Thanksgiving for Corinne Oestreich growing up was what it is for most children ― with one important distinction. "My family worked really hard to keep the narrative of the dinner between Indians and Pilgrims out of it," she writes. huffpost.com/entry/native-a…
As a Lakota and Mohawk living in an established settler community like the Bay Area, the only time Oestreich was exposed to the story of a dinner between Pilgrims and Indians was when she was in elementary school. huffpost.com/entry/native-a…
When Oestreich and her brother got older, they sought information from elders about Thanksgiving and their cultures. “We wanted to honor our ancestors with respectful knowledge and practice,” she says. However, they had to fight the "anger that came creeping in along with it."
Later, Oestreich became enraged when she saw a kindergartener wearing a feather headdress made from construction paper. It was around the same time as the protests at Standing Rock. "All of the violence my friends went through was a stark contrast to this skipping boy."
It was then that Oestreich realized that "the holiday was lifted on some imaginary pedestal as a joyous day of peace between two worlds, when historians know the truth to be much more violent." huffpost.com/entry/native-a…
"If I could ask one thing from my non-indigenous fellow Americans when it comes to Thanksgiving," Oestreich says, "I would ask that you refrain from teaching the romanticized version of the holiday." huffpost.com/entry/native-a…
Read Oestreich's essay for her roadmap on how Americans can "reclaim the day in a way that [is] both healing and power-giving."
📸: Photo courtesy of Corinne Oestreich
huffpost.com/entry/native-a…
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