Re: The Thanksgiving Massacre

From: Bill Carey (mrcarey_at_the.anti.spoof.hotmail.com)
Date: 11/25/04 

Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 15:07:40 -0500

If people currently use Thanksgiving to celebrate a spirit of cooperation
and reflection on the good things in life, think of what a great favor
you're doing them and everyone else getting them to stop thinking that way.
Man, you're one bright and helpful individual. I hope your depression
bottoms out soon and you can start coming out of it, unitl then, shut up and
go away.

Oh, and have a Happy Thanksgiving. 

-- 
Bill Carey
MS Messenger - RedEyes
XBox Live - RedEyes
"Szaki" <szaki10@comcast.net> wrote in message 
news:lDppd.668126$8_6.387927@attbi_s04...
> Cooking the History Books: The Thanksgiving Massacre
> Is All That Turkey and Stuffing a Celebration of Genocide?
>
> http://indy.pabn.org/archives/213thank.shtml
>
> By Laura Elliff, Vice President, Native American Student Association
>
> Thanksgiving is a holiday where families gather to share stories, football
> games are watched on television and a big feast is served. It is also the
> time of the month when people talk about Native Americans. But does one 
> ever
> wonder why we celebrate this national holiday? Why does everyone give
> thanks?
>
> History is never simple. The standard history of Thanksgiving tells us 
> that
> the "Pilgrims and Indians" feasted for three days, right? Most Americans
> believe that there was some magnificent bountiful harvest. In the
> Thanksgiving story, are the "Indians" even acknowledged by a tribe? No,
> because everyone assumes "Indians" are the same. So, who were these 
> Indians
> in 1621?
>
> In 1620, Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower naming the land Plymouth Rock.
> One fact that is always hidden is that the village was already named 
> Patuxet
> and the Wampanoag Indians lived there for thousands of years. To many
> Americans, Plymouth Rock is a symbol. Sad but true many people assume, "It
> is the rock on which our nation began." In 1621, Pilgrims did have a feast
> but it was not repeated years thereafter. So, it wasn't the beginning of a
> Thanksgiving tradition nor did Pilgrims call it a Thanksgiving feast.
> Pilgrims perceived Indians in relation to the Devil and the only reason 
> why
> they were invited to that feast was for the purpose of negotiating a 
> treaty
> that would secure the lands for the Pilgrims. The reason why we have so 
> many
> myths about Thanksgiving is that it is an invented tradition. It is based
> more on fiction than fact.
>
> So, what truth ought to be taught? In 1637, the official Thanksgiving
> holiday we know today came into existence. (Some people argue it formally
> came into existence during the Civil War, in 1863, when President Lincoln
> proclaimed it, which also was the same year he had 38 Sioux hung on
> Christmas Eve.) William Newell, a Penobscot Indian and former chair of the
> anthropology department of the University of Connecticut, claims that the
> first Thanksgiving was not "a festive gathering of Indians and Pilgrims, 
> but
> rather a celebration of the massacre of 700 Pequot men, women and 
> children."
> In 1637, the Pequot tribe of Connecticut gathered for the annual Green 
> Corn
> Dance ceremony. Mercenaries of the English and Dutch attacked and 
> surrounded
> the village; burning down everything and shooting whomever try to escape.
> The next day, Newell notes, the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony
> declared: "A day of Thanksgiving, thanking God that they had eliminated 
> over
> 700 men, women and children." It was signed into law that, "This day forth
> shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots."
> Most Americans believe Thanksgiving was this wonderful dinner and harvest
> celebration. The truth is the "Thanksgiving dinner" was invented both to
> instill a false pride in Americans and to cover up the massacre.
>
> Was Thanksgiving really a massacre of 700 "Indians"? The present
> Thanksgiving may be a mixture of the 1621 three-day feast and the
> "Thanksgiving" proclaimed after the 1637 Pequot massacre. So next time you
> see the annual "Pilgrim and Indian display" in a shopping window or 
> history
> about other massacres of Native Americans, think of the hurt and 
> disrespect
> Native Americans feel. Thanksgiving is observed as a day of sorrow rather
> than a celebration. This year at Thanksgiving dinner, ponder why you are
> giving thanks.
>
> William Bradford, in his famous History of the Plymouth Plantation,
> celebrated the Pequot massacre:
>
> "Those that scraped the fire were slaine with the sword; some hewed to
> peeces, others rune throw with their rapiers, so as they were quickly
> dispatchte, and very few escapted. It was conceived they thus destroyed
> about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in
> the fyer, and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was 
> the
> stincke and sente there of, but the victory seemed a sweete sacrifice, and
> they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for
> them, thus to inclose their enemise in their hands, and give them so 
> speedy
> a victory over so proud and insulting an enimie."
>
> The Pequot massacre came after the colonists, angry at the murder of an
> English trader suspected by the Pequots of kidnapping children, sought
> revenge. rather than fighting the dangerous Pequot warriors, John Mason 
> and
> John Underhill led a group of colonists and Native allies to the Indian 
> fort
> in Mystic, and killed the old men, women, and children who were there. 
> Those
> who escaped were later hunted down. The Pequot tribe numbered 8,000 when 
> the
> Pilgrims arrived, but disease had brought their numbers down to 1,500 by
> 1637. The Pequot "War" killed all but a handful of remaining members of 
> the
> tribe.
>
> Proud of their accomplishments, Underhill wrote a book (above) depicted 
> the
> burning of the village, and even made an illustration (below) showing how
> they surrounded the village to kill all within it.
>
> - John K. Wilson
>
>
>
>

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