Rethinking The Thanksgiving Holiday

IS racism taken lightly in Earth First


Gypsy is an insult to my ancesteral heritage. it is offensive and I want it removed from use bu your troop.what is next for offensive names that you intend to use on public lands?

will you be insulting blacks?
will you be insulting mexicans?
will you be insulting native Americans
will you be insulting Asians?
will you be insulting Arabs?
will you be insulting Jews?

Gypsy is indeed a slang term for Roma People,then it should be removed from use on this or any other Mountain. how can this kind of racism still be allowed to be published in this day and age.

the fact that you don't mind throwing it around has no bearing on it's meaning and the inappropriateness of your use of it.
I suppose you could claim ignorance of what you where saying and that could be viewed as a viable excuse for your casting racial slurs against others. But now you have been Educated as to the nature of the offensive use of this word,
now we will see what the nature of your group really is.
will you seek to live in harmony with others or will you continue this abusive treatment of minorities with these racial slurs.
now we shall see what is in your hearts and minds.

we now only have to wait and see what minority group earth first will honor by naming a mountain for them in some derogatory fashion

Thanksgiving is about turkey, a meal with friends and family. It is not political. Only you are trying to make it so with this ridiculous "racist" nonsense about "people of color". Please get a grip. Have some turkey.

"Gypsy" as a term is indeed an insult to the Roma people, the term originating from the word "gyp" or steal, con, etc.. used by European authorities to demonize and stereotype this group of traveling nomads..

David "Gypsy" Chain came to Humboldt County from Texas to help save the redwoods from Maxxam/Pacific Lumber's destruction. We often choose forest names to conceal our societal name from the authorities. David Chain chose "Gypsy" as his forest name, not sure of his personal reason. Maybe he associated the term "Gypsy" with a traveler, which he was. I wasn't fortunate to meet David, a tree was fallen on him by an angry Palco logger before i arrived in CA. I have visited what we call the "Gypsy Memorial" on Hgwy 36, a stone monument dedicated to this fallen hero. The mountain was named "Gypsy Mountain" in his honor. There was no intention to insult or degrade the Roma people. On behalf of North Coast Earth First! and the Humboldt forest defense movement, i apologize for any emotional harm our use of the term "Gypsy" has caused you or anyone else. We are learning from our experiences as we proceed through life..

Since the topic of historic insults was brought up, let's not stop with the Roma people being labeled "Gypsies"..

"Pagan" was a derogatory term used by the Holy Roman (not Roma) Empire colonialists to refer to the "barbarian" (another derogatory term insulting tribal linguistics) tribes of Northern Europe, including the Goths, Celts, Franks, Vandals and many others. These Earth centered tribes revered nature (Pan), used medicinal plants for healing (later termed "witchcraft") and made their homes in the forests without destroying them. In lifestyle, they were more similar to the indigenous people of North America than the "civilized" warlike heirarchal empires like Rome, Mesopotamia, Assyria, etc further to the south..

The "civilized" armies of the Holy Roman Empire saw the tribes living up there as enemies and needed to justify the slaughter of entire villages, including women and children. In order to accomplish this goal, the Northern European tribes also needed to be demonized to justify public support and military funding. Calling them ignorant "Pagans" and grumbling mumbling "barbarians" put fear into the heart of the Roman civilians, who then supported further militarization. The forests and sacred oak groves were cut down and roadways put in their place. The Roman armies feared the forests as they sheltered the tribes and blocked their chariots..

The result was expansion of the Holy Roman Empire and eventual snuffing out of the Earth centered traditions, though it took a few centuries of the Burning Times when witches were burnt at the stake and forced to convert to Christianity, the state sanctioned religion of the Holy Roman Empire. After most of Europe was converted to Christianity, new enemies were found in Islam, Judaism and the few remaining "Pagans" who were driven into extinction..

Both "Gypsy" and "Pagan" are ethnic insults that are not always recognized as such in today's modern society. Especially when dealing with lifestyles, these terms demonized people based on lifestyle and linguistic differences, and came from an authoritarian state empire. By talking about this in a public forum like IMC, we can educate people about the significance of these terms..

We are in the process of attempting to return "Gypsy Mountain" to the care of it's original inhabitants, the Wailakki Wintu. Maxxam/Pacific Lumber claims ownership of this mountain that was stolen by means of forcing indigenous people into reservations, most ended up in the Round Valley reservation. Maybe after returning stolen land a more appropriate naming for the mountain they were forcibly removed from centuries ago can happen..

Don't count on NCEF! to do it alone, we need EVERYONE's help (that means U!!)..

yes - while it's important to tell the true history about thanksgiving, it's worthwhile to note how regular people actually carry it out in the U.S. Most actually do it as an ahistorical 'Turkey day' or gluten-loaf day where they don't celebrate historical aspects of it, and instead eat, and at most have a family-level religious type deal where everyone goes around and lists what they're thankful for (again, having nothing to do with the 1623 origin). If we can just get schools to stop the stupid stuff where kids cut out construction paper hats for pilgrims and indians, it would be okay.

You can see this in christmas and easter too. Most nonchurchgoers who are not of a religion other than christianity, including most atheists, still do christmas - because it isn't really a religious holiday... and maybe this is a good thing? Europeans don't really go to church, but you still see germans putting great energy into straw and wood decorations. Why should they give up on a tradition that helps them to avoid seasonal affective disorder, so only the devout can have fun with it. People culturally pick and choose what they want from religion, and the people running the religion can't control what everyone else does. So if agnostics decided that christmas is a charade, or christians want to stop others from doing the shopping/commercial aspect of it, then they should set up a different holiday around the same time of the year with similar aspects, like solstice. Christmas trees aren't exactly mentioned in the bible - they are from the pre-roman german and central european tribes, and the christians just took it over because they like them. agnostics and pagans can take them over. Putting up christmas lights can be a style-disaster in the hands of certain people, but for others, it is really their single yearly opportunity to participate in folk-art and alleviate depression.

Thanksgiving tradition doesn't compare to Christmas (Yule 4 us "pagan" bumpkins) for many reasons..

Yule w/ mistletoe (a medicinal plant harvested from sacred oaks by druids) and tree (tannenbaum) are pre-Christian traditions of Earth centered tribes of Northern Europe. In ancient times, the tree was kept alive and brightly decorated, danced around and celebrated as a manifestation of Mother Nature..

Like the above article explains, Thanksgiving masks a brutal history of genocide against Native Americans. Inviting people to a feast and then killing them while they sleep is NOT something to be celebrated unless we want to be supporters of that genocide. Ignorance is accomplished by corporate media, but once we know better, we have an obligation to act for change..

Thanksgiving could be reformed if we recognize our potential to return the stolen land. We can give THANKS for our community and food availabilty, but need to recognize the inequality of Euroamerican privilige and lack of Native American sovereignty on the land we stole from them. The least GIVING we could do is returning the land we stole and restoring sovereignty on those lands. How 'bout that?

Here's some info on the modern day genocide suffered by the Dineh (Navajo) to benefit American petroleum consumption stolen by Bush/Saudi Royalty from Iraq/Saudi Arabia/etc. by use of nuclear force/threat..


Depleted uranium used in Iraq by US military results in babies born deformed and also cancer. The source of the uranium is from native lands, also causing cancer in indigenous people living there..




We hear occasional reports about the depleted uranium (DU) used in Iraq by US military resulting in sickness and deaths (10,000) of Gulf War veterans, also Iraqi babies born deformed and civilians developing cancer from exposure to DU particulates..

Depleted Uranium Use in Iraq
by Kelly Anderson

http://www.uwec.edu/grossmzc/anderkel.html

Nuclear weapons that Saddam never had were in the hands of America and Israel, the world's top nuclear superpowers. While Israel continues patrolling the apartheid wall around indigenous Palestinians, and America imprisons people for the crime of poverty, the wealthy elite (Bush, Rumsfeld, DuPont, Sharon, Feinstein, etc.) rest assured they are protected by a wall of nuclear weapons, at the expense of the lives of indigenous peoples in this land we call America..

We almost never hear about the source of the uranium, mines located on indigenous lands in America and Canada. The cancer here is far more silent, yet equally as deadly. The mines on Dineh (Navajo), Laguna Pueblo, and other native lands have released radioactive uranium dust into the air very near where sovereign tribes prepared their food and lived their lives. Nothing about this is natural, the mining corporations knew very well that uranium ore extraction and crushing was dangerous to people's health, yet they placed profit and military might above humyn health. After all, the military industrial complex needed those nuclear weapons to kill Iraqis and control their petroleum reserves for the Bush crime family empire..

Uranium Mining and the Laguna People
Dorothy Purley, interviewed by Susan Lee
July 1995 in Paguate Village on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation

http://www.greens.org/s-r/10/10-07.html

Navajo Justice Page
Environmental Justice for the Navajo : Uranium Mining in the Southwest

http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/sdancy.html

People of America can choose to submit to imperialist/colonialist US corporate government policy and allow uranium mining to continue on native lands, or we can rise up alongside our brothers and sisters on this land and demand this slow genocide stops. Want to stop nuclear weapons proliferation? We can go to the source and stop uranium mining in North America and elsewhere..

"I am Indigenist"
by Ward Churchill

http://www.zmag.org/chiapas1/wardindig.htm

Nuclear Information and Resource Service;

http://www.nirs.org/

Indigenous Treaty Council;

http://www.treatycouncil.org/new_page_52441111211.htm

I'm just saying that it could make sense to take the optimistic viewpoint, assuming that most people are good or do the best given their circumstances, and that most bad social things are caused by a combination of poverty, and concentration of power making people have the incentive to do bad things. So in this case, the pessimistic point of view would be to think that the vast bulk of society is spending tomorrow celebrating the pilgrims sharing with indians myth. But you can also note that hardly anyone celebrates columbus day, and interpret the t-day enthusiasm as just the overriding need for a holiday of some sort in November, just like in pre-literate europe (before the 1850s) when people couldn't even read the bible, they had all sorts of saint-someone-or-other holidays, which were their only days off. How many people are really into that pilgrims stuff as opposed to football. My grandmother would be one exception - her mother had been abused after being sent out on an orphan train to the west in 1866 after their house got burned down when they were trying to settle Oklahoma which was still set aside, and then she kicked my grandmother out at age 13 because she hadn't wanted to have a kid at age 40, so she had low self-esteem and wanted to prove her blue blood by relation to revolutionary war participants.
I realize this philosophy has some problems. Sometimes the large bulk of society is participating in a wrong thing - for instance, we still have the Washington Redskins, and people will often majority vote to keep stupid high school mascots, and act like it's trifling to need to change the name Squaw - even after the issue has been fully explained. You can explain lots of racism by the above philosophy... when there are a few people with power and ownership, it benefits them to have people at the bottom play off against each other with racial conflict, rather than understanding the situation.
But anyway - choosing a smaller target and taking the perspective that most people are really with you, even if they aren't quite out in the street with you yet, makes it easier to keep going.

gypsie,
you're on foreign soil
go back! to where gypsies come from

ya tel ba about it... halloween in the Castro "we should all go as straights"

and don't even get me started on the parade! we where sold out.
we should organize a "flash pride parade" to restore our honor.
as for Dianne "Slimestine" let her get her own parade.
we need some thing to be a rallying point for our groups
why not replace Dianne with a G/L for congress

( go back! to where gypsies come from )

my we are enlightened to day,
are you always this sensitive to the cultures of others? and for your education as a Romma-American THIS IS MY HOME.

well this is a step in the right directionand when you rename the mountian we will be more than happy to offer our forgiveness.

You know, contrary to how you and your family perceive Thanksgiving....you could at least have the decency to always remain objective and see where other people are coming from. I have practiced Thanksgiving throughout my life..but, I myself just realized that the very thing that the gentleman wrote is very much true...I realized this several days ago. Note the very word..Thanksgiving. Its a day to give thanks and to give. If not viewed in such a political way, the US' main characteristic is greed. I seem to always see taking...not thanking really..because it seems nearly everyone takes it all for granted...and as for giving..virtually nonexistent. As for the history of Thanksgiving..you can't refute that..it is the truth...you can read how settlers to the "New World" pillaged and plundered a many native americans in many unethical, cruel ways...just because they didn't understand their way of life..basing a national holiday on such a "union" of natives and settlers and saying how they maintained peace is frankly..bullshit. So, whilst you are scarfing down food..and saying thanks to your wife, mother, or whoever is cooking your food (which is not REALLY giving thanks in the truest sense), I will be visiting elders at convalescent homes and working at food kitchens feeding the homeless..this dear writer...so eager to label someone as being extremist due to their beliefs--is truly giving thanks and giving back to your community and truly helping people...I wish you a fantastic meal and day...don't get me wrong..I just don't like how you so quickly just outruled what the author of that article had to say....we should all be open-minded, eh?

It would be nice if, just for once, you on the Left could shut up about all the alleged injustices in the world and just have a nice holiday with a nice meal. It really is OK to enjoy yourself once in awhile. Happy Thanksgiving to you all, whether you like it or not.

what are the other 364, Ingratitude Days?

Like I previously stated...I wish all a happy thanksgiving, I just don't personally believe it ought to be a national holiday that states in all the history books how harmonious natives and settlers were....because it is bullshit. I am just stating the truth, not in any way trying to hinder the pleasurable experiences people may encounter while carving their turkey on this day....but, just simply to stand up for what the author had to say in the article...for it holds truth..and in a world so full of lies and crap, should we not embrace it?

Here is a song people apparently used to actually sing, and our famous early american writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thoreau also covered this event, positively. In the above anecdote, my grandmother with low self esteem was so proud that she could discover that she was realted to this guy, she kept emphasizing it:

This tells of a scalp hunting expedition against the Indians in April 1725. 100 pounds was the bounty on scalps at the time. This was the third such expedition that Capt. Lovewell made and it was a disaster. Of the 33 who started 15 (Lovewell included) died and 9 were wounded.



Lovewell's Fight



Of worthy Captain Lovewell I propose now to sing,
How valiantly he served his country and his king;
He and his valiant soldiers did range the woods full wide,
And hardships they endured to quell the lndian's pride.

'Twas nigh unto Pigwacket, on the eighth day of May,
They spied a rebel Indian soon after break of day;
He on a bank was watching upon a neck of land,
Which leads into a pond, as we're made to understand.

Our men resolved to have him and traveled two miles round,
Until they met the Indian, who boldly stood his ground.
Then speaks up Captain Lovewell, "Take you good heed" says he,
"This rouge is to decoy us, I very plainly see.

"The Indians lie in ambush in some place nigh at hand,
In order to surround us upon this neck of land.
Therefore we'll march in order, and each man leave his pack,
That we may briskly fight them when they shall us attack."

They came unto this Indian, who did them thus defy;
As soon as they came nigh him, two guns he did let fly,
Which wounded Captain Lovewell, and likewise one man more,
But when this rouge was running they laid him in his grave.

Then having scalped the Indian, they went back to the spot,
Where they had laid their packs down, but there they found them not;
For the Indians having spied them, when they them down did lay,
Did seize them for sheer plunder and carry them away.

These rebels lay in ambush, this very place hard by,
So that an English soldier did one of them espy,
And cried out, "There's an Indian!" with that they started out,
As fiercely as old lions and hideously did shout

With that our valiant English all gave a loud Hurrah,
To show the rebel Indians they feared them not a straw.
So now the fight began, as fiercely as could be;
The Indians ran up to them but soon were forced to flee.

Then spake up Captain Lovewell, when first the fight began,
"Fight on my valiant heroes! You see they fall like rain."
For, as we are informed, the Indians were so thick,
A man could scarcely fire a gun and not some of them hit.

Then did the rebels try their best our soldiers to surround,
But they could not accomplish it, because there was a pond,
To which our men retreated and covered all the rear,
The rouges were forced to flee them, altho' they skulked for fear.

Two logs there were behind them, that close together lay,
Without being discovered, they could not get away;
Therefore our valiant English, they traveled in a row,
And at a handsome distance as they were wont to go.

'Twas 1 0 o'clock in the morning, when first the fight began,
And fiercely did continue until the setting sun;
Excepting that the Indians, some hours before 'twas night,
Drew off into the bushes and ceased awhile to fight.

But soon again returned, in fierce and furious mood,
Shouting as in the morning, but yet not half so loud;
For as we are informed, so thick and fast they fell,
Scarce twenty of their number, at night did get home well.

And that our valiant English, till midnight there did stay,
To see whether the rebels would have another fray;
But they no more returning, they made off towards their home,
And brought away their wounded as far as they could come.

Of all our valiant English, there were but thirty-four,
And of the rebel Indians, there were about fore score,
And sixteen of our English did safely home return,
The rest were killed and wounded, for which we all must mourn.

Our worthy Captain Lovewell among them there did die,
They killed Lt. Robins, and wounded good young Frye,
Who was our English Chaplain; he many Indians slew,
And some of them he scalped when bullets round him flew.

Young Fullam too I'll mention, because he fought so well,
Endeavoring to save a man, a sacrifice he fell;
But yet our valiant Englishmen in fight were ne'er dismayed,
But still they kept their motion, and Wymans captain made.

Who shot the old chief Paugua, which did the foe defeat,
Then set his men in order, and brought off the retreat;
And braving many dangers and hardships in the way,
They safe arrived at Dunstable, the thirteenth day of May.

In the beginning of the war, one hundred pounds were offered by the government for every Indian scalp. Captain Lovewell and his company in about three months made twelve hundred pounds. This stimulated them to attack the village of Pigwocket, where if successful, the considered their fortunes sure. It was a heavy loss to the country, but this nearly finished the war. The Indians formed no considerable body in these parts afterwards. A long and happy peace followed.

The above song is taken from the valuable Historical Collections of Farmer and Moore.

Fabulous telling of the story! Thank you for lending more light to how peace and harmony came about.. It is so refreshing to hear such things...I did find it a tad amusing...well, good job...we need more historical facts to back us "Lefts" to show that its not just our "extremist" views that are talking, but facts. Hurrah.

and make it happen!

Don't dream it, be it!!

So, today is gobble gobble day.... what on Earth does a Turkey have to do with giving thanks? What does the actual facts of the Pilgrams getting food from Natives and then causing genocide to the Native population have to do with giving thanks? Has anyone noticed that the Native Americans (for those of you who still label them as Indians, they're not.... Indians are from India oh my goodness who would have thought!) don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Gee, I wonder why. If you were to say yes you are thankful of a years of wonderful indulgence of materialistic consumption of mass production of a Capitalistic society promoting child labour and work labour exploitation of 3rd worlds is something to give thanks about... then go eat your gobble gobble and good ridens. For those of you who are so stuck up in your happy homes with a fat turkey in your oven with your privilaged selves what do you give thanks for? That your mommy made you a good meal so you can over stuff yourselves with more food that you can eat and then not be able to fit in your jeans the next day.... when there are starving children in your very own country let alone in other 3rd world countries like South Africa. Middle America is dying of poverty, there are homeless people in your cities and youre government is killing innocent people, what is there to be thankful for? Thank you George W. Bush for making tens of thousands US citizens are moving to other countries because your wonderful President is making an ass of himself to the rest of the world. Do you find it strange that in both of his elections there were mix ups with votes? hmmmmm strange. No I would say that you should no longer say Thanks, unless you honestly make a difference in your life and say, Thank you for your neighbours who were their to give you a hand when you were starving, or when you were in need of shelter... not thank you because you got that wonderful 2005 top of the line TV that you enjoy sitting infront of after a greesy meal from McDonalds and clog your arteries with deep fried cardboard meals. So in reality you might want to celebrate and blind yourself to the facts of the rest of the world and hide your head in the hole you have made for yourself, but in the end those who know the truth and chose to acknowledge it and learn from it have the greatest thanks because they chose to be aware of reality and be truly thankful that they don't have to be the natives that died because others didn't understand them, they are not the starving children of the world, and they have a home to go to as disfunctional as it may seem. We who see the truth and keep our minds open leave this earth Thankful that we are not ignorant and blind unlike you!

Sincerely,
Left wing Kinko Theorist aka lydz..... oh yeah I'm from Canada ! call me a liberal. But its not my fault that you chose to live your life in ignorance.

Impromptu, Unfunded Home Vivisection? We Told You So:

"Man, 24, accused of stabbing relatives who criticized him for picking at turkey with fingers"

This thanksgiving, I never celebrated Aboriginal Peoples' culture. I thanked my "white God and deep Christian faith".

That was then, and you want us to still feel guilty for the Aboriginal oppression now? I never oppressed them. However the holiday started, its something entirely different now. It has nothing to do with the Aboriginals. It has to do with being thankful for everything you are blessed with.

Oh, and though they should have given more thanks to the Aboriginals than they did, the fact that "Pilgrim thanks were ...extended to their white God and deep Christian faith" is not a bad thing. They felt a deep thanks was to their God, and they gave it. They believed in something more than this hell-hole of a world, and you condemn them for it. Without religion, there is no point in life. I could go out and shoot someone, rape their dead corpse, and not give a hoot. Excuse the description but the point must be illustrated. Without anything to believe in there is no morals, no law, and just chaos to which nothing is owed.

Thank God he is out there.

Morality came long before religion. Organized religion came about when the state (Ex: Holy Roman Empire) saw that it was much easier to control the "citizenry" if you enforced rules about sex.