In a moment of irony one of my cousins visiting for thanksgiving made it a point to visit the Seneca casino on Friday. No one in my family seemed to recognize the irony of his request as I did, here we were gathered for a holiday that essentially celebrates our dominance over the Indian people, and he wanted to go to what little land Native Americans have held onto as part of the celebration. I started to wonder how Native Americans feel about thanksgiving today. It’s an honest question because I have absolutely no clue, seeing as how I have no personal Native American friends to ask I’m in the dark on this one. Sure they make money off of tourist, but I would insulted if I was a Native American to see white people flocking to my land on a holiday that marks the destruction of our entire culture. Does profit really negate the reminder the white man’s past indiscretions and apparent disregard for Native Americans feelings that still persist? To me it would be like visiting a cotton plantation on Martin Luther King Day.
My boyfriends step dad is native american. He even sells cigs on the reservation. We all celebrated Thanksgiving and he didn't have anything bad to say about it at all. I think it's just an American holiday and most Native Americans consider themselves american and don't give a second thought to Thanksgiving. And i don't remember Thanksgiving being the day we celebrated our victory over the indians, wasn't it just when we celebrated having food and ate with the indians? and having parents that go to the casino frequently they send out promotions so that people show up on holidays. My parents got free turkeys. This is only one native american but i'm sure thanksgiving isnt a big deal.
ReplyDeleteMany Native Americans, including some descendants of the Wampanoag Indians who supposedly participated in the first "thanksgiving" feast, actually do not celebrate Thanksgiving, but instead mark it as a Day of Mourning.
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested in some of these links to explore the mythology behind thanksgiving and the perceptions of Native Americans on the holiday:
http://www.uaine.org/
Here's a speech from this year's gathering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnNHpQ50AhM
Rethinking Thanksgiving: http://rethinkingschoolsblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/from-the-archives-rethinking-thanksgiving-myths-misgivings/
Here's an article by UT professor Robert Jensen discussing the mythology surrounding Thanksgiving and its impact on Native American communities: http://www.alternet.org/story/28584/
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