My 10 Year Old Sold Out on Thanksgiving

Thu22Nov2007

My 10 Year Old Sold Out on Thanksgiving

09:27 H | Topics: Activism - Children - Family - Food - History

My position on Thanksgiving has been well documented here. Don't get me wrong, I'm not off throwing cranberry sauce on those who choose to keep the turkey and all the trimmings on a day that, I, personally feel is nothing to celebrate about. So if I'm public on it here, I'm even more public about it at home. But this year my 10 year old daughter, in typical 10 year old daughter style revolted.

As a relatively radical Latina mami, Thanksgiving has gone the way of Columbus Day in my house, out the window. I've never lied about why, sitting my now 10 year old down and telling her the real story behind these "holidays" , how they ended up in nothing but death, displacement, and rape for our ancestors, especially her ancestors, as she is half-Indigenous (South American Mapuche). I also never have lied about the fact that as a child I celebrated these holidays thanks to my decidedly assimilationist parents. I froze my ass off at many a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I ate turkey and even drank mulled cider (how many Ricans in NY drink freaking mulled cider?).
But that was before I got politicized, before I learned to analyze and question things and look at everything. Now I teach my children to do the same but my daughter is entering that scary adolescent phase. She's rather listen to Paulina Rubio (a thousand freaking times a day, thank you very much) than Violetta Parra.

Every year she hears the story behind Columbus Day and Thanksgiving but this year when her fifth grade class teacher decided to hold a Thanksgiving feast, my daughter decided she would participate.
"You don't have to you know?" I reminded her, going off on a speech about resistance and her right to not celebrate an effed up holiday.
"But I want to. " she told me.
"Well, I'm not giving you any money to bring anything to the feast and I'm not buying anything for you to bring to the feast". I said, beginning my own version of a temper tantrum.
"I'll use my allowance money," and that she did, buying a pre-packaged apple pie and a bottle of soda for her Thanksgiving feast.

As she walked out the door I shoved a printout about the real story of Thanksgiving to share with her class and I then I prayed.