Thursday\u2019s solemn National Day of Mourning observance in downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts, will recall the disease and oppression that European settlers brought to North America.<\/b>
\nMembers of Native American tribes from around New England are gathering in the seaside town where the Pilgrims settled \u2013 not to give thanks, but to mourn Indigenous people worldwide who\u2019ve suffered centuries of racism and mistreatment. Thursday\u2019s solemn National Day of Mourning observance in downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts, will recall the disease and oppression that European settlers brought to North America. \u201cWe Native people have no reason to celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims,\u201d said Kisha James, a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag and Oglala Lakota tribes and the granddaughter of Wamsutta Frank James, the event\u2019s founder. \u201cWe want to educate people so that they understand the stories we all learned in school about the first Thanksgiving are nothing but lies. Wampanoag and other Indigenous people have certainly not lived happily ever after since the arrival of the Pilgrims,\u201d James said. \u201cTo us, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning, because we remember the millions of our ancestors who were murdered by uninvited European colonists such as the Pilgrims. Today, we and many Indigenous people around the country say, \u2018No Thanks, No Giving.\u2019\u201d It\u2019s the 52nd year that the United American Indians of New England have organized the event on Thanksgiving Day. The tradition began in 1970. Indigenous people and their supporters will gather at noon in person on Cole\u2019s Hill, a windswept mound overlooking Plymouth Rock, a memorial to the colonists\u2019 arrival. They will also livestream the event. Participants will beat drums, offer prayers and condemn what organizers describe as \u201cthe unjust system based on racism, settler colonialism, sexism, homophobia and the profit-driven destruction of the Earth\u201d before marching through downtown Plymouth\u2019s historical district. This year, they\u2019ll also highlight the troubled legacy of federal boarding schools that sought to assimilate Indigenous youth into white society in the U.S. as well as in Canada, where hundreds of bodies have been discovered on the grounds of former residential schools for Indigenous children. Brian Moskwetah Weeden, chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council, said on Boston Public Radio earlier this week that Americans owe his tribe a debt of gratitude for helping the Pilgrims survive their first brutal winter. \u201cPeople need to understand that you need to be thankful each and every day \u2013 that was how our ancestors thought and navigated this world,\u201d Weeden said. \u201cBecause we were thankful, we were willing to share\u2026 and we had good intentions and a good heart.\u201d That wasn\u2019t reciprocated over the long term, Weeden added. \u201cThat\u2019s why,400 years later, we\u2019re still sitting here fighting for what little bit of land that we still have, and trying to hold the commonwealth and the federal government accountable,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause 400 years later, we don\u2019t really have much to show for, or to be thankful for. So I think it\u2019s important for everyone to be thankful for our ancestors who helped the Pilgrims survive, and kind of played an intricate role in the birth of this nation.\u201d Comments are not available on this story. Send questions\/comments to the editors. \u00ab Previous Next\u00bb<\/p>\n