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Not to say the US has completely reconciled it's brutal past of slavery, but we are further along coming to terms with it than with how America treated Native Americans. This article reminds me of Frederick Douglass' speech "What the slave is the 4th of July?" Well, what to a Native American is Thanksgiving? (The phrase "Takesgiving" from the article was both funny and shocking.) Seeing a holiday from a different perspective is fascinating to me. Now I still plan to celebrate the 4th of July and Thanksgiving, but I also plan to spread truth to cure the myth of both holidays, both in my family and in my lessons. What's your reaction to the article? How do you come to terms with Thanksgivings or other holidays that sugarcoat the past?
Something that caught my eye was Ms. LaDuke's observation: "'I've seen a growing awareness, a wake-up, to the systemic oppression of people of color.'" I feel like I have also seen this over the past year and how especially our generation or any informed people, are more openminded to listening and wanting to help the world or even just the nation be inclusive of all people, and to me this is really hopeful for the future to be a great place. For me, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July have always been a nice time to take a break to spend time with family and have a good time, so I never really celebrated the origins of the holiday although I do know them. Coming to terms with America's history, for me, it has been a revelation that it is foolish and ridiculous to treat anyone unwell, that at the end of the day, or any part of the day, people are people and we should all treat each other kindly, respectfully and equally. I think this strong belief in my mantra is from learning about history over the years and seeing how foolish people were, and judging them now is easy but it's important that we don't make the same mistakes because that would be foolish, so learning the truth and practicing our good learning is at least something I try to do.
ReplyDeleteI really like how they named it Takesgiving rather than Thanksgiving - it's a much more accurate portrayal of the events that occurred during Thanksgiving, and how “shocking” the name was is a bit like how I felt when I first learned about the history of Thanksgiving. I hope that rather than a celebration of so-called friendship, it becomes more of an educational, solemn event in which they celebrate how more people are learning about the history behind it. As Caitlyn said, I now have a few questions about holidays and how they originated. It’s also made me curious about my culture, as there’s a lot of events that I might just pass as normal days but might mark a significant celebration or event that occurred. It’s also made me more aware of the systematic erasure of culture. Something that we view as recreation, like buffalo hunting that was mentioned in the article, might actually have been a method of silently hurting cultures that Americans wanted to erase. Thanksgiving and Independence day are only some of the holidays that are well known for their false impressions as holidays celebrating values of democracy and freedom in America, but I think that there are so many others that we are still unaware of because we don’t look deep enough.
ReplyDeleteSomething I saw that was really interesting and important was that he called it "Takesgiving." This is accurate as the historical events in America which all can describe it as Takesgiving instead of Thanksgiving. Especially since we learned the history behind the first Thanksgiving it didn't really surprise me that other people would see it as Takesgiving. Me personally I will still celebrate Thanksgiving as it is somewhat of a tradition me and my family do. However I can understand why others would not celebrate it or disagree with it. Along with reading this article and participating in class, this has made me more aware of the censorship which American History has.
ReplyDeleteI found the article very enlightening, particularly the way they brought a different aspect of Thanksgiving into perspective. The holidays are a very cheerful time, for family to be brought together and for people to celebrate. However, not everyone has a positive memory or connotation associated with Thanksgiving. Particularly Native Americans, who were treated especially horribly on this day and most days by colonists. It's crucial for us to spread awareness and take action in order to provide them with equal opportunity and bring them out of the poverty-filled cycle and stereotype plagued life that they live. While I do celebrate thanksgiving and everything that I have to be grateful for, I make sure to educate myself on areas that other people suffer in and spread it to friends and family.
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