European settlers to Native Americans: "Your shit is mine. I'm taking it all."

[Selatius]

As we take time out of our days to be with our family and celebrate "tradition" with a big turkey dinner and the whole nine yards, we should better understand our position in the world not only by examining where we are today but also where we once were.

500 years ago Europeans were trying to find trade routes to Asia, and Columbus, miscalculating the circumference of the earth, incorrectly assumed the best way towards Asia was to sail west. Voila! He had discovered North and South America, and this set in motion what would be known as the "Age of Discovery" in Europe. Spain would rise as, perhaps, the first "superpower" since Rome due in large part to the pillaged wealth of the now destroyed Incan civilization and the incredibly vast colonial possessions it would come to control from Mexico to Argentina.

To be sure, the entire world was rapidly falling under European hegemonic control from the coasts of Africa, soon to be the source of the infamous slave trade, to the shores of India, which would eventually become the "crown jewel" of the British Empire, and beyond to the shores of China and Japan. All the big powers of that era sought dominance and greater wealth, and the primary method was through domination over land and resources. Nearly all civilizations and peoples who faced European firepower in those days would be enslaved, occupied, or completely driven into extinction.

The origins of Thanksgiving Day are, in short, rooted in myth, but what is known is that the reality behind the observance of this holiday is far more bloody, far more brutal than the romanticized version the schools of America and the corporate news media taught us all. The real history is more likely closer to the idea that Native Americans were repaid their almost naive hospitality and tepid advances towards understanding of these new foreigners with killing, enslavement, and the theft of land and other resources. Take the idea and repeat it several times in slightly different variations and characters. Instead of Arawak Indians, replace them with Wompanoag Indians, and replace Columbus and his crew with Plymouth colonists. The general notion, all too often, holds up. The details are different, but the outcome is largely unaffected.

The point of this thread is not to end the celebration of Thanksgiving Day or Columbus Day, per se. The point of this thread is not to invoke "white man's burden" or some iteration of that idea. The point of this thread is to illustrate that many of the policies of today with respect to our government and the rest of the world are merely policies inherited from our forefathers. If people become aware of the true history of the United States or of European colonialism, in general, then perhaps people could better understand why things are happening the way they are today, and, with hope, perhaps we could all change course after "looking in the mirror" not just for our own benefit but for the benefit of those we touch, especially the Iraqis.

So you can go eat your meal with your family and give thanks for what you have. Give thanks for the relative comfort you now enjoy thanks to your ancestors achievements and your own achievements to put a house over your head for your family. Just don't forget, also, those who were on the "losing side" of history as well, those who fell to your ancestors. Americans would do well not to forget them. When those on the losing side of history fall, their legacy automatically becomes the legacy of the people who conquered them, whether the conquerors accept it or not. The only question is whether that legacy will be remembered and whether any lessons that the fallen teach us will be heeded. By heeding the lessons, some good can come from something so bad, and all can become better for it.

Your family enjoys Thanksgiving dinner today, but remember to "set a seat" for those who no longer speak, for those who have fallen and those who will fall today in the name of profit and power. Remember the past, in short, to learn for the future. If not, somebody else will have the misfortune of being visited upon by their own Christopher Columbus.

"They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

-- Christopher Columbus

[ClintonTyree]

1. Don't even get me started........

on the "hero", Christopher Columbus. :grr:

Not to make light of the Nazi extermination of the Jews, but what the settlers of this country did to the Native Americans makes that dark period in history look tame by comparison.

I've lost more than one friend and have alienated several relatives speaking the truth about these subjects, but, as usual, the truth isn't very popular with some folks. They'd rather believe in myth and downright lies than face the ugly truths of our past.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. ;)

[niceypoo]

2. Haliburton settlers to Iraqi natives: "Your shit is mine. I'm taking it all."

[Jcrowley]

3. Celebrating the unspeakable

Thanksgiving is much more than a lie – if it were that simple, an historical correction of the record of events in 1600s Massachusetts would suffice to purge the “flaw” in the national mythology. But Thanksgiving is not just a twisted fable, and the mythology it nurtures is itself inherently evil. The real-life events – subsequently revised – were perfectly understood at the time as the first, definitive triumphs of the genocidal European project in New England. The near-erasure of Native Americans in Massachusetts and, soon thereafter, from most of the remainder of the northern English colonial seaboard was the true mission of the Pilgrim enterprise – Act One of the American Dream. African Slavery commenced contemporaneously – an overlapping and ultimately inseparable Act Two.



The last Act in the American drama must be the “root and branch” eradication of all vestiges of Act One and Two – America’s seminal crimes and formative projects. Thanksgiving as presently celebrated – that is, as a national political event – is an affront to civilization.

Celebrating the unspeakable

White America embraced Thanksgiving because a majority of that population glories in the fruits, if not the unpleasant details, of genocide and slavery and feels, on the whole, good about their heritage: a cornucopia of privilege and national power. Children are taught to identify with the good fortune of the Pilgrims. It does not much matter that the Native American and African holocausts that flowed from the feast at Plymouth are hidden from the children’s version of the story – kids learn soon enough that Indians were made scarce and Africans became enslaved. But they will also never forget the core message of the holiday: that the Pilgrims were good people, who could not have purposely set such evil in motion. Just as the first Thanksgivings marked the consolidation of the English toehold in what became the United States, the core ideological content of the holiday serves to validate all that has since occurred on these shores – a national consecration of the unspeakable, a balm and benediction for the victors, a blessing of the fruits of murder and kidnapping, and an implicit obligation to continue the seamless historical project in the present day.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/66/66_cover_thanksgiving.html

[bobbolink]

23. The Original Sin of the U.S. -- slavery and genocide

It's corrupted everything that has come after.

[Mythsaje]

4. It is difficult to think of the "conquests" of those more closely

related to one side of my heritage (not particularly close, since I'm almost completely Celtic, and the Celts had very little to do with the initial taking of America) and the OTHER side of my heritage, which IS that of the Native Americans.

I was raised to always keep it in mind. My dad despised what had been done to the Natives and held more respect for them than the vast majority of European cultures.

He was an anomoly, however.

[Chulanowa]

12. Same roots here

...Though my Native side didn't come to light until I made it. Family records, local gossip, even took a swab test to confirm. Problem is, in the south, being part Native has never been seen as a good thing. Such charming terms as "swamp ni**er" were invented in that neck of the woods, for such families.

Since I found out, been doing everything I can to learn all I can.

Question: Do you have a knee-jerk reaction to all things british? I'm wondering if this is just cultural residue of my family history, or if perhaps it may be genetic :)

[Mythsaje]

14. I don't know about knee-jerk, but

I'm not a big fan of the British Empire. Arrogant conquerers with tea and cakes. A veneer of civilization over some really screwed up assumptions.

[itsmesgd]

16. speaking of roots?

you mentioned being part native and southern. What tribe are your ancestors from? Do you have any contact with others from the tribe?
Speaking for myself I am part Muskogee (Creek)

[Chulanowa]

20. Mississippi Choctaw

And no, I haven't. I used to know a guy, but he died a few years ago - interestingly I did meet a friend of his over here in Oregon. That wa rather neat.

[XOKCowboy]

17. Not an anomoly where I come from...

My grandmother was a fullblood Delaware. She was taken from her parents at 6 years old and sent to a Catholic mission in Kansas for "school". She was forbidden to speak her native language and eventually "converted" to Christianity. By the time she was returned to Oklahoma her parents were dead and she lived with her cousins till she married.

Growing up in Oklahoma I heard a lot of these stories growing up. It colors the way you see "history" as presented in school and on TV. There are plenty of people in Oklahoma who hold the same opinion as your father.

[yurbud]

5. This sums up all war, colonialism, and the like: we want their shit

and we can kick their ass.

[rman]

6. 20 million deaths

i've heard, some claim significantly more.

Either way it's the largest genocide in recent history, perhaps in all of known history.

[independentpiney]

8. It's a bittersweet holiday for me

When I connect personally to it.While I look european unless someone looks closely, I have Shawano, African and Melungeon blood in my ancestry. Some members of my family had trouble 'passing just 2 generations ago and I probably have family I don't know about yet who never did. My son married a beautiful strong black woman and I have a 4 year old "black" granddaughter smart as a whip and a gorgeous new g/d born 2 weeks ago. I'm really proud of the courage of my ancestors to cross racial lines so long ago and of my son to do it now. Racism and exploitation suck. I'm also buzzed , can you tell?

[rman]

9. yes, the reality of human history is tragic

also tragic is that to many people don't know or don't care.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Let's not forget Tibet

Tibet was invaded, millions of its people killed, its cultural icons destroyed by the Communist Chinese, who feel that their form of viewing the world is superior to theirs. So the travesty of destruction continues, in another part of the world.

What made me think of this? Several years ago, Tibetan lamas went to the Taos Pueblo to talk to the elders there. Translators were assembled to help-but they were not needed. The Tibetans and the Taos Pueblo elders understood one another.

[grasswire]

10. I'm setting an empty place at the table...

...but it is for my ancester Elizabeth Tilley who came with her family on the Mayflower at the age of thirteen, was orphaned the first winter, endured the starvation and disease and crushing work load while she nursed others who could not care for themselves -- as innocent a participant in the drama as were the natives. She survived, and eventually married Carver's manservant John Howland (who, incidentally, fell off the Mayflower during a storm and was keelhauled).

Not everyone who came on that ship came with even unthought or unspoken intentions of taking land or possessions. Some just came because they belonged to others and could not determine their own destiny. Some also came because the urge to live in freedom was more overpowering than anything else.

And, by the way, the Pilgrims were not Puritans. They were separatists who opposed the notion of a state religion.

[Selatius]

11. I never meant to assert that all settlers were bent on carnage

If I did, I am sorry, for I do realize the term "European settlers" is vague; however, I hope it doesn't detract from the larger message inherent in what I wrote. Many people involved in the maelstrom were involved not necessarily by their hands but by the hands of others.

BTW, it was my understanding that Pilgrims were the separatists and that Puritans sought to try to reform or "purify" the Anglican Church, whereas Pilgrims felt the differences were irreconcilable and sought a complete split from the Anglican Church.

[Chulanowa]

13. Incorrect

The pilgrims were strict fundamentalists who wanted to practice their ways without the "loose and immoral" church of england breathing over hteir shoulder. So they came to america... and established a theocratic system. It's not that htey were against state religion - they were just against a state religion other than their own.

Though they have lost the belt buckles on their hats, modern fundies in America can trace their spiritual lineage back to these and other likeminded religious extremists. How lovely for us.

[BrotherBuzz]

19. Those were the Puritans, not the Separatists

The Separatists (Plymouth Colony) had a democratic, consensus government that allowed 'Strangers' (non-believers) all the rights and privileges of the church members (vote, land ownership, public office, etc) and stressed separation of church from state. Church membership was mandatory by the Puritans for any of these rights (theocratic system, no?).

[bobbolink]

15. Until 'Murkins come to terms with the "original sin" of the US--slavery

and the genocide of Native Americans, we'll continue to make a huge mess of things.

What puzzles me... we are a nation of the highest percentage of "religious" people. Most religions have some concept of confessing sin.

So, why is it so difficult for USians to look at the wrongs we've committed?

I really don't get this.

Seems like one huge disconnect, to me.

[Selatius]

21. Because many felt they were doing "right" by committing the wrong

If we invade Iraq, we're there for a good reason, no? "To liberate Iraqis." Many leaders of the era thought something similar with the Native Americans, that they should be "saved" from their "savagery" by showing them the light of Christianity and civilization. Those who don't convert should burn in hell for their sinful ways. Others were less "altruistic" in purpose: They simply wanted the land, the gold, everything. They didn't care about saving or rescuing anybody. They were in it for money, power, and glory.

[bobbolink]

22. "religious" people are supposed to have enough humility to admit being wrong

That's what I don't understand.

I get the rest.

Just waiting for this country to mature.

[Blue_Tires]

18. kick