Honoring an Indigenous Perspective on Thanksgiving

"Native communities do celebrate the harvest, but not necessarily through the Western Thanksgiving celebration. Thanksgiving Day is observed as a Day of Mourning and protest for many Natives, because it commemorates the beginning of the settlers’ arrival in Plymouth, MA and the start of many centuries of oppression and genocide. The 53rd National Day of Mourning will be observed in Plymouth, MA on November 24. - Anne Helene Skinstad, PsyD, PhD, National AI/AN Mental Health Technology Transfer Center The Thanksgiving holiday is marked as a time where indigenous people shared a harvest meal with white settlers for their first winter, it also marks the moments that happened afterward. The white settlers removed Native Americans from their lands, separated them from traditional foods, and enforced the loss of many native languages and native spirituality in boarding schools. We remember and name these egregious acts, as well as the acts of generosity of those first people. We have a choice of how we show up in community. In her interview, Valerie Segrest gives us the following challenge: "how do we show up in this real world with generosity and kindness, and include food along the way?"