6 Things Every Non-Native Should Do On Thanksgiving

LOADING ERROR LOADING “The antidote to feel-good history is not feel-bad history, but honest and inclusive history,” sociologist James W. Loewen writes in “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.” The feel-good history most of us have learned about Thanksgiving depicts grateful Pilgrims breaking bread with Indigenous people. “On this day, the Wampanoag are joined by other Native peoples and non-Natives, to state that, ‘Thanksgiving Day is a time to remember the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture,’” Remle said. Alabama mom Apryl Arthurs, a member of this Mohawk tribe, just lobbied her child’s school to drop a scheduled “powwow” day in which students were encouraged to “dress in Native American attire.” In a Medium article published last year, historians with kids aggregated a resource list that parents can suggest teachers use and even included some helpful, pre-drafted emails to send if you’re concerned about stereotypical costume activities in the classroom, like Schmieding’s friend was. If you want to teach your child on your own time, Schmieding recommends reading “An Indigenous People’s History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. “When climate injustice occurs, it affects vulnerable Black and Indigenous communities first, which is why non-Native people need to learn about the Indigenous peoples of their land and actively support those tribal nations’ work around climate justice,” she said.