When I worked for a school district, I helped plan the celebrations and kicked in funds to pay for the ham or turkey (or both when I was a tech director with a team of folks). It was the right thing to do, I thought, and it wasn’t hard to do. People worked hard and this was one way of showing them I cared.
Now, for at home celebration of Thanksgiving, I’m not so inclined. And, there’s only so much two people can eat. But it’s more than that, isn’t it?
After reading indigenous histories, I’m not into celebrating the first Thanksgiving. I know that event was mostly fictional. Thanksgiving is mostly about celebrating family, not the fictional account of Pilgrims and Squanto.
Well, you can also invade their country, engage in genocide and extermination against them. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Panama, but I grew up with the tradition, and I appreciate my Mom’s efforts at preparing turkey and everything even though she had grown up not doing that at all.
Everything about Thanksgiving for me goes back to elementary school and the play where pairs of children were given a letter of Thanksgiving to read. Mine was the letter “I” and for a third grader, it was a big deal to stand on a stage in an auditorium. As a kid, I swallowed the Thanksgiving story hook, line, and sinker.
That’s the problem with lies like this…you realize they change your perception of everything you thought you knew. No wonder parents are charging up to their school board meetings and screaming their heads off. The alternative (the truth) is too frightening because it would force introspection and change.
The lie I was taught:
”I is for Indians who came that first Thanksgiving day, trying to show with little gifts, the thanks they could not say.”
Truth:
The Wampanoags, the tribe that Squanto came from and that helped the Pilgrims survive for their first Thanksgiving…They still regret it 400 years later.
For the Wampanoags and many other American Indians, the fourth Thursday in November is considered a day of mourning, not a day of celebration.
Because while the Wampanoags did help the Pilgrims survive, their support was followed by years of
a slow, unfolding genocide of their people and the taking of their land. (Source:
Dana Hedgpeth | Nov. 4, 2021, Washington Post)
You can watch a video account from the Wampanoags of how they remember that time. For me, it’s enough know that “I is for Indians” was a fictional account that ignores the tragedy of the indigenous people faced. It is a lie that has been taught to generations of Americans and persists because people of European heritage want a happy face on the genocide and pestilence they visited upon indigenous peoples.
If you sense a bit of hostility in this blog entry, it’s a bit of self-anger at not ripping the wool off my eyes sooner, and the fact that those lies are perpetuated in many classrooms.
If you’ve tuned in to teacher Instagram or Twitter today, you might have noticed educators and librarians posting the banned books that have made a difference in their lives, using the hashtags #freadom and #txlege. They’re doing it to protest a recent investigation in the Texas state legislature in which districts were asked to review a list of more than 850 books, many of which deal with race, gender, and sexuality, and share how many copies of each book they own and where they store the books, among other questions.
Join the #Freadom Campaign. Learn more.
Get a Twibbon (Twitter+Ribbon) for #FReadom
An Alternative
One alternative to traditional thanksgiving celebrations may involve embracing the food and cuisine of indigenous peoples in your area, or that are a part of your heritage. For my family and I, that might mean a look at some of the recipes from Panama. For others, it may mean something like Three Sisters soup or stew.
To that end, I’m exploring various recipes and enjoy a small, quiet meal in memoriam, and perhaps, take a moment to wonder what would have happened if Columbus and other Europeans hadn’t slaughtered and then enshrined structural racism in every aspect of life now. Wouldn’t that be incredible? Who knows, things may have turned out as barbaric (hey, indigenous folks weren’t perfect, either) over time, but they may have also resulted in a completely different outcome.
I’d like to think so.
Indigenous Recipes for a Celebration of Life and Family
Need somewhere to start? You might start here.
The First Nations Knowledge Center. They have lots of recipes. Maybe a celebration of life and family could include items such as:
Ok, for fellow Panamanians…maybe
this collection of recipes has something for you. I do know that arroz con pollo, caramelized plantains found their way to my plate at Thanksgiving, along with the sleep-inducing American tradition of turkey, sweet potato, corn, and ham.
Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients.
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