While all of you at OA have been inhaling leftover halloween candy and screaming about a 10 year old show in Grey’s Anatomy, Thanksgiving has been approaching more quickly than the Easton Moms do when anything slightly scandalous erupts. Let’s face it, everyone is going to forget about Thanksgiving again because all OA kids care about is Christmas. Everyone will be too busy worrying about the new PS5 or Nike Air Forces dropping rather than giving a single discernible thought towards the Native American communities, and those communities will continue to suffer alone like they have for centuries. As Easton students, we’ve all learned the whitewashed version of Thanksgiving. When Squanto bravely approached the struggling Massachusetts Pilgrims, and offered planting advice and crops during their most troubled times. It sounds almost too good to be true, because it is too good to be true. Native Americans are being oppressed by both the government and ordinary citizens like you and I.
Native Americans have inhabited the Americas for thousands of years, until a very racist man named Christopher Columbus “sailed the ocean blue in 1492” and proceeded to wipe out much of the tribes with a combination of warfare and disease. Throughout the next 500 years, Native Americans were forced to comply with European colonialism and commit barbaric acts against others and even their own tribes. The Revolutionary War may sound like an amazing underdog story, but wouldn’t it seem a little harder to swallow if I told you America pitted Native American tribes against each other, and gave them nothing for their bloodshed? Keep in mind that this didn’t happen once, it happened 4 major times throughout U.S. history. During the Jackson administration in the early 1800s, he forcibly and unconstitutionally marched thousands of Native Americans from their homelands of thousands of years to special “territories.” This later became known as the Trail of Tears, because of the insufferable conditions and death that ravaged native communities. Native Americans have also been attacked spiritually. European colonialism forced many Native Americans into reform schools to erase their heritages and conform to Christian principles. Even today, Native American settlements are underfunded and low on supplies.
The question every week is why should I care? Thanksgiving is coming up, and for the groups of people who kept America alive 400 years ago to be treated in such harsh ways seems almost barbaric. Native Americans are people, and the recognition they deserve for their help in keeping United States hopes alive, as well as their hardships faced from America as a whole, can never be overstated. So, instead of stuffing your faces with turkey and letting Thanksgiving pass again, take a minute to acknowledge Native American tribes and land in your area. Perhaps buy from a Native American business, or donate to a Native American cause. This Thanksgiving, there is a lot to be thankful for if you are able to celebrate, so take action and make a difference alongside Native Americans for the better of humanity.