i grew up celebrating thanksgiving, and just last week i heard a woman using it as an example of how the united states is superior to other countries, because we have a national holiday that celebrates different groups of people coming together in harmony.

thanksgiving is not a good example of how beautiful it is when we all just get along. there is evidence that the first thanksgiving by white people in the united states was a commemoration of a massacre of 700 Pequot Native American people. i just found an essay on the web that tells this story. you can find it here.

i deeply resent people using the thanksgiving story as a way to obscure genocidal efforts in this country that are still going on. in the last few years, we've seen renewed efforts by the u.s. government to take back the civil rights that Native Americans have earned this century. these campaigns' success depend on most u.s. voter's ignorance and indifference towards the real history of this country, and ignorance and indifference towards the fact that Native Americans are still struggling to stay alive today, both quite literally and culturally. this ignorance and indifference is fed by holidays like thanksgiving, as well as by movies and tv shows that portray Native Americans as noble savages who are unfortunately extinct. how sad. oh well--nothing we can do about it now. it's not like the struggle is still going on...

Gary Bowen, the head of the American Boys, keeps an extensive list of Native American links on his web page, you can find them here. i strongly recommend that you take a look and learn more about the current struggle for native american civil rights and survival, especially if you are a voter in the united states. this is not just history--it is going on today.

do some research; check it out. let me know what you find.