I ran across an article about Seattle schools “war on Thanksgiving” and it referenced “Myths of Thanksgiving” which you can find here and another version here. (You can read what other bloggers have to say by simply searching- but here are two that I found interesting: Michelle Malkin and Captain Yips.)

Before getting into my feelings about political correctness let me address the family/Thanksgiving myth in the second article:

MYTH # 2

Thanksgiving Was About Family

If by Thanksgiving, you have in mind the Pilgrim festival, forget about it being a family holiday. Put away your Norman Rockwell paintings. Turn off Bing Crosby. Thanksgiving was a multicultural community event. If it had been about family, the Pilgrims never would have invited the Indians to join them.

What exactly is wrong with viewing Thanksgiving as a time for family? Let’s evaluate the term…THANKSgiving, the giving of THANKS. For my family I am thankful. One can also be thankful for community, life, health, or any number of things. I don’t think I have ever associated Thanksgiving about JUST family. When I think about the first Thanksgiving I imagine it was simply a thankfulness for having food and surviving.

Moving on…
It is a given that the native Americans received a raw deal. Unfortunately that is the cycle of the rise and fall of civilizations. Yes, that sounds insensitive. Apologies, but is it incorrect? To the best of our ability with the knowledge available to us students should be taught accurate history. This teaching has to be age appropriate. Captain Yips article reference irritates me. First graders had their head dressing and buckles and hats shelved because someone complained that it was not an image that needed to be promoted. They were deprived of a fun learning experiences indicative of their ability/comprehension level.

Earlier in my blog hopping I was marveling at the memory of Sage. I do not have this gift. Maybe it is because there are so many things that I would prefer not to remember, but even now my recall is rather pathetic. Regardless, I do have a fond memory of my third grade Thanksgiving celebration. We were allowed to dress as either a pilgrim or Indian. I chose Indian. My grandmother made my costume. It was a beige velvety material with fringe at the bottom and on the arms. On the fringe and around the neck Gran attached cowrie shells. I think I even had moccasins to finish off the look. I loved my Indian costume. I loved the time that Gran took to make it for me. The day itself I don’t remember any specifics, but in pictures I was happy. We learned about Thanksgiving, and I’m sure we learned some things that were not 100% accurate. However, we were introduced to the concept and what we studied was age appropriate.

So here’s my thought on political correctness…do we explain in great detail the brutality of American expansion and its detrimental impact on the population of natives to a first grader? Do we cease celebrating an American tradition because some have ancestors on the losing side of expansion? I don’t think Thanksgiving is about celebrating American domination in North America. It is a holiday that has come to represent a time for family and for remembrance of those things we take for granted. There is respecting the culture of others and then there is taking political correctness to absurdity. It irritates me when groups use kids to push an agenda. Maybe it is my Americentricity coming out, but I just don’t see Thanksgiving as being an anti-Native-American holiday. Without the help of natives, and a few strong leaders, the colonists wouldn’t have survived and thrived. But then, these thoughts are coming from someone who is offended by the blame placed on modern society for atrocities committed during the Antebellum period of American history.

Just in case you’re curious, these are cowries and Gran had thousands:

This entry was posted on Friday, November 16th, 2007 at 11:39 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.