Thanksgiving and the Challenge of Seeing a Reality that is Unpleasant

So many of us have no intention of causing great harm and have every desire to bring a loving presence into the world around us. So many of us also cherish our autumn holiday that focuses on gratitude and sharing delicious food and time with loved ones. So it is particularly challenging to feel the growing awareness of the ways this holiday doesn’t align with the very values we and our UU faith hold dear. This message offers an opportunity for awareness, and for considering how we might shift things in our Thanksgiving experience to honor whatever we feel to be true.

The Racial Justice Change Team has assembled a few resources that might be helpful as we make our plans and move toward a holiday that is dear to many of us. Let’s talk with one another and support one another in finding our way! We invite you to visit us at our table during social hour on Sunday.

This article offers a short list of ways to start rethinking how we celebrate this day:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmdmb8/how-to-celebrate-thanksgiving-on-stolen-land

This is a quick read that gives a few paragraphs of real history:

http://www.nativecircle.com/first-thanksgiving-myth.html

This one includes a short video of Native American girls sharing their experience:

https://hiplatina.com/thanksgiving-problematic-people-of-color/

This is a placemat that can be used as a way to have conversations about the impacts on indigenous peoples:

https://www.realrentduwamish.org/holiday-placemat.html

This one has some information on the National Day of Mourning as a response to Thanksgiving:

https://nationaltoday.com/national-day-of-mourning/

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