THE FEAST... AT WHOSE EXPENSE?

As Thanksgiving approaches I am reminded of where our thanks should go...  to the original residents of this land we, children of immigrants, call home. 

Remember wearing brown paper bags made with scissor cut fringe to imitate the American Indian outfits from the time of the settlers. I have blurred the faces of the innocents in this web photo as they could be any of us/ our children/ grandchildren. The point is we all had yearly school programs reenacting the "Thanksgiving Feast story. " Those settlers I wouldn't learn until many years later were not as peaceful as portrayed by the revisionist story we were taught and is unfortunately still taught today in most U.S. schools.

Every program I attend now on our city's college campuses starts with recognition of us being on indigenous Ho-Chunk land. It's about time we understand what that means and at whose expense this happened.  Sean Sherman's Time magazine's article (BTW no relation) reminds us of the implications of living here in the United States and how we should even  explore “American” foods and what native foods came/come from this soil. 

Let us remember this year at our tables to tell the real story of colonialism.  As Sherman states, "There is no need to make Thanksgiving about a false past. It is so much better when it celebrates the beauty of the present." Let us add to that unless we are Native American we were also are strangers to this land...

Here's the link to this interesting article filled with an important history lesson: A BETTER WAY TO TELL THE TALE