RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) As my fellow Gringos sit comfortably around the table for the traditional family Thanksgiving dinner on November 25th; the children will no doubt hear the oft-repeated tale of the generosity of the Wampanoag Indian tribe who had helped English colonists from Plymouth survive the previous difficult winter and shared a harvest feast with them in 1621. This feast is rich in the symbolism of brotherhood and well-being
Norman Rockwell’s stunning iconic painting (like the contemporary one pictured here) perfectly captures the popular idealistic mood and feeling of the day.
While having another helping of turkey and cornbread stuffing, spare a moment for the part of the Thanksgiving story most unlikely to be voiced.
It celebrates the fact that the Wampanoag Nation was the largest Native American tribe in New England, that the land on which Thanksgiving was being celebrated had belonged to them for thousands of years, and that they had a highly developed culture.
Before they were seen as ‘savages’, these indigenous peoples made a major contribution to the newcomers’ ability to productively farm the land, rotate and irrigate crops, even how the use of dead fish in planting holes provided the needed fertilizer for the plants. They introduced potatoes, corn, chocolate, and peanuts unknown in Europe when the settlers arrived. Now they are staples in our diets.
That’s not all that is missing from the Thanksgiving story. After being helped and befriended by these Native Americans, driven by their greed for more and more territory, these settlers stole the Wampanoag’s land, wiped out whole indigenous villages with disease, and killed many in battles. And they did it in the name of spreading God’s word.
Telling this unadorned true story would no doubt be violently attacked by the fast-growing American right, which has focused its repressive attention on anything that does not, like the famous Norman Rockwell painting, show white America in the best possible light. Their growing attacks on schools which even flirt with the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) or the scourge of slavery, have become central to the culture wars raging out of control in the US.
It is not surprising that our historical narratives tend to accent the positives and, if not eliminate the negatives, at least give them short shrift. Who wants to wash his proverbial dirty linen in public? Convenient lies and a slanted version of history have long been used to whitewash the past horrors. And the tendency is increasing and polluting rational discourse.
The honest truth, which can inform and guide future actions and avoid the mistakes which have put our democracy in existential danger, is not something to be attacked, hidden, or diminished. If we try to bury the truth, it will undoubtedly come back to haunt our children and ourselves.
What happens to the concept of ‘free speech’ as enshrined in the Constitution’s first amendment when idealogues not only question what is taught in schools but recommend book banning as well? Can public incineration of ‘unacceptable’ books be far behind? With the notable increase in hate speech and accompanying verbal and physical violence, is our free speech endangered with being fettered?
Afraid that their impressionable children may be exposed to stories about the realities of a racially, sexually, and culturally diverse society, these parents are on the warpath. They may not wish, as one Texas lawmaker said, to “make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex”. But hiding behind false narratives that ignore these realities can only be worse.
The would-be censors appear to have ignored the fact that online and in social media, their kids have regular access (and take advantage of it) to everything that they believe they are prohibiting in school libraries and much more.
As one youngster said with disarming comfort when returning home from school and seeing her parents quickly turn off a seamy television scene they were watching: “You don’t have to do that. I know much more than you think I know.”
It has been said that the fight about who controls school libraries and, by extension the truth of our historical narratives is a microcosm of the battle about who controls America. It’s a battle growing every day.
Whether to join that battle or not should be rich food for thought as we savor our Thanksgiving feasts.