November 25, 2020
For Many Native Americans, Thanksgiving
is a Day of Mourning
By Ben Gurin
Tomorrow, November 26th, marks the federal holiday Thanksgiving, a day celebrated across the United States. On this annual occasion, families often gather to feast on traditional Thanksgiving foods such as turkey and pumpkin pie (though many families this year will be eating together over video). In school, American children learn that at Thanksgiving, we celebrate a feast that took place between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans in Plymouth, Massachusetts after the ‘settlers’ arrived, which signified peace between the two groups. School kids often dress up as Pilgrims and Native Americans and sing songs such as “This Land is Your Land.” The holiday is one of the most popular in the United States, and is quintessentially American.
However, for many Native Americans across the country, the last Thursday in November is not a cause for celebration. Instead, it represents a history of violence and oppression suffered by Native Americans at the hands of white colonizers.
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There most likely was a relatively peaceful three-day ‘thanksgiving’ feast shared by members of the Wampanoag tribe and Pilgrim settlers in 1621. But the event was far from a happy ending. In the years following, the Pilgrims betrayed their alliance with the Wampanoag. For two centuries, the colonizers forced land from New England tribes and murdered, imprisoned, and enslaved a large percentage of the Native American population.
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The National Day of Mourning is organized by the United American Indians of New England.
Photo courtesy of UAINE.
The devastating attacks on Native Americans by white colonizers had consequences that have permeated to the present day. Many Native American tribes across the continent lack resources like water and food, experience high rates of COVID-19, and face land degradation from government-sanctioned mining and oil drilling.
In response to these current disparities, as well as the history of violence on Native Americans by colonizers, and the erasure of that history by the celebration of Thanksgiving, the United American Indians of New England (UAINE) established The National Day of Mourning in 1971. The annual event takes place on the last Thursday of November as a response to Thanksgiving, which UAINE refers to on their website as a “reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture.”
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The Day of Mourning commences every year in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Wampanoag Indians and Pilgrims shared that first thanksgiving meal. Attendees gather on Coles Hill, which overlooks Plymouth Rock. Past actions at the event have included burying Plymouth Rock, boarding the town’s replica of the Mayflower, and draping ku klux klan sheets over the statue of William Bradford, who was a long-time governor of Plymouth in its early years. As they have every year, attendees will march through the historic district of Plymouth, per an agreement with the town in 1998 that allows them to do so without a permit.
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UNAINE explains that the Day of Mourning “honor[s] Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience.”
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Some years have seen over 1,000 attendees at the gathering, but this year it’s expected that fewer will attend due to the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers have discouraged out-of-state travelers, and the wearing of masks will be mandatory. For those who aren’t able to be there in person, there will be a live stream of the event online tomorrow, November 26th, at 12pm EST. The broadcast will also include pre-recorded messages from Native American voices across the continent.
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UAINE considers the Day of Mourning to be a “solemn, spiritual and highly political day… a day when we mourn, but we also feel our strength in action.”