As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s critical to take extra care and spend time with our loved ones, to share the abundance of food and presence, while also coming to terms with the foundational realities of its darker history.
This year, make the commitment to talking with your friends and family about the truth of this national holiday, while coming closer as a result of such honesty.
For support, our friends at the Bioneers put together a wellspring of educational resources and conversation prompts, including “Three Ways to Decolonize Thanksgiving,” which you’ll find below. I hope you find these materials as helpful as we do.
1. Tell the True, Indigenous History of Thanksgiving.
“The pop culture story of the First Thanksgiving, often told to children in grade school, is a myth. For the true story of what happened at the First Thanksgiving, and how Indigenous lives have been affected ever since, Bioneers’ Indigeneity Program’s Alexis Bunten (Aleut/Yup’ik) hosted a conversation with Chris Newell (Passamaquoddy), the Akomawt Educational Initiative’s Director of Education.”
2. Source as Much Local Food as Possible.
Support your local farmer’s market, or co-op. This is one way to shorten the distance food must take to travel to your plates, and it bolsters the food systems resiliency and local growers in your bioregion.
3. Widen Your Circle.
Ask someone outside your usual group of friends and family what Thanksgiving means to them. This is one way of expanding your understanding of the holiday, and to receive other experiences with compassion and listening.
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