meaning. I had just awakened and had food to make, and had just come across more hand wringing about the distant past. I know! Let's build a memorial to everybody who was tortured and/or killed during the founding of this country (like all countries), including the vast majority of whites who came here in (and usually died in) bondage as indentured servants and move on to what's actually happening now. Or keep whining about Amerikka and the apparently peaceful utopia that existed here before the Europeans came and conquered and taught the natives about the very concept of bloodshed, I really don't care. "Yawn" sounded better than something stupid like "First!". But, by all means "Anonymous", tell the internet what my parents were like based on my public eye-roll.
We might as well celebrate the Holocaust...to hell with 'thanksgiving'.
...move on to what's actually happening now.
Understanding the past is the first step.
Germany is currently a stable and humane society, and, in a lot of ways, continues to lead America in terms of progressive progress.
I'd say they've gotten there because there is absolutely no way they can gloss over their past.
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