VivirLatino

I hate to rain on your Thanksgiving Day parade, blown up and filled with hot air like the balloons blown up to incite people to stuff themselves silly today under the illusion of family unity, and prepping people to stampede their way into stores to get that must have toy made of plastic.

We’ve been through this before. And I’ve had mixed results with my own children and struggling against the mainstream who needs invented traditions to get people in a room together to play nice and be grateful.

Pero people are mourning today.

In 1970, United American Indians of New England declared US Thanksgiving Day a National Day of Mourning. This came about as a result of the suppression of the truth. Wamsutta, an Aquinnah Wampanoag man, had been asked to speak at a fancy Commonwealth of Massachusetts banquet celebrating the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. He agreed. The organizers of the dinner, using as a pretext the need to prepare a press release, asked for a copy of the speech he planned to deliver. He agreed. Within days Wamsutta was told by a representative of the Department of Commerce and Development that he would not be allowed to give the speech. The reason given was due to the fact that, “…the theme of the anniversary celebration is brotherhood and anything inflammatory would have been out of place.” What they were really saying was that in this society, the truth is out of place.

And what is the truth?

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