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Thread: Happy Thanksgiving!!!

  1. #1

    Default Happy Thanksgiving!!!

    Happy Thanksgiving !!!! Celebrating the slaughter of Native Americans...

    This is the time of the year when we are inundated with propaganda about the U.S. holiday, Thanksgiving.
    Recently, the History Channel showed its rendition. The same old story: weary Pilgrims were taught how to plant crops in the new land of America by some savvy Native Americans. Then, to thank the Indians and God, the Pilgrims held a celebration in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Everybody had a great time.

    This was brotherhood among human beings at its best. Then, the documentary went forward in time to the 18th century. What happened between 1621 and 1675 was completely ignored. Most U.S. history books rarely mention the fate of the Indians who helped the Pilgrims survive.
    The Wampanoag Indians, under Chief Massasoit, welcomed the Pilgrims to Massachusetts and provided food for what we now call the first Thanksgiving. The goodwill between the two peoples lasted only a short time, however.

    Eventually, Metacomet (Anglicized name, Philip), Massasoit’s son, became chief after his father’s death.

    During the time of the new regime, the Puritans were launching a land-grab from the Indians and were hostile toward the Natives, who had benevolently given them the rights to thousands of acres of land while asking for nothing in return.

    When Metacomet called "foul," the Puritans upped the ante. He approached the governing authorities of the Puritans and complained that they were encroaching on Indian land and stealing their crops.

    When a court met, it was run by three Puritain judges who negated the complaints of Metacomet and then ordered the Indians to be disarmed. That was the last straw for the Indian leader.
    Over the next few years, tensions rose with Indians and Puritans alike being killed in raids. The more the Puritans encroached, the more the Indians resisted.

    In 1675, all-out war began. The name given to the war was King Philip’s War. Maybe it should have been the Puritan War, but history has been unkind to the Natives.

    In the beginning, Metacomet’s forces were dominating. At one time, the Puritans were pushed back and were discussing going back to England. But, the Natives began running out of food. Their demise was at hand.

    Within two years, most of the proud Wampanoag Indians were massacred. A nation that included more than 30,000 people with highly-organized governments and social structures, became a shabby band of no more than 2,000 Indians at the end of the war.
    They were ordered into slavery. Until this day, they have never recovered. The descendants of the Wampanoags of the 17th century live today in southeastern Massachusetts and most live in poverty.

    Metacomet was killed by the Puritans who paid an Indian informant to spy on him and report his location. His body parts were put on public display throughout the region.

    Within six decades of landing at Plymouth Rock, the whites had forever destroyed a culture that had inhabited the area for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the Mayflower.

    The legacy of Metacomet should be that of America’s first resistance hero. However, few Native Americans have been given credit in U.S. history for acts of bravery, so he is still listed in our history books as a belligerent Indian who began a war against the civilized Anglos. According to white history, he was the perpetrator of the war, not the victim.

    In 1675, the Boston Indian Imprisonment Act was established. It ordered the arrest of any Indian entering the city. To this day, the law is still on the books.

    I think the U.S. should follow the lead of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. A few years ago, he decommissioned Columbus Day in his country and today, on the same date, the official holiday of Indian Liberation Day is celebrated.
    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

    Oscar Wilde

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    442

    Default

    I know it's a bad time because of the NATIVE AMERICANS but - it's still a time for AMERICANS to be thankful for everything they have in their life. For instance...for me-

    family
    a roof over my head
    food to eat
    gdubya being out of office
    those who protest this sad war
    employment, well, not for me or my sweetheart
    good friends
    the internet
    messageboards
    the entertainment industry
    great music
    the indian reservations&gambling


    ...my list goes on and on and on.


    HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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