NATIVE AMERICAN VOICES ON THANKSGIVING
WRITTEN BY
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
Lynn Nichols
Asha McClendon
Dennis W. Zotigh, who is a Kiowa, San Juan Pueblo and Santee Dakota writer, emphasizes that the spiritual and ethical principles behind Thanksgiving
Anti-colonialist, Indigenous perspectives about a complex and painful history
I 17 | VINDICATOR
date back long before any colonists arrived in North America. In his in-depth 2013 essay from the National Museum of the American Indian blog, Zotigh writes
n November, most Americans prioritize two
that for “the original people of this continent, each
days over all others: Election Day and Thanks-
day is a day of thanksgiving to the creator.” Seneca
giving Day. Pop culture often doesn’t recognize
and Cherokee author Terra Trevor shares a similar
that November is also Native American Heri-
perspective in her 2017 editorial for HuffPost: “For
tage Month—and the Friday after Thanksgiving,
Native Peoples, thanksgiving comes not once a year,
November 27 this year, is Native American Heritage
but always.” However, Thanksgiving as a federally
Day. Not only are these observances rarely given
recognized U.S. holiday, celebrated in November,
the visibility that they deserve, but Native Ameri-
can hold a negative connotation for Native Ameri-
can Heritage Day can be bittersweet for Indigenous
can communities. Indigenous activist organization
people in the United States. When former President
Native Hope shares in an online essay that “for
Barack Obama signed the official observance into
many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of
law, Chickasaw Nation citizen Brian Perry questioned
mourning and protest.” The holiday as it is celebrat-
the implications of the day’s placement on the calen-
ed today evokes a painful history of colonialism in
dar: “Why must we take a backseat to Thanksgiving?
North America, and presents a false narrative which
Why not the day before Thanksgiving?”
ignores past injustices.
