Native Americans Should Have Let the Pilgrims Starve
British historian EJ Hobsbawm died just over a year ago. His works
had a tremendous
impact on my generation of progressive historians. He
would take a theme and
deconstruct it by using meticulous logic and
documentation. Hobsbawm never
suffocated his narrative with obtuse
theory or meta-language.
One of my favorites was a thin anthology that he co-edited with Terence Ranger titled The Invention of Tradition.
In his introductory essay, Hobsbawm defined the invention of tradition
as “a set of practices … of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to
inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition, which
automatically implies continuity with the past.” The invented traditions
had a purpose, and gave a continuity of varied accuracy that formed a
largely fictitious history.
Other historians have tied this invention of tradition to state building endeavors.
William H. Beezley in Mexican National Identity: Memory, Innuendo, and Popular Culture
sees identity as fashioned “in the streets”; however, there are others
who say that very few holidays come
from the people, tying the process
to state building.
Essentially, the state builds a historical narrative that gives its
citizens a sense of unity. Holidays
are designed to give legitimacy to
the accepted version of history that not does always conform
to the
Truth. It is a process that builds a “national culture.”
Deviation from this narrative disturbs people and even offends them.
My sister would not invite me to social gatherings during the Vietnam
War because I would bring up topics such as racism, police brutality and
the Vietnam War. I was told that I was a party pooper, and would
lay
intellectual pedos (farts)—forcing people to move away.
Hobsbawm was like Rene Descartes who in the 17th century began his
journey by questioning scholasticism, and paved the way for historical
materialism. It was and is not easy to correct traditional narratives.
Like toddlers people want to hear stories told the way they first
learned them. There are people who still cling to the story of George
Washington cutting down the cherry tree, for instance.
The months of October and November are replete with fictitious
versions of history. During these to months, the state allocates
holidays for Columbus Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. These
official narratives become the Truth. Teachers teach students fictitious
narratives, and in turn the public is grateful for the gift of a
holiday.
By far the “the king of the holidays” is Thanksgiving. The narrative
has been burned into our consciousness to the point that few Americans
question the facts because no one wants to lay the proverbial
intellectual pedo. Almost everyone is grateful for the day off. Merchants love Thanksgiving. It is the perfect opening act for Christmas.
The ritual of sitting down with the family to eat cheap turkey,
chucked full of hormones, has
been immortalized by Norman Rockwell. It
is a day when you eat cheap turkeys and hams and everyone can pig out.
Not much thought is given to the truth of the narrative. Kids just
want their four day relief from school, and parents are smug in the
belief that the colonist and the Indians lived in peace. The only ones
that care about changing the narrative are Native Americans who call it a National Day of Mourning.I call Thanksgiving “El Día de los Pendejos” (The Day of the
Fools). I tell my students to enjoy making graveyards out of their
stomachs that they fill with the flesh of turkeys
that have been held
prisoners in small dirty cages.
Why do I call the Indians fools? Because they should have let the Pilgrims starve.
Few people know that the tradition of Thanksgiving was invented
during the Civil war by President Abraham Lincoln in October 1863 when
he proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday. Thereafter, the myth of
the Pilgrims and the Indians was constructed.The story is known by almost every American. For twelve years, from
K-12, they learn the story of that in the early autumn of 1621
fifty-three surviving Pilgrims celebrated a successful harvest. The
natives joined the celebration and instead of attacking the Pilgrims
they made peace.
The Indians were thanked: their land was stolen from them, they were
massacred, and many lived out their lives in slavery. The consequence is
that less than one percent of Americans have Native American blood,
contrasted to 90 percent of Mexican Americans with indigenous blood.
It is difficult to change the narrative because most Americans love
their myths, and they love their cheap turkey. They want to believe the
lie that makes them feel exceptional.\There is little doubt that invented tradition strengthens
nationalism. The elites are legitimized by the invented traditions, and
in turn they invent other traditions. This phenomenon is not exclusive
to the United States where it permeates political views and historical
narratives.
No doubt that Thanksgiving happened. However, the narrative is not
vetted, and it introduces a new set of dynamics. It affects our
decision-making, and often clouds what is true and what is fiction.
When the French peasantry was starving in the 18th century
because they could not afford bread, it caused widespread discontent.
The myth was born that French Queen Marie Antoinette said, “Let them eat
cake.” It inflamed the masses – beautiful story but it wasn’t true.
Traditional narratives are good and bad, and are difficult to
correct. As Napoleon once said, history is the tale of the victor. Today
the narrative belongs to the state and those who control the state.
The truth be told, Thanksgiving hides the reality of the soup
kitchens. The corporate owned media show charitable groups passing out
free traditional Turkey Dinners to the poor when the reality is that
many have been deprived of jobs, food stamps, and their children have
been robbed of free nutritious lunches. Greater numbers are homeless.
Yet the Thanksgiving narrative shows
us as a compassionate people – one
big happy family.
The myth of the grateful Pilgrims permeates this narrative. In many
ways, we are like the Indians who were robbed and killed after sharing
our labor.The invented tradition of Thanksgiving is so much part of the
American narrative that many people go into depression if they cannot
celebrate it with family and friends. Psychologists say that it is the
worse time of the year to be alone; loneliness causes a social anxiety
disorder (SAD).Thanksgiving is the ultimate example of social control, and the
invented reality that Americans like the pilgrims were justified in
stealing the land and killing the people.
Our lives become one big Thanksgiving for being an American. The
Sierra Club reports “that the average American will drain as many
resources as 35 natives of India and consume 53 times more goods and
services than someone from China … With less than 5 percent of world
population, the U.S. uses one-third of the world’s paper, a quarter of
the world’s oil, 23 percent of the coal, 27 percent of the aluminum, and
19 percent of the copper.”
There is a similar gap between the poor and the 1 percent in
America. The fictitious history
alleviates our guilt, and we forget the
reasons why some people are in food lines, and
others are eating cheap
hormone infected birds, while a few eat organic turkey.
Not knowing, not questioning makes this El Día de los Pendejos. We
are fools because we don’t question the narrative. It is why we keep
repeating injustices.
So now pass me the gravy.
RODOLFO ACUÑA, a professor emeritus at
California State University Northridge, has published 20 books and over
200 public and scholarly articles. He is the founding chair of the first
Chicano Studies Dept which today offers 166 sections per semester in
Chicano Studies. His history book Occupied America has
been banned in Arizona. In solidarity with Mexican Americans in Tucson,
he has organized fundraisers and support groups to ground zero and
written over two dozen articles exposing efforts there to nullify the
U.S.Constitution
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