The Other Side of Thanksgiving
The historical lens through which national holidays are viewed is often blurred and distorted. Thanksgiving is a case in point. The much-revered Pilgrims fresh off the Mayflower sat down and shared native foods with the friendly Wampanoags. A heart-warming story. But this idea of the gift-giving Indian, helping to establish and enrich what would become the United States, is a myth. Native Americans would soon be overwhelmed and killed en masse by white settlers. Those that survived the murderous campaigns against them were relegated to inhospitable reservations. Indian land was stolen fair and square. Today we honor the memory of the slaughtered with Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, Jeep Cherokees, the Washington Redskins and calling bin Laden, Geronimo. Native Americans are offended by the appropriation of their culture. It is the final stage of genocide.
Speaker
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortíz
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma, the daughter of a tenant farmer and part-Indian mother. A distinguished scholar, she has been active in the international Indigenous movement for many years and is known for her commitment to social justice issues. She is the recipient of the 2017 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize. Her 1977 book The Great Sioux Nation was the fundamental document at the first UN conference on Indigenous peoples of the Americas. She is the author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, winner of the 2015 American Book Award, Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment, All the Real Indians Died Off and 20 Other Myths about Native Americans and Not a Nation of Immigrants.
“Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a one-woman wrecking ball against the tower of lies erected by ‘official’ historians.”- Ishmael Reed
Kay Brown –
Alternative Radio programs are superior in content. Meaningful contemporary analysis not to be missed.
Don Baraka –
This is not fiction! Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz in 2014, still valid. It’s more important than ever to learn our real history, so we may correct and transcend past errors and aggressions.
Amy Bookbinder (verified owner) –
EXCELLENT.
Tim Sweeney –
Brilliant lecture. It cannot be overstated how much I learned.
Marcus Boyd –
This is my fourth year of listening to this audiobook with Q&A on Thanksgiving Day. I look forward to listening again next year while informing and dismantling until then.
RICK CHERTOFF –
Concise exposition of the DNA of predatory nature of this (and every other) colonial settler state, and its manifestation in current U.S. racial dynamics and imperialist “perpetual war”….Also, why U.S. would be in league with U.K. and fervently support Israel, which is in the middle of its ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Geoff Kaupman –
This was a powerful piece of programming and learning from a highly knowledgeable person. Some of these facts presented, I knew of. The detail and the packaging of these truths were impactful. We look around the world, Brazil, China, Colombia, elsewhere for the stories of indigenous people thrust to the wayside. We have no further to look then here in the USA. That said, I think some of the truths need not displace the myths of our country’s creationism. Lies or not these were the stories of strength, mortality, morality and justice that generations were raised upon. These same lies are what make it possible for many people of my generation to desire inclusivity, to be open to the real truths, to embrace fixing wrongs.
Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.
David Allan –
Thank you so much for this brilliant program!
Navtej P Singh –
I felt it that way, some where deep down I knew that polished talks of these so called godly men are. I am not only amazed but concerned what they have in box for humanity in 21st century. The evidence is clear from what they are capable of doing to their own young vulnerable boys with full immunity from law.
Jen snyder –
I caught only 20 minutes of this broadcast. I felt like i received a drink of water after days of being parched. Ms Dunbar-Ortiz describes our true national origins with clarity. I’ve studied our history from many varied perspectives. She pulls it all together. I will get the recording to listen to her whole presentation. Thank you