November 27, 2019
As you gather this week with family and friends, please find ways to speak truth and honor the true history of the Thanksgiving holiday. Continue reading for more ideas on this theme.
Please stay tuned to this newsletter and our facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/LearningRightRelations/ for details on our upcoming December Gathering, which will be centered around the anniversary of the exoneration of Chief Leschi. We look forward to welcoming Cynthia Iyall, descendant of Chief Leschi who helped lead the effort to exonerate him from murder charges, as our guest speaker.
To learn more about this historic anniversary, please click here to read article: Chief Leschi Exonerated of Murder - 146 Years After His Execution by Hans Sherrer, for Justice:Denied magazine.
Please continue reading for more details and related news:
Rethinking "Thanksgiving" - Resources and Information
This Thursday is a traditional American holiday that many of us may be celebrating in some form or another, coming together with family or friends, sharing food and company. It is important to remember that this holiday has perpetuated myths about the relationship between early settlers and American Indians that are ultimately harmful and glosses over the history of colonization, violence and genocide committed by settlers toward native peoples. We invite you to take time and explore more about the history of this holiday, and offer some resources here:
What Really Happened at the First Thanksgiving? The Wampanoag Side of the Tale - article from Indian Country Today
Why Thanksgiving Is A 'National Day of Mourning' For Some Americans - article from the Huffington Post
Decolonizing Thanksgiving and Reviving Indigenous Relationships to Food - article by M. Karlos Baca (Tewa/Dinè/Nuuciu), Indigenous Food activist
The Politics of Thanksgiving Day - article from the Zinn Education Project. Learn how Thanksgiving Day has been used politically, from its start during the Civil War.
Rethinking "Thanksgiving" Toolkit - developed by Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)'s Indigenous Solidarity Working Group, in partnership with Indigenous comrades. Extensive resource looking at many aspects of the holiday, includes many links to further resources. Begins with the following quote:
"For many Indigenous People, giving thanks is a way of life. Among the Haudenushonne (Iroquois) Nations an opening address, or Great Thanksgiving, are the words spoken at the start of day and before any important gathering of people commences its activity... Other Indigenous People also begin their days and activities with a prayer of Thanksgiving for all creation. We put our tobacco down as a gift of thanks. Thanksgiving, respect and reciprocity are core to our life ways."
-Barb Munson, Oneida Nation
Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Prayer: Gratitude is Eternal - from Indian Country Today
We encourage everyone to include an acknowledgement of the First People of this land in your holiday celebration. In the Olympia area, the First Peoples are: Steh-chass of Budd Inlet, Noo-Seh-Chatl of Henderson Inlet, Squi-Aitl of Eld Inlet, Sawamish/T’Peeksin of Totten Inlet, Sa-Heh-Wa-Mish of Hammersley Inlet, Squawksin of Case Inlet and S’Hotle-Ma-Mish of Carr Inlet.
Acknowledgement from the Gatherings (with Steh-Chass as example):
We acknowledge that this land and water is the traditional territory of the Steh-chass People. The Steh-chass People are of the Squaxin Island Tribe.
The surrounding mountains, valleys, shorelines, and waterways are imbued with their presence.
We seek to nurture our relationship with our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to this place, their homelands, where we mutually abide.
Don't miss out! Mark your calendar for this year's
Holiday Native Art Fair at the Evergreen Longhouse:
