Roxanne Dunbar-Ortíz – The Other Side of Thanksgiving

Program Title: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortíz – The Other Side of Thanksgiving
Description: The historical lens through which national holidays are viewed is often blurred and distorted. Thanksgiving is a case in point. The much-revered Pilgrims fresh off the Mayflower sat down and shared native foods with the friendly Wampanoags. A heart-warming story. But this idea of the gift-giving Indian, helping to establish and enrich what would become the United States, is a myth. Native Americans would soon be overwhelmed and killed en masse by white settlers. Those that survived the murderous campaigns against them were relegated to inhospitable reservations. Indian land was stolen fair and square. Today we honor the memory of the slaughtered with Apache and Black Hawk helicopters, Jeep Cherokees, and calling bin Laden, Geronimo. Native Americans are offended by the appropriation of their culture. It is the final stage of genocide.

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Featured Speakers/Guests: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma, the daughter of a tenant farmer and part-Indian mother. She has been active in the indigenous movement for many years and is known for her commitment to social justice issues. She is the recipient of the Cultural Freedom Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Lannan Foundation. Her An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States was honored with the American Book Award. She is also the author of All the Real Indians Died Off, Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment and Not a Nation of Immigrants: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy and a History of Erasure & Exclusion.

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