It’s Thanksgiving week here in America, so naturally, we are going to have the regular haters coming out of the woodwork to wag their fingers at all of you horrible white supremacist colonizers. Yes, even with Trump winning the election by a landslide, we will still have to deal with those anti-American people.

Heads up, this post is not meant to be taken seriously, but perhaps it should be. Breitbart News has an article about the University at Buffalo hosting a forum to discuss ‘Decolonizing Thanksgiving,’ which inspired this blog post.

Apparently, the University of Buffalo questions whether it is right to celebrate Thanksgiving these days, you know, with our history of the settlers’ colonialism and all.

“Is it right to celebrate Thanksgiving and America’s history of settler colonialism?” the description of the event said. “What can we do to honor this day of mourning for Native communities? We can redefine the meaning of Thanksgiving and respect indigenous people’s histories.” – Breitbart

So now, Thanksgiving should be a day of mourning. I know we’ve been here before in recent years, and this isn’t anything new. But when will it stop? It seems to be popping up, just like the haters of Christmas trying to cancel it every year. Is this the new America?

“But the reason for that first feast was not a happy one …. When the pilgrims first arrived in 1620, they were unprepared and had little food, so they robbed corn from Native Americans graves and storehouses.” https://t.co/oYBdFpmmoZ

— Rachel Parsons (@RachelDParsons) November 26, 2024

From National Geographic, who apparently attended that first Thanksgiving in November of 1621. With how our history has been memory-holed and re-written over the last few decades, what is one to believe?

In November 1621, the Wampanoag heard the pilgrims shooting off guns—which historians believe worried the Wampanoag that war was underway. King Massasoit sent 90 men to investigate, before realizing the pilgrims were mid-celebration. The Wampanoag then hunted deer meat and joined the festivities.

The newfound peace between the pilgrims and Wampanoag was driven largely by tribe and trade rivalries, according to Ann McMullen, curator at the National Museum of the American Indian, who says that the Wampanoag realized an alliance with the pilgrims “could fortify their strength.”

But food historian Sarah Wassberg Johnson says that peace didn’t last long: By 1637, the detente between the pilgrims and Wampanoag had disintegrated and the pilgrims started a decades-long war with their Indigenous neighbors. Ultimately, the colonists massacred the local tribes, including the Wampanoag. – National Geographic

Conquerers are going to conquer.

So, how did we come to view Thanksgiving as we do today? Again, according to National Geographic, it was George Washington who dubbed the first national day of Thanksgiving in 1789. However, many presidents after him ignored the tradition until Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, brought the holiday of Thanksgiving back.

But now, in the early two-thousand-twenties, we have spoiled little brats trying to be clever with their demonization of the American days of Thanksgiving.

Other universities, such as the University of Michigan and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, have held similar events talking about decolonizing Thanksgiving.

In a press release from the Center for Social Solutions at the University of Michigan in 2021, Thanksgiving was described as a “national day of mourning” for a lot of Native Americans and a “reminder” of the “genocide and decades of suffering” that they endured from the Europeans’ arrival. – Breitbart

Well, here we are in 2024. What should we do with Thanksgiving? Our current president is following the recent tradition of pardoning two turkeys—no, not Hunter and Biden, but Peaches and Blossom.

As a current resident and citizen of the United States of America in 2024, I do not feel the need to apologize for conquering lands that happened hundreds of years ago. I liken it to the same as not supporting reparations for an event I did not participate in either.

Of course, America has a history, just like all countries. History is a lesson, but it’s not to go back and change. Some people may disagree with me about that, though. There seem to be good arguments for just about any subject these days.

Instead of Americans practicing thoughtful Thanksgiving and prayers this week, some people want us to give the land back. And for more reasons than just us being colonizers, some say it is a climate solution. Obviously.

via GIPHY

Look at Greta appropriating the Native American braid.

My family and I will be doing our regular Thanksgiving traditions, perhaps even more so this year. We can look back on American history with gratitude and grounded rumination. It’s how we learn to adjust and do better.

I’ll share with you something I read long ago that I try to keep in my thoughts today.

But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our useful ness to others. After making our review we ask God’s forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken. – Chapter 6 – Into Action

Some things need to be amended, but sometimes, the amendments are future actions—actions to behave better.

Here’s hoping you have a grateful and fulfilled day of Thanksgiving. Cheers.

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