Giving thanks for a genocide eh?

“Well, here in the US it’s the holiday known as Thanksgiving. It got started when the governor of Massachusetts wanted to celebrate the massacre of 700 Pequot women, children and old men by English and Dutch religious zealots, racists, mercenaries and other assorted scum. The governor wanted to give thanks for this massacre. And now, without ever having recognized the origins of this holiday as a society, with our schools still teaching about the “meeting of two cultures,” the televisions, radios and newspapers are full of stories about how thankful we Americans are about one thing or the other.

No one on CNN or NPR will be speaking about the elephant in the living room. No one will be uttering the words, thank you, Native America, for your stolen land. Thank you for this great commons which we have privatized and sold. Thanks for your forests which we are decimating. Thanks for these mountains which we are mining. Thanks for these prairies which we are drowning in pesticides. Thanks for these coastlines and deserts and river valleys which we are covering with highways, malls and nuclear reactors. Thanks for these blue skies which we have turned gray. So yes, happy Thanksgiving, all. Happy Iraq War. Happy climate change.” - David Rovics (www.davidrovics.com)

Comments

Leave a Reply