American Colleges Throw Hate At Thanksgiving

New ways of trashing Thanksgiving are popping up on college campuses across the country:

Lindsey Wieck an assistant history professor at St. Mary’s University wrote in Medium that parents should teach their kids that Thanksgiving is a racist holiday:

Trending: Ukraine Themed Steele Dossier From 2015 Has All-Too-Familiar Echoes

By taking a decolonizing approach to teaching about Thanksgiving, teachers and families reject the myths of Thanksgiving and harmful stereotypes about Native peoples. Instead, teachers and families can de-romanticize this holiday, by engaging Native perspectives that recognize the diversity of Indigenous peoples and their contemporary presence in 21st-century America.

Sorry Professor,  I would think about Native Americans and talk about them to my kids, but the Washington Redskins aren’t playing on Thanksgiving this year.

The “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621.  This feast lasted three days, and—as accounted by attendee Edward Winslow it was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrim. When Lincoln declared it a national holiday celebrated on Nov. 26 the holiday superseded Evacuation Day held on November 25 which commemorated the British withdrawal from the United States after the American Revolution. It is not about hate, it’s about appreciation and celebration.

Montana State University has “indigenous dinner” on Nov. 13 dinner which includes locally and tribally sourced foods with various stations offering natural Native American dishes.

“The dinner has two missions: to educate patrons about foods they may not have realized are indigenous to this country and to help people understand what it was like to eat prior to the colonization of the Americas,” said KayAnn Miller, executive sous chef for Miller Dining Commons, in a university news release

Other examples provided by College Fix include:

Over at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, it played host to a “Decolonize Thanksgiving Information Table” on Nov. 14.

“Stories told about the first Thanksgiving often perpetuate harmful stereotypes and racism. Decolonize your Thanksgiving to go beyond the harmful ‘pilgrims and Indians’ narrative and focus on common values: generosity, gratitude, community, and good food,” the university’s website states.

(…) Missouri Southern State University, a panel it recently played host to was titled “How You Can Eat Your Turkey and Decolonize Thanksgiving Too.” It was led by Tehya Deardorff, of the Quapaw Nation, and Kristen Fidler, of the Cherokee Nation. Organizers did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The panel was part of a larger event called “The Whole Story: A Decolonial Cross-Cultural Day,” reports the Joplin Globe. Other topics the event aimed to decolonize included language, fashion, and science.

(…) “All of these things have left a psychological, spiritual and physical impact on indigenous peoples and a governmental ruling system that we did not create, that was not made for us. These are the things we need to heal from, where we need to start reclaiming. This is where organizing and decolonizing comes in.”

The University of Oregon celebrates “Thanks But No Thanks-giving: Decolonizing an American Holiday”  an event urging students to skip the holiday which the university labeled as a “celebration” of “ongoing genocide.” The organizers claim that Thanksgiving is, foundationally speaking, a celebration of the ongoing genocide against native peoples and cultures across the globe. Personally, I think that the Oregon celebration is putting down Native Americans because they created a God-ugly logo.

There’s definitely a racist history to Thanksgiving and that should probably definitely be addressed more in education,” one [Oregon] student said. Another student told Campus Reform, “the whole concept with, like, taking land and assigning a value to it through cost is, like, it was different through European cultures.”

Yet another student characterized Turkey Day as “racist,” because “we’re celebrating taking away land from Natives.”

“It doesn’t have to be not celebrated, but if we can change it to instead of feeding ourselves maybe feeding the natives or donating to natives. Do we really need a giant feast?” one student opined.

“Honestly, like, I’m not super educated on the topic but I just know that it has to do with the way the settlers treated the Natives who lived here,” a respondent said.

That’s not what the holiday is about. Look, I do not dispute the fact that Native American tribes were screwed in this country. And have no problem with making a national holiday celebrating the many Native American contributions to America and reminding people how they were treated. Two states, California and Nevada already celebrate Native American day-petition congress to take it national.  I would even support petitioning congress to make it a major holiday. But until then keep your hands off my Thanksgiving.

On the fourth Thursday of November, I will be talking about all the blessings I’ve had in my life, and that includes living in the best damn country in the world. And to celebrate I will be hanging out with family (not talking politics) watching football, stuffing myself with turkey and cranberry sauce, and after dinner taking a power nap due to turkey’s tryptophan.

---