Keep The Turkey, but Serve It With A Side of History

With the Thanksgiving season coming around again, the controversial holiday has sparked major division across the country. Photo via Jed Owen via Unsplash.

Thanksgiving Day. A treasured American holiday complete with feasting, family, and all-around fun times. As many already know, however, the history behind this beloved day is not as pleasant as our happy American customs.

For the vast majority of American families, Thanksgiving is a day of celebration. The tragic true history has even been re-written throughout history as a story of a light-hearted dinner party between colonizers and Native American pilgrims that essentially “resolved” their years of dispute, seemingly brushing over the mass genocide of Natives by the federal government that led to that meal. In the last few years, however, it seems that people have had enough of this version, and what was once ruled a favorite holiday has become deeply problematic. Stances on what the future of the holiday should look like have been incredibly divided and are only seeing an increase. While some think we should continue to celebrate, others feel it’s time to say goodbye to this centuries-long tradition out of respect.

I have always been a fan of ‘Turkey Day’ and the socially constructed customs we have learned to pair with it. I, like the rest of the Marist student body, find myself anxiously counting down the days leading up to our leave from campus where I get to see my family again. Cheering with my family during football games has certainly become a nostalgic tradition for me, and while the name truly shares embarrassingly little ties to the actual story, having a national holiday dedicated to gratitude is something I find refreshing in our increasingly divisive country. So as far as abolishing it entirely? Personally, not my vote. However, I will take the stance that in 2023, there must be a change.

We must start acknowledging the true history behind this day and its long-term repercussions on Native American families. This can look many ways — normalizing the conversation about this history, renaming the holiday to be more respectful of its origin, denormalization of certain practices- or a combination of the three. I believe we truly can have the best of both worlds — both an enjoyable time with our loved ones and a time of recognition for the lives lost by our hateful history. I can’t speak for everyone, but I am exhausted by these false history retellings. It is more than time to do better as a country, it is well overdue.

In addition to this, my voice and the voice of every other non-Native-American should, without question, come second in this conversation. As the endurers of the oppression, there is absolutely no justifiable reason that the voices of Native American descendants should not come first in addressing how we proceed. To be perfectly honest, the very least we can do for people who have been mistreated for centuries is not to attempt to erase their centuries of abuse with a blow-up turkey balloon. To learn is to acknowledge, and to acknowledge is to grow. So the historical inaccuracies we grew up with? Let’s let those end with us.

Who's to say what the future of Turkey Day will hold with millennials and Gen Z taking the lead on future holiday norms. But, dismantling white-washed history should be first on the menu.