Thanksgiving may be a uniquely American holiday, but it is not without controversy, because the mythology I learned as a child has little to do with the real history of the day and the genocide of Native American people that followed. I have several Native American friends and respect both those who celebrate the day and those who do not. I think at least we should explore the true history with humility and recognition of the contributions of Native American people and the terrible price they paid for their generosity, without which the US may have never existed.
…The decision to celebrate Thanksgiving divides even Native Americans. Nearly 10 years ago, Jacqueline Keeler wrote a widely circulated editorial about why she, a member of the Dineh Nation and Yankton Dakota Sioux, celebrates the holiday. For one, Keeler views herself as “a very select group of survivors.” The fact that Natives managed to survive mass murder, forced relocation, theft of land and other injustices “with our ability to share and to give intact” gives Keeler hope that healing is possible.
In her essay, Keeler makes it clear that she takes issue with how one-dimensionally Natives are portrayed in commercialized Thanksgiving celebrations. The Thanksgiving she recognizes is a revisionist one. She explains:
“These were not merely ‘friendly Indians.’ They had already experienced European slave traders raiding their villages for a hundred years or so, and they were wary—but it was their way to give freely to those who had nothing. Among many of our peoples, showing that you can give without holding back is the way to earn respect.”
Award-winning author Sherman Alexie, who is Spokane and Coeur d’alene, also celebrates Thanksgiving by recognizing the contributions the Wampanoag people made to the Pilgrims. Asked in a Sadie Magazine interview if he celebrates the holiday, Alexie humorously answered:
“We live up to the spirit of Thanksgiving cuz we invite all of our most desperately lonely white [friends] to come eat with us. We always end up with the recently broken up, the recently divorced, the brokenhearted. From the very beginning, Indians have been taking care of brokenhearted white people. …We just extend that tradition.”
If we’re to follow Keeler and Alexie’s lead, Thanksgiving should be celebrated by highlighting the contributions and sacrifices made by the Wampanoag. All too often Thanksgiving is celebrated from a Eurocentric point of view… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <About.com>
In addition, I think it important that treat Thanksgiving as a day to be humble and to recognize our duty to care for those who cannot care for themselves, as the Wampanoag people did.
My friends, I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving and give thanks for each of you.
Martin Luther King, Jr. influenced my political thinking more than any other individual. I was fortunate to have worked under him on Vietnam Summer and to have been present at two of his greatest speeches, presented below. Many things have changed since those days. Northern Republicans were often progressive. Southern Democrats, aka Dixiecrats, were the biggest racists then, but they deserted the Democratic Party because of Dr. King’s successes and are now the Republican base. But both his Dream and the need for his opposition to wars of aggression remain. To celebrate his life, I have video of “I Have a Dream”, delivered in Washington Mall on August 28, 1963 and audio of “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence”, delivered in New York on April 4, 1967.
…As these conservatives have launched their assault, a 
