The 2017 First Nations Thanksgiving Broadcast
The Thanksgiving story that we all grew up on is not the whole story. That moment of mutual peace and respect is a heart-warming story, to be sure. But it is not the whole story. What we fail to recognize is that just a generation after the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims and the Natives were at war in what was the worst war per capita to occur on North American soil. That war was King Philip's War and it devastated Native populations in the northeast. Those native who weren't killed, were enslaved and sent to the West Indies. Some survivors escaped to Canada. The Pilgrims saw this victory as a message from God that they had the right to take Native land. And take land they did. The rest of the history of the relationship between the United States and First Nations is anything but heartwarming. If you would like a basic primer on this history, I recommend reading Dee Brown's book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee . This book changed my view of history. On this Th...