Truth about Thanksgiving 2022
As the nation plans family gatherings for the upcoming national Thanksgiving holiday, please teach our history at your gathering. The romanticizing of Manifest Destiny -- the theory European colonizers used to justify invasion, land taking, and brutal genocide (a.k.a western expansion) -- leads to a country awash in lies and myths. Millions of Native People lived on the land we call the United States prior to its colonization, and many still do.
If you're on the island on November 17 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, Sassafras Education Earth Education is offering a free speaking event hosted by Wôpanâak elder David Two Arrows Vanderhoop at the Oak Bluffs Library, 56R School St., Oak Bluffs. There will be an acknowledgement of the Wampanoag territory and people, a thanksgiving address, an account of the true historic events that lead up to the celebration of this holiday, an explanation of why and how harm continues today, and a call to action to bring a message of truth to your dinner table.