November 20, 2005
The First Thanksgiving: Prelude to Genocide
As the American Thanksgiving holiday approaches, our minds wander to
idyllic images of Pilgrims and Indians peacefully sharing a feast in
celebration of the fall harvest. This November 24th, as we break bread with
our families and friends, let us take some time to reflect on the fate of
Native Americans in the centuries that followed the first Thanksgiving.
This nation was founded on principles of inalienable human rights and
civil liberties. It would appear, however, that initially those guarantees
applied only to those fortunate enough to have been born white
European-Americans. As African-Americans remained enslaved in this country's
early years, Native Americans didn't have it much better, enduring centuries
of cultural, political, and economic repression, forced relocation,
confinement to reservations, massacres by federal troops, and broken
treaties.
As European-American settlers pushed westward in the late 18th century
and through the 19th century, land theft of a massive scale ensued. In 1830,
the 23rd Congress of the United States passed the "Indian Removal Act",
legitimizing the land greed of the white settlers and resulting in the death
or displacement of countless Native Americans. This legislation was signed
into law by none other than all-American action hero President Andrew
Jackson himself. (Think of that when you pull out your twenty-dollar bill to
pay for your Thanksgiving turkey.)
Fast forward to the 20th century to find that things hadn't gotten
much better. Beginning with President Ulysses Grant's 1869 "Peace Policy"
and continuing well into the 20th century, more than 100,000 Native
Americans were forced by the U.S. government to attend Christian boarding
schools that tried to school, and sometimes beat, the Indian out of them.
These children were separated from their families for most of the year and
forcibly stripped of their language, culture, and customs in an effort to
"kill the Indian and save the man". Virtually imprisoned in the schools, the
children experienced a devastating litany of abuses, from forced
assimilation and grueling labor to widespread sexual and physical abuse.
School officials routinely forced children to do arduous work to raise money
for staff salaries, and "leased out" students during the summers to farm or
work as domestics for white families. In addition to bringing in income, the
hard labor prepared the children to take their place in white society - the
only one open to them - on the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder.
Those who remained on the reservations faced their own set of
challenges. This form of apartheid separated Native Americans physically,
socially, and economically from the world outside the reservation.
Traditionally nomadic hunter societies were forced to learn to farm for
their subsistence. Disenfranchised and disillusioned, the Native American
population came to face the highest rates of poverty, suicide, alcoholism,
high school drop-out, and teen pregnancy amongst ethnic groups in the U.S. -
a trend that continues to this day.
This Thanksgiving, please take a moment to reflect on the fact that
Native American history comprises so much more than just some stereotype
caricature sidekicks to macho cowboy movie heroes. They are human beings,
and they were here first.
Original Article at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mary_sha_051120_the_first_thanksgivi.htm
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