November 25, 2021
Cited article by The Associated Press via NPR
While many Americans sit down to give thanks and spend time with their families, for indigenous populations this is a day of mourning. This year's event represents 400 years of oppression, racism, and mistreatment. Started by the United American Indians of New England in 1970, Thanksgiving is now marked by many as the National Day of Mourning.
This event doesn't exist to denounce the Thanksgiving that is widely celebrated, rather it is meant to educate and to collectively mourn all those that have been lost due to the colonization of North America. This year's National Day of Mourning will focus on the federal residential schools that were prevalent throughout the United States and Canada, and have been in recent news with the discovery of mass graves of children on their grounds. To the ancestors of those genocide survivors, Thanksgiving can be a reminder of all the pain and suffering that has occurred.
HRRC highlights the importance not to forget the historic events and ongoing repression that is experienced by Native Americans, the First Nations people of Canada, and countless other indigenous groups around the world. By reminding people that Thanksgiving is also a day of mourning, we seek to educate of the history of this holiday.