By Rachel Maddow
Every year, for over 2 centuries Thanksgiving has been celebrated as a reserved holiday to give thanks for the blessings of the harvest and of the preceding year. Every year, families get together and spend time to just enjoy and be thankful for what they have. It is truly a time in which we can reflect on what we have and how much to be thankful for. However, this is probably the most depressing and
horrible holiday. Thanksgiving is basically for a cover up for the mass genocide of the indigenous peoples. It is America's most perfect example of ignorance as we continue to celebrate a horrific event in which we have manipulated into giving thanks.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus came to America in which he brought many colonizers with him. These colonizers from England were land hungry, and were ready to take on America. The only thing standing in their way was that the land was owned by many different Native American tribes. This land was abundant with natural resources that would be like a money mine for these colonizers. Many of these colonizers went into these communities and killed/raped many of the people living there. Many of the colonizers would force these indigenous people to adopt their way of life and reject their own way. According to Lemken, “colonization was in itself "intrinsically
genocidal". He saw this genocide as a two-stage process, the first being the destruction of the indigenous population's way of life. In the second stage, the newcomers impose their way of life on the indigenous group” (Encyclopedia). There was also the massacre of the Christian Indians on March 8, 1782 where US military men killed 96 unarmed native americans. This was done at the Moravian mission settlement in Gnadenhutten, Ohio.
Also following Columbus’ arrival, “violence and disease killed 90% of the indigenous population-nearly 55 million people” (Business insider). The Europeans brought many diseases to America which killed many of the indigenous peoples. Diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza were brought to America. They also were upset that the indigenous peoples were not the same as them in all senses, “Their skin was dark. Their languages were foreign. And their world views and spiritual beliefs were beyond most white men’s comprehension. To settlers fearful that a loved one might become the next Mary Campbell, all this stoked racial hatred and paranoia, making it easy to paint Indigenous peoples as pagan savages who must be killed in the name of civilization and Christianity” (Fixico). There was also the massacre of hundred of Pequot men, women, and children, “In 1637, the Massachusetts Bay Colony's governor, John Winthrop, declared a day to celebrate colonial soldiers who had just slaughtered hundreds of Pequot men, women, and children in what is now Mystic, Connecticut” (Greener).
In our Senate today, they refused to allow a bill to help these indigenous people who have already suffered enough reach the floor. Senator Cortez-Masto and Cardin proposed this bill which was unanimously passed in committee. However, they were unable to receive enough votes to create a UCA in which would prevent a filibuster. The Republicans made it clear that they would filibuster and prevent this bill from passing. After all this, they can’t do a single good thing for the people who owned this land first. Who were forced and murdered to change their way of life and leave their homeland.
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