Between the Lines

The Pilgrims may not have personally orchestrated the mass killing of the Native Americans but, as Jensen says, it was a "European conquest" of the continent and its indigenous people that led to the deaths of thousands of Native Americans.

I read you acknowledging that it wasn't just disease that killed the Native Americans but also harmful policy making. Yes. And policies are not just benign things that happen "unknowingly." They are deliberate actions; means to an end, if you will (e.g the Indian Removal act that led to the Trail of Tears). How is that not genocide?

The U.S. government, through its policies, killed thousands of Native Americans. Let's be clear that there will be no change in our modern societies if we do not begin to see how such deliberate actions (i.e., policies) can and do lead to the death and suffering of millions. Let's be clear on this causality so that we may, hopefully, progress into comparatively peaceful societies someday.

Further reading:

http://www.wicocomico-indian-nation.com/pages/genocide.html

An interesting read:

By your fellow PT blogger, Jon Hanson

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/minding-the-law/200911/thanksgiving-...

"Thanksgiving, in turn, paved the way for a half century of peace." no no no no!!!!!

http://www.zolaenterprises.com/Thanksgiving.htm

Most schools in America try to tell that Thanksgiving is a holiday to celebrate and be thankful for the friendship with the Indians. We were not their friends if you look through real history and facts. The events that took place show that we in fact slaughtered Indian women, men and children to take over their lands. Much like we have done to many ever since. People that think of the Pilgrims and Indians sitting down to a big thanksgiving dinner and celebrating together are very wrong. The real truth about Thanksgiving is below for those that care to read about Thanksgiving. The American Thanksgiving and Canadian Thanksgiving is based on lies. That is why only those countries celebrate Thanksgiving. I hate Thanksgiving!

The real story of Thanksgiving began in 1614 when a band of English explorers sailed home to England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. They left a gift known as smallpox for the remaining Indians. That virtually wiped out all Indian Tribes that escaped the explorers.

When the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts Bay they found only one living Patuxet Indian. The Indians name was Squanto. He not only survived slavery in England but, he learned the English language so, Squanto was able to communicate with the English and Indians. Squanto taught pilgrims to grow corn and to fish. Squanto negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags. That was the only documented time of pilgrims and Indians sitting together for a feast! That was not thanksgiving and is not a holiday celebrated by anyone!

(SNIP)

Since there were no fences or security around the land Pilgrims considered it to be in the public domain. With the help of other British settlers they captured strong young Native Americans for slaves and killed the rest. They then took over the land from the Indians that remained living. The Pequot Nation had not agreed to the peace treaty Squanto had negotiated and they fought back. The Pequot War was one of the bloodiest Indian wars ever fought. The Pilgrims killed all Indian Tribes & took over the lands in a brutal way.

In 1637 about 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival. That is what they call our Thanksgiving celebration. In the early morning hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries. It is said they then ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot and clubbed to death. Indian women and children were burned alive inside their Teepees as they huddled together in fear. The next day the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared "A Day Of Thanksgiving" because about 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered. Sadly that is the story of Thanksgiving that has been documented in many places and it is the facts that they try to hide from Americans.

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the
oppressed." --Steve Biko

I appreciate the thoughtful blog entry, but I think Dr. Lyubansky's reliance on the UN defintion of genocide leaves much to be desired, and tends to minimize the effect of European exploration of the
"New World."

Removal of children and forced assimilation of a native people to accept a conquering power's culture is a key component of genocide, used by nearly every genocidal culture in history. Genocide isn't just killing people, it's the destruction of an entire culture writ large. The Nazis (the standard by which nearly all genocides seem to be measured) didn't seek to merely kill Jews and other minorities; they also targeted the respositories and trappings of Jewish culture. The pattern repeats in Rwanda, in the Balkans, in Armenia during WWI, in every instance of conquering and domination by any power.

...and, Happy Thanksgiving!

It is self evident but still wroth saying that the American Indian community is not of one voice when it comes to Thanksgiving. Here's a Native American pro-Thanksgiving view: http://www.purewatergazette.net/nativeamericanthanksgiving.htm

Earlier in the month of November, Psychology Today writer Matthew Hudson (Thanks, and Apologies: Shedding Light on the Pilgrim’s Misdeeds. http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200911/insights-news) covered research that my colleagues and I conducted related to this issue. The associated article just appeared in the journal Memory:

Kurtiş, T., Adams, G., & Yellow Bird, M. (2010). Generosity or genocide? Identity implications of silence in American Thanksgiving celebrations. Memory, 18(2), 208-224.

Being from NJ and being the descendent of some of those early European settlers, I was raised with the idea that Thanksgiving was a day to celebrate the "feast" shared by the Native people and the pilgrims and never learned the truths behind the story until I was an adult. Two years living in Carlisle, PA, near the Indian School began that journey. I now live in the Eastern Sierra of California and work in a Native American agency. I have learned a great deal about the real history of Native Americans, from the East, the south, the plains, and the West. I have also come to know many Native people who have very different feelings about Thanksgiving.

My children and I have, for years, considered this day to be one of thanks for all we have, all we have survived, and all those who came before us to make this all possible with a keenly felt sorrow for what this has meant to those who were here before my ancestors arrived. It is a time to take personal inventories and measure how far we have come since the previous year. We also recognize and honor the first people of the land on which we live and all they have endured. We set out a plate for the ancestors, both of our family and the land, and we recognize this is a bittersweet day for many.

I am honored to work where I do and to serve the Native families in our programs and their communities as well. Today's Native people all over the US and elswhere are resilient and strong, a testament to what could not be destroyed... and, that is one of the many things my family will honor today.

I totally disagree with you. Your semantic games are simply disgusting and it this kind of moral floundering that has seen humans at this point before. Whatever the correct term for it is, it is the callous and selfish destruction of others for our gain that is the problem!