Maybe you've seen one of the
tweets about how, this year, Thanksgiving
returned to its roots as a holiday defined by disease and disregard for others. It's becoming more common to address the
inaccuracies of the rosy "First Thanksgiving" story, and to note that when settlers from Europe came to what is now the United States, they brought diseases and perpetrated violence that decimated the people who were already living here. But this isn't new: For the past 50 Thanksgivings, the United American Indians of New England has
hosted a national day of mourning while much of the country is brining turkey and watching football.
If you've been to a public event in Australia or Canada in recent years, chances are you've heard an acknowledgment of country statement. Sometimes called a "welcome to country," it's a practice of acknowledging the indigenous nations who are the original inhabitants of the land on which the event is taking place. We make a statement like this at the beginning of our CYG live shows. And I've personally appreciated the practice as a prompt to consult the
Native Land database and learn about the people who are from a place I am merely visiting.
But these statements are debated—and in many cases seem to be
more appreciated by the people they serve to educate than by those they acknowledge.
This TikTok by Kairyn Potts sums up the critique pretty well: All talk, no action.
So rather than just acknowledge that today is Native American Heritage Day and this newsletter is sent from Kizh, Tongva, and Chumash land, I'll also be:
Asking my representatives to stand with the Apache people to
protect holy land from mining. Donating to
Seeding Sovereignty, which is hosting mask drives and has a care fund for Native communities deeply affected by COVID. And recommitting myself to linking to more work by Native writers.
