Honoring Indigenous People on The National Day of Mourning ❤️

brownglucosebrownglucose
in General

For many Imdigenous Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning - The National Day of Mourning is now in its 55th year!!

From the wiki,
The National Day of Mourning is an annual demonstration, held on the fourth Thursday in November, that aims to educate the public about Native Americans in the United States, notably the Wampanoag and other tribes of the Eastern United States; dispel myths surrounding the Thanksgiving story in the United States; and raise awareness toward historical and ongoing struggles facing Native American tribes. The first National Day of Mourning demonstration was held in 1970 after Frank "Wamsutta" James's speaking invitation was rescinded from a Massachusetts Thanksgiving Day celebration commemorating the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower.

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  • brownglucosebrownglucose

  • MonkeyNeedsAHugMonkeyNeedsAHug
    edited November 2024

    May the sun bring you energy every day, bringing light into the darkness of your soul. May the moon softly restore you by night, bathing you in the glow of restful sleep and peaceful dreams. May the rain wash away your worries, and cleanse the hurt that sits in your heart.

  • [Deleted User]mariacoss39 (deleted user)

    Brownglucose thank you for honoring true history about the Native Americans, it is both brave and acknowledged. I have loved History all my life, however was devastated as a young adult when learning many facts about the United States taught in school were false. Many historical facts I was brainwashed on, history, Christianity, world religions, race and ethnicity, etc. I had to research late in life, and sadly disappointed on how people have kept these truths from me, leading me on the wrong path for decades. Today I know much more, as I read a more myriad and diverse selection of books, articles, and magazines that help me keep my mind open. I still love history, only now I brace myself acknowledging the horrors and atrocities I discover with many historical facts, not just about this country-but all countries across the Globe. Humanity is all about embracing ours truths, the good, the bad, and yes the ugly. As many celebrate giving thanks, I give thanks for those in our past who sacrificed so much to allow us all the lives we live today. Thank you…

  • CC416CC416
    edited November 2024

    @brownglucose
    Thank you so much for sharing!! Living in Canada (treaty 13) so our Thanksgiving is October but I very much love this post and this information. Thank you thank you. We also didn't learn about these things in school (although I had a great mom as well as a great social studies teacher in grade 6 who both always let me know about the real history of colonization in Canada). With all the unmarked graves of children that they've found at residential schools over the last few years, I love seeing this information available to folks, its so needed. For so long we have not been believed and now people are finally listening, so thank you.

    If you want to know more about treaties, and Indigenous communities around you, I love https://native-land.ca/
    You just put your address in it gives you the treaty you're living on and its history :)

  • forest3618forest3618

    @cc416 - wow, love the link! 😊

  • CuriousJoyCuriousJoy

    Thank you for this important topic. @brownglucose

  • supadupasupadupa

    @CC416 yes I heard about the reports of mass graves and then found this podcast from former NYTimes writer. Really interesting and sheds some light on story
    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/honestly-with-bari-weiss/id1570872415?i=1000580292996

  • SolarisSolaris

    I'm glad this remembrance exists and that you posted this. I can't even come up with words for how I feel about it. I could say a lot of words here, sad ones, but I think I'll take some time out of my day to honor what was lost (and taken) instead.

    My grandmother was part Cherokee. She said it to me only once. It never came up again. You would never have known except that she looked a little Cherokee. That part of her heritage was so little a part of her life or ours.

  • MeltMyWayMeltMyWay

    Thank you for posting this thread!

  • [Deleted User]Homesteader (deleted user)

    Thank you, again, for posting this. Ancestral trauma is real. It's good that this is being brought up to be acknowledged, and healed, if possible.

  • brownglucosebrownglucose

    @CC416

    This is tangentally connected to a National Day of Mourning (for the native people that use that day as such, power to them), but: it's interesting to me that Thanksgiving even gets presented as being "about" Plymouth.

    I recently learned that The original national holiday of Thanksgiving comes from 1863, when Lincoln declared November 26 as a day of national Thanksgiving for the victories won against the Confederacy that year. For a long time, white Southerners did not celebrate the holiday, and part of why the Plymouth story became associated with the holiday is to create a national narrative acceptable to the broad majority of Americans.

    It seems like there's an interesting opportunity there to rededicate the holiday towards fighting the massacre of native culture .

  • brownglucosebrownglucose

    @CuriousJoy I only recently learned of the holiday from an indigenous CC friend, @DoctorMeshica . He deserves all the thanks for the native culture awareness shared.

  • wilderdudewilderdude

    The problem with turning thanksgiving into something like this is that it's such a downer. Thanksgiving has always been a very positive holiday.

    Yeah might be built on a lie, but that's most holidays. sometimes it's just more fun to believe in santa claus.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    Yeah might be built on a lie, but that's most holidays. sometimes it's just more fun to believe in santa claus.

    Festivus isn’t a lie and you used up your one grievance.

    I don’t see this as a downer at all but rather a voice for a people historically ignored and brushed aside. Learning the stories from all races and cultures puts us all closer to the genuine truth. Truth is never a downer except to those for whom it is inconvenient.

  • TxTomTxTom

    Learning the stories from all races and cultures puts us all closer to the genuine truth.

    Agreed.

    No group has a monopoly on being oppressors; no group has a monopoly on being victims.

    Go back far enough in the family tree, one will find both.

  • DarlingNikkiiDarlingNikkii
    edited November 2024

    @wilderdude you know what’s even more of a downer? Having a group of people murder your entire family, take your land, and then infect you with an illness that kills you too. Oh and then proclaim this cute holiday. You can spend a day to be greatful with your family, while holding space for those who were stolen from.

    I live in a state that the US government took land without fair payment to the Duwamish tribe. We’re all happy to have the day off, but they are still owed.

  • [Deleted User]jimmylee (deleted user)

    (The following is not in response to any particular post on this thread.) "When you take a part of the truth, and make it the whole truth, you have a complete untruth."

  • CC416CC416

    @brownglucose thank you so much for sharing that! Wow! I had no idea. We have similar Indigenous reconciliation activities here in Canada on Thanksgiving so I figured it was the same in the US but this is my first time learning what American Thanksgiving is about.

    The people complaining about this being a downer and getting defensive - this isn't about you boo. If you don't like the conversation, you don't have to read it? They're finding mass graves all over the US and Canada now, if you can ignore that and be fine with it (which is your right), you can also ignore this one post. You clearly have the capacity👀

  • BearBear

    @brownglucose I was not aware of the national day of mourning. Thank you. I am aware of what was done to the native Americans. So I always wish people a happy turkey day. For me getting together on this day was a revered family get together.

  • TxTomTxTom

    As stated earlier, we should seek to learn from the past. That is the best we can do.

    All over the world, every border represents the end of a conquest, or the end of a retreat.

    If we're seeking a tally and payback for
    every punch of the fist,
    every blow of a stick,
    every piercing of a spear,
    every slay of a sword,
    every shot of a bullet,
    every annihilation by bomb...

    If we demand perpetual guilt, or seek vengeance, for every historic wrong, there will never be Peace on Earth.

  • wilderdudewilderdude
    edited November 2024

    @NikkiFM oh please. that's just how things were back then (still are in many parts of the world. No point in being sad about something that happened so long ago.

    I have yet to meet a native american that takes issue with celebrating thanksgiving. My cousins in laws who are native go harder than anybody else i the extended family on this day. They have days for mourning their ancestors, no need to sully a great holiday.

    If you go thinking about every little thing bad that has happened to anybody, you're never going to run out of things to be sad about, and it's going to be a pretty miserable life imo.

    Who did the Duwamish take their land from? Guaranteed it was someone. Guaranteed they didn't pay a fair price for it.

  • SuperManCuddlesSuperManCuddles

    I think of Native Americans, other indigenous and marginalized groups often. The beauty of the cultures but also great challenges faced! Happy that today many Native Americans and other Indigenous groups are honored!!! 🪶

  • pmvinespmvines

    @wilderdude
    It causes you zero harm to just simply allow someone to give recognition to something. Doesn't impact you in any way. If it's a bummer for you then don't come to the thread

  • beaublissbeaubliss

    It seems that there is an unending attempt to blame someone for past atrocities, assume that descendants of oppressors are somehow responsible for reparations, and that descendants of victims are somehow deserving of such reparations. Yes, stories in history should reflect the actual events, the terrible treatment of native peoples, the land-grabs......but it feels to me that our energies would be better spent to possibly re-imagine holidays to bring new awareness for the potential of positivity in human community. "Thanksgiving" is not inextricably bound to the story of Pilgrims having a friendly dinner with native peoples......we can transform the celebration to be one of the deepening of gratitude for our families, our friends, our love of food and place. I understand the mention of the "downer" aspect of bringing awareness for past atrocities......on our holiday of Thanksgiving. Isn't it possible to have Day of Mourning separate from a Celebration of Thankfulness? Is it really helpful to deprive Americans of the opportunity of celebrating Thanksgiving? I don't know a single person who focuses this holiday on the Pilgrims or early Americans, though I'm sure some do; the majority of people use this holiday to celebrate love, gratitude, and family.

    It is literally impossible to know of all of the mistreatment in human history. The tribe whose land was taken by white settlers may have been previously stewarded by a different tribe overwhelmed by the strength and power of the one toppled by the Europeans. The Bushmen in southern Africa were slaughtered by Zulus....who were in turn enslaved by the Dutch and English. It has been a never-ending cycle.....perhaps best altered by a renewed sense of gratitude for all humanity, engendered by a day of Thanksgiving.

  • JoyfulHeartJoyfulHeart

    Isn't it possible to have Day of Mourning separate from a Celebration of Thankfulness?

    Yes it is. There are two separate threads here, and for the most part, both are staying on topic.

  • wilderdudewilderdude

    @pmvines you do not dictate which threads I visit and post on.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel

    It seems that there is an unending attempt to blame someone for past atrocities, assume that descendants of oppressors are somehow responsible for reparations, and that descendants of victims are somehow deserving of such reparations.

    @beaubliss No one said anything about reparations or payback. What I read for most of the thread was people recognizing a group of traditionally marginalized people being afforded the opportunity to tell their truth…and a group of people posting who resent that and say this always happens so they just need to shut up so they can stuff their pie hole with a smile on their face.

    Why not resist the urge to post and stop crapping in other people’s backyard and let people say their peace when the topic does not affect you.

  • pmvinespmvines

    It's ok to recognize the existence of both this and thanksgiving. One doesn't negate the other.

  • TheFunCartelTheFunCartel
    edited November 2024

    @pmvines Some people are not adept at multitasking

  • Ironman294Ironman294

    Just a reminder Native Americans were descended from those that came over from Asia (mostly China) many years ago. My brother once volunteered at a Native American tribe helping with Vacation Bible School and he said the kids there looked a lot like us :-)

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