Articulated Insight – “News, Race and Culture in the Information Age”
This Thanksgiving, as Donald Trump prepares for a second term in the White House, having successfully run on a campaign attacking illegal immigrants, the president-elect and his supporters should be reminded of America’s forefathers.
Indeed, the true history of Thanksgiving is brutal, bloody, controversial and complex, with white European settlers, also known as Pilgrims, committing brutal atrocities against the Native Americans with whom they interacted.
To be clear, the Pilgrims were illegal immigrants.
“The Pilgrims did not enter an empty wilderness ripe for the taking. Human civilization in the Americas was every bit as ancient and rich as in Europe. That is why Wampanoag country was full of villages, roads, cornfields, monuments, cemeteries, and forests cleared of underbrush,” said historian David J. Silverman in “The Vicious Reality Behind the Thanksgiving Myth,” published in November 2019. “Generations of Native people had made it that way with the expectation of passing along their land to their descendants.”
However, Native American land was not passed on “to their descendants.” It was stolen from them.
As Americans gather around the table this Thanksgiving, many will be dining with uncertainty about next steps for immigrants and the future of the nation and democracy.
With Trump promising mass deportations and to be a dictator on day one of his presidency, Americans should not consider the fear tactics used by the president-elect about illegal immigrants, many of whom work hard and serve communities around the country. Instead, they consider the harsh reality that this country’s forefathers were illegal immigrants, colonizers, murderers, rapists and racists— the exact same offenses Trump claims are common among those who illegally entered the United States today.
Further, despite the bleakness of the national political landscape, we each have much to be thankful for, such as: life, family, friends, and those ancestors who paved the way to fight against injustices.
This Thanksgiving, as we tap into our gratitude for the world around us, it’s important that we also continue to work toward true justice and freedom for all, particularly as we prepare for the next Trump administration.
While there’s a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving, there’s still much work to be done in the fight against racism and injustices.
Remember the words of Fannie Lou Hamer: “If I fall, I’ll fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
Keywords: Pilgrims, Illegal immigrants, Native Americans, Mayflower, Colonization
#PilgrimHistory #IndigenousRights #AmericanHistory
