I do not celebrate Thanksgiving. Growing up as a Black person, I was always taught that my ancestors did not arrive on Plymouth Rock with the Pilgrims. Malcolm X has a famous quote about Black Americans and their place in the colonization of America: “We did not arrive on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock was landed on us”, meaning we are merely here as a result of the transatlantic slave trade. Rather than being taught that the holiday celebrated a feast that created peace between Native Americans and Pilgrims, I was taught the vicious truth of Thanksgiving and how its effect on Indigenous communities are still present today. Many Americans celebrate Thanksgiving by reflecting on the things in their lives they are thankful for. These things commonly include their homes, food, family, etc. I believe many of these things are a direct result of colonization. While the first Thanksgiving may have been a peaceful gathering between pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, I see the holiday as a glorification of colonization and the genocide of Indigenous nations.
Instead of celebrating the traditional holiday, I celebrate “Unthanksgiving” and the National Day of Mourning. I do this to honor and stand in solidarity with Indigenous people of this country that are still recovering from the lasting consequences of colonization. Native communities still face extreme rates of poverty, suicide, sexual assault, and addiction. Ignoring this is whitewashing history and current events, so Unthanksgiving is a way to decolonize history and stand with a severely underrepresented community. As a Non-Indigenous person, I can celebrate “Unthanksgiving” in several ways that challenging traditional thanksgiving myths, and acknowledging history as it happened. For example, I recommend that you visit Native-Land.ca, an interactive map site that allows you to see the Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties in your region. Americans can view this website to view the Indigenous territories that once lived on the land they now occupy. These land acknowledgments are a key way to offer recognition and respect to these Native communities and acknowledge the ugly but true experiences that are a part of our history.
This Unthanksgiving, I curated “An Unthanksgiving Playlist”. This playlist highlights a few of my favorite Indigenous musicians. There is little to no Indigenous representation in mainstream music today. These artists are from Indigenous communities all over America and Canada. They use their art as a way to empower themselves and their community. They highlight the ups-and-downs of the Indigenous experience and even use music as a call to action for activists and allies all over the world who wish to stand in solidarity with Indigenous people who are still fighting for their communities nearly 300 years after colonizers arrived on the Mayflower.