By Ramisa Ahmed, Staff writer
Thanksgiving is a time to spread joy and love to the people you cherish. It’s the one day of the year you’re not allowed to be selish. Also, when is a better time to stuff your face with every single carb on this planet?
Although it’s a day about love and joy, it’s im- portant to remember the history behind Turkey Day, which wasn’t exactly loving or joyful.
We were taught that Thanksgiving celebrates the day that Native Americans and pilgrims sat together in harmony while enjoying a great big feast, which is true. But what’s also true is that in 1614, a group of British explorers filled their ship with Patuxet people, who were forced into slavery. In the process, they left behind smallpox, which killed almost all of the Patuxet population who managed to escape. When the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, they found only one Patuxet man named Squanto. Squanto survived slavery in England, which is how he knew the English language.
Although the English kidnapped and forced his tribe into slavery, he taught the pilgrims how to sh and grow food. Later on, he negotiated a peace treaty between the pilgrims and the Wampanoag nation, and at the end of the year they all joined together for a great feast.
What’s left out of the Thanksgiving story is what happens after the big happy feast, after the English found out about this new land and for some crazy reason, felt entitled to it. They then proceeded to steal the land while also committing numerous amounts of mass genocides and capturing younger natives as slaves, wiping out more than half of the indigenous population.
The history of Thanksgiving may seem like a huge buzzkill, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t celebrate it. In fact, it’s an even better reason to celebrate it. America has a disgraceful past with Nati2ve Ameri- cans, and although we can’t take back what has been done, the least we can do is to remember the lives lost on these day and to never let history repeat itself.