FANTASTIC NEWS for the officially-recognized indigenous of this nation, who still suffer so much assault, degradation and lack of public interest. Although making tribes foot the bill for this seems skeezy. Still, it is definitely progress.

WASHINGTON – A major piece of legislation dealing with Indian country justice issues has made it through Congress, and President Barack Obama will sign it into law. Some tribes are expected to foot a greater bill involving tribal courts due to the changes.

The Tribal Law and Order Act cleared the House July 21 by a vote of 326-92, and had previously passed the Senate in late June. In both chambers, it was attached to the Indian Arts and Crafts bill, which strengthens the ability to prosecute those who unlawfully sell purported Indian goods.

The legislation, which bolsters justice resources for reservations in a number of areas, was supported by key Democrats and Republicans, who said they wanted to reduce crime on reservations.

Obama issued a statement upon its passage, saying the bill was an “important step to help the federal government better address the unique public safety challenges that confront tribal communities.”

The president noted that American Indians and Alaska Natives are victimized by violent crime at far higher rates than Americans as a whole, and some Native communities have seen increased gang and drug activity, with some tribes experiencing violent crime rates at more than 10 times the national average.

“The federal government’s relationship with tribal governments, its obligations under treaty and law, and our values as a nation require that we do more to improve public safety in tribal communities,” Obama said. “And this act will help us achieve that. It will strengthen the relationship between the federal government and tribal governments. It will improve our ability to work with tribal communities in the investigation and prosecution of crime, and it authorizes resources for tribes to fight crime more effectively.”

MMM MORNING! Now that we are awake, let’s run laughing through swaying fields of heather! Or….no! That would be horrifically corny!

So, let’s instead sip our sweet café and tear through the towering virtual stacks of news and get a quick hold on what’s going on out there in this wide, wonderful and wicked, wicked world!

1

Manson Supporter and Almost-Presidential-Assassin Squeaky Fromme Set Free From Prison; Framed Native American Spiritual Leader Leonard Peltier Denied Parole

Child protégé and Manson cheerleader Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme walked free last week, straight through the front doors of Fort Worth Federal Prison, into a brilliant Texas sun.

Fromme attempted in 1974 to assassinate then President Gerald R. Ford. She did three decades and four years for her bungled attempt. …

Now, cut to the pending case of Native American spiritual leader Leonard Peltier who has also served almost 35 years behind bars, for a crime that has never been proven. Peltier’s case was rocked by government misconduct, including the extensive falsification and suppression of evidence.

So it would seem to be a no brainer: If you’re going to release Fromme, still a self-proclaimed Manson supporter, it’s time to free this internationally revered indigenous leader who was clearly framed by the government and then ground through the racist prison system.

Indians are a necessary target of this government. Always have been. Even now, in the way Mexicans are treated. After all, what the hell is a “Mexican”? Unless you are talking about the increasing influx of US expats to Mexico who may or may not be tied to the continent’s history by blood—A Mexican is simply an Indian blend. Sometimes puro indigenous, sometimes blended with blacks, sometimes with euros. But what Mexico has always been is a land of many indigenous tribes. And despite the codes—”mexican,” “alien,” “illegal,” spic, “Undocumented”—the Indian remains under the crosshairs of this nation.

Flag of the American Indian Movement

That’s why so many find it totally natural to suggest our economy employ battalions of INDIANS to man our warehouses, fields, and factories—but only until the season is done! After that it is preferred they take the train back downtown. Just like in Irvington, NY, where the help rides in on the morning train—nannies, mows, washes, and cooks—and then at dusk goes back to the Bronx. Guest worker, indentured and socially validated servant/help/slave. Never human, never equal.

Nor are we here at UMX strangers to the awareness that the socially constructed state of Whiteness bestows rationality, authority, credibility, and humanity upon a person—as a rule. Even to felons, apparently. So welcome back to your society, Squeaky. And don’t be surprised that packing heat at Presidential appearances is now in vogue; after all, this is the nation’s first black president.

Finally, Leonard Peltier, your life would be wasted behind bars. But if this be your terrible fate, know that your suffering or at least your incarceration will only inspire those of us out here more; to remember the injustices that keep you there and to fight them until we, too, are either killed, caged, or fade away.

PS: I have faith you will see freedom again.

2

Old White People on Government Health Care Rally To Prevent Black President From Giving Health Care to Brown People

foto ©daisydeadair.blogspot.com

I mean…let’s stop playin’. This is silly. The racial core of this argument is that THEY WANT THEIR COUNTRY BACK because it’s not fair that someone who looks so DARK could give health care to OTHER DARK people! Because it will come from the taxes of….not their retired asses, that’s for sure! And aren’t we supposed to be locking those brown folks up? Not giving them help!!!! And CERTAINLY not electing them into OFFICE!!!! WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK!!!

You hear the naked truth of the racist resistance baring itself more and more, lately. Good. It’s appalling. Let the ugly reality stand in its appalling pool of primordial goo. Strip fakers and fronters of their code phrases. I mean look at this crowd!!! I’m betting THEY ARE ON GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE in large part! And they rally against it because….oh, let me stop. It’s too much! I’m seething again.

But do read Daisy’s post, which includes original reporting of this rally. And probably one of the most striking parts of this is that the area in question has basically segregated itself over the issue.

We attempted to chat, but we mostly just stood there speechless and shaking our heads at each other. “We don’t belong in there,” one said. I agreed with the sentiment. She told me another meeting was happening in Spartanburg, a PRO health care meeting.

Spartanburg. And then, another realization hit me:

Spartanburg is heavily black.

The upstate has re-segregated itself into Greenville (run by whites, although a large black population) and Spartanburg (run by blacks, although a large white population) Counties. Why were there so few blacks at this meeting? They need health care, too, okay? But if I was scared to go in, I assume they would be, too. In fact, no doubt: If I were black, I’d stay far away.

Tell me, is this DEMOCRACY in action, Congressman Inglis? Are you the representative of the white upstate or ALL the upstate?

One of the women pointed back at the entrance to Gateway, and told me authoritatively, “You know, this is all really about integration. That’s really what it is. Always has been.”

Yes, I know.

I understand that Obama needs to NOT look like he is furthering race relations by talking honestly on these things. It’s almost as if the racist right is baiting him. People showing up strapped to rallies. And you know how that Reverse-Racism crowd is. They so fear discussion on race that they turn into podpeople screaming the second you truthfully point it out. But for someone who wants his “portfolio” to include moving forward on race…POTUS seems to be passing up a lot of opportunities at being real.

3

Even With Violent Madman at the Helm, Mexico Saner Than USA

At least in one sense.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico enacted a controversial law on Thursday decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs while encouraging government-financed treatment for drug dependency free of charge.

It’s true that FeCal probably only went along with this to better dress up his REAL war on drugs, the one that has killed over 13,000 people since late December 2006, and even the MX police say the move simply formalizes what is longstanding habit. But the US ought to take a page from this book. Chasing people around and punishing them for how they affect their own consciousness when it happens to not pay off big pharma is astoundingly stupid, hypocritical (considering the plethora of legal cocktails in use every day in every state), and cruel, but its NOT EFFECTIVE and a waste of money and resources.

Then again—if you look at the US’ War on Drugs as another part of the war on non-whites, it’s hugely successful!

4

Within a Five Year Span, Coca Cola Invests 10 Billion In Mexican Markets

MEXICO CITY -(Dow Jones)- Global soft drink behemoth Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and its local bottling partners will invest $5 billion inMexico during the next five years, the company’s chief executive, Muhtar Kent, said Thursday.

The investments – part of a long-term plan to develop Coca-Cola’s operations in Mexico - are in addition to $5 billion invested since 2004, Kent said at the inauguration of a factory outside of Mexico City.

Once again it’s clear that our southern “border” (social barrier and construct, like Race) are to keep poor people poor and in their place. Coca cola, WeinerDrink and many other corporations shall not be bound by it, slowed down, nor prevented from exploring new markets to siphon dry.

But keep those ILLEGULS out of our pristine nation! Because they are destroying it.

5

ACLU files lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office

In their press release, Dan Pochoda, Legal Director of the ACLU of Arizona and lead counsel on the case claims that, “Our clients suffered egregious constitutional violations and were terrified when held against their will for three hours by armed MCSO personnel. Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies had absolutely no reason to stop these two men and drag them off to a worksite raid. This is yet another example of MCSO sacrificing the rights and well being of workers in the name of immigration enforcement.”

Just the fact that Arpaio is still operating is a clear sign of the racist currents that empower the law in this nation. He is simply one of those old folks at the health care rallies, but in his case he has guns, handcuffs, a jail, deputies, and a lot of pink shorts. He’s no different, fearing an imaginary world slipping out of his gnarled hands and willing to do whatever it takes to stop it.

He will fail.

6

Commentary: Tragic Neglect of Immigration

I grew up on the border and I can honestly say, it pains me to watch us squander billions on a border fence when we’ve yet to see a man-made structure that can stop the forces of nature. What we call “immigration” — in the case of Latinos — is actually a pattern of migration, a natural movement of homo sapiens dying of thirst and hunger, seeking water and nourishment in more fertile grounds.

Comprehensive immigration reform should thus be viewed as an essential measure to protect human rights on our soil and continent. This is a time to think big, not small. This is about more than laws and lines drawn on a map.

It is about the origins of our humanity, not our nationality. Real people are suffering as raids continue, border deaths and hate crimes escalate, and families are destroyed.

Exactly what I’m often writing about. It’s so funny how the US Govt tries to pretend it sees things in a limited way, selling wholesale bullshit to the People. USGOV knows perfectly well why people are migrating here. Our politicians are not so stupid that they don’t have a clear notion of these patterns and social fluctuations, especially when inspired by the US’ own rapacious appetite and reneged treaties. They—the pols—are not the stupid ones; that is the frothing masses opposing full and fair protection, inclusion, and compensation for the laborsof ALL humans, especially those from which we benefit.

They—the politicians—are simply the exploitative ones, hiding what they know to be truth, and acting in the benefit of the corporations.

7

foto ©topics.nytimes.com

Keeping Death Quiet

On any given day, more than 32,000 people who are not American citizens are held in detention in a patchwork of county jails, privately run prisons and federal facilities while the government decides whether to deport them. In the year ending Sept. 30, 2008, more than 407,000 people spent time in custody, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In October 2008, Congress approved $2.4 billion for detention and removal operations as part of $5.9 billion allotted for immigration enforcement through next September — even more than the Bush administration had requested and double the spending four years ago.

Getting details about those who die in custody is a difficult undertaking left to family members, advocacy groups and lawyers.

As the immigration detention system has ballooned to meet demands for stricter enforcement of immigration laws, Congress has listened to complaints about the secrecy and confusion surrounding deaths in custody.

The House passed a bill in January 2008 that would have rewarded states that require jails to report all deaths, but it was stalled in the Senate. At present all legislation has failed and awaits reintroduction in the 2009 Congress.

My emphasis. Because…why on earth would you not pass a law requiring prisons and jails to keep accurate records of who is hurt or who dies?  I can only think of one reason.

Which brings me to our final comment,

8

My Tone.

It’s silly and reductive to claim I am espousing some “Pro-Aztlán” (esp “vs.” Pro-American!) viewpoint. You only make yourself look ridiculous. First of all, I could easily make the case that Pro-American is contra-frontera, porque “America” is the entire continent, sans fence. And in that way of thinking (grammatically correct, if you’re into that kind of thing) both a “Pro-Aztlán” and a “Pro-American” view would, by necessity, be against this “border” idea.

But anyway, aside from a sloppy use of words, let’s be clear what my focus is here!

I do not write about a mythical homeland circled by white Mexican birds or something. This blog is not dedicated to a Spicy Mexican Lion, either. It’s all much simpler than that, though no doubt still just as confrontational to those who would run from the blog due to “tone” or “ugly” graphics or whatever you tell yourself is getting under your skin.

What I talk about here is imperialism, racism, sexism, corrupt law, media messaging, reality over symbol, truth over appearance, people power as opposed to nationalistic propaganda and legislated oppression, and I try to celebrate peoples, cultures, and traditions that the dominant culture does its best to erase or nullify. I also don’t give a shit about my tone because I’m talking about horrors and injustices. And real life, realtime blindness which the much-louder megaphone of MSM messaging perpetuates. So deal with it or don’t. But don’t kid yourself about what’s going on.

And with that, I’m out. Peace, y’all! But not before Justice.

(sombrero tip to amigo kai)

IT WOULDNT BE WORTH MY TIME to highlight yet one more slanderous, lazy, slimy, fictionalized piece of anti-Mexican propaganda but for the fact that it comes at such an egregious time and under such a prestigious banner. Today, when countless families are suffering behind anti-Mexican racism, in a time when deaths are piling up on the border and our nation is in desperate need for intelligent and humane immigration talk, and non-hypocritical government, we get mierda like this from the timesonline.com TRAVEL section:

Mexico is a great big beautiful country. But not near the border with California. Here, it’s a dirty, tawdry stinkpot, infested with partying Americans and unscrupulous Mexicans who will provide anything for them. It’s a place where morals don’t seem to count and anything goes. At least, that’s what I hoped as I headed across the border on a bus, in the first days of my long student holiday.

At dusk, I reached Ensenada, a town about 75 miles south of the border, threw my bags in a friendly hotel and walked across the dirt road to the nearest bar.

There was a woman standing just inside the door, so I said hello politely. She lifted her top, showed me her breasts and asked how much I was prepared to pay for a good time. This was a bit more than I had expected. I was only saying hello.

—Confessions of a Tourist: everything goes down Mexico way; No money, no morals, but Cael Weedon still had his pride – for now

You get the point. Firstly, it is written under a pseudonym. Secondly, the hit piece polishes up every single disgusting stereotype you can fish out of your bag of 1940′s anti-greaser bag (bad water, amorality, two-dimensional women here for our amusement and sexual engagement, thieves, drunkenness…). Thirdly, it’s just inaccurate. As a blogmigo spit out right away “the cantina district of ensenada doesn’t have dirt roads, it’s all cobblestone/colonial design..”

The cowardly “Cael Weedon” hides behind not only a pseudonym, but one insincere opening sentence: “Mexico is a great big beautiful country.” And then launches into the sleaziest piece of “journalism” I’ve read in quite a long time. In fact, it’s not even Journalism. It’s made up. It doesn’t ring true at all.

Up against a wall at the back of the bar, we started to make hot Mexican love. We started, but we never finished. Something I’d drunk (perhaps everything I’d drunk) disagreed with me, and what began as a rumble in my tummy turned into a violent, volcanic rush. I was sick all over myself, narrowly missing my Spanish lady. Even down Mexico way, some things are beyond acceptable – as I crouched in the alley, my last memory of my lady was her leaving in a hurry, pulling up her knickers as she went inside.

I staggered back to the hotel and flopped onto my bed. For about a minute. Then I had to get up, stagger to the bathroom and carry on. For two hours. Empty and exhausted, I finally got back to my bed and slept, on and off, for 48 hours.

The final insult came when I went to check out on Monday morning, after being rescued by a money transfer. The friendly hotel manager turned out to be a little too friendly. He told me that he hoped I didn’t mind, but while I’d been sprawled there stark naked on the bed, he’d been watching me through my window. Anything goes is fine in theory, but not when it’s your wallet, pride and dignity that are heading south. I grabbed my stuff and headed north.

Yeah. It reads like some disgusting romance novel meant to invoke the amorous repulsion of ignorant USers.

And the takeaway message is that South of the border is where you go for disgusting, vile lewd experiences, amorality, loose women, and illegality, and North of the border is for pride. Dignity. Law. (And gringo college students who need to get it all out once in a while.)

What a joke.

And I’d let the joke go, see, because I’m used to hearing this view. Be it subtle or blatant, this is the view of Mexico from most of the USA (and clearly, some of the UK, too). Even from “good” people. I am thinking now of one person last year I talked to about wanting to move to Mexico in time and this intelligent, kind, progressive person was worried about…well. All the things you’d imagine if you read only English language “news” “about” Mexico (some English Lang sources are good but not most). Or watched most US movies on Mexicans. And so on. And it’s not so much about them as a person. It’s about the strong tide of anti-Indian propaganda this nation has long employed and has needed to, to continue the occupation and continued theft of indigenous land and resources.

To talk about this chaotic and criminalized and militarized and exploited area of Mexico-meets-USA, la frontera—but to leave out the causes and simply riff on old hateful stereotypes is more than stupid and lazy. It’s criminally negligent work as a journalist.

“Articles” like this are the virtual equivalent of gasses escaping the bloated carcass of yesterday’s ignorance.

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE I stop by the little video I slapped together in October of 2006 called Ben Harper’s Oppression, A Xicano Interpretation. It’s just a montage of images I edited over the fantastic song by the same name, and as I didn’t think of it really as an actual filmmaking effort (not even as much as something tiny like  Luna Watches President-Elect Obama’s First Presser) I had no idea it would get the traffic it ended up getting. Nor did I know I’d end up with multiple schools writing me and wanting to use the video to approach or teach certain ideas to their classes. (I’ve always complied and for free, of course, as it’s not my song, and I love to help in these cases, anyway.) This dynamic of doing what you love, for no other gain, and watching unexpected fruit flower from it also played out with my blog (and I’m sure many blogs) as I wrote on the other day.

Because I made this video a few months after creating UMX, and right when it began to bloom, it has always felt emblematic of my first engaging the issues I do and in this nifty Web 2.0 way that we do out here in the blogarrio. I post it now as a sort of mini-celebration because I realized today the view counter broke the 50,000 mark! Whoa! How cool is that?

FIRE Raids ICE Management Meeting, Delivers Notice of Deportation of ICE from Flagstaff

Flagstaff. AZ — At approximately 10AM on Thursday December 4th, Flagstaff Immigrant Rights Enforcement (FIRE) confronted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a daring raid, serving a notice of deportation to ICE representatives at an ICE Management meeting. FIRE agents pinpointed the location of the ICE management
meeting at the Flagstaff Radisson Hotel in the Kaibab Meeting Room and staged the raid. FIRE agent Del Fuego read the notice of deportation to more than 15 ICE associated criminals, some of whom appeared to possibly be illegal immigrants themselves, as they were not Indigenous People. Agent Del Fuego called for the immediate withdrawal of ICE from the Flagstaff community and notified ICE of the cease and desist order for all future raids.

FIRE will continue supporting and enforcing immigrant rights where they are violated with the exception of established immigrant “settlers” or “colonizers” who have been benefitting from the exploitation of Indigenous People’s lands. In addition, locations believed to be harboring ICE criminals, associates, and illegal settlers on indigenous lands can expect future FIRE raids. FIRE has credible intelligence that ICE absconders use condominiums, country clubs, law enforcement facilities, steakhouses, stretch limousines, luxury hotels, beach resorts, ski resorts, martini bars, intelligence facilities, etc., as bases of operation. These settlers will be brought to justice. No human is illegal.

NOTICE OF DEPORTATION:

Notice served on this, the 4th day of December, 2008 by Flagstaff Immigrant Rights Enforcement (FIRE) for the immediate deportation from the Flagstaff area of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and officials.

FIRE charges ICE with the following activities deemed criminal and in violation of human rights. These activities include but are not limited to:

◆ Terrorizing entire communities resulting in the destruction of over 34,000 families within the last year alone, including most recently, 16 persons within the immediate Flagstaff area.

◆ Causing fear that has extended into the hearts of our community’s children, who, due to your presence, live in constant trauma of returning to an empty home.

◆ Taking no meaningful measures to ensure the well-being of those impacted by family members’ deportation.

◆ Perpetuating institutionalized racism and practicing racial profiling.

◆ Aiding and abetting border militarization on both sides of the US- Mexico border.

◆ Creating and upholding the myth of “illegal human beings”.

◆ Enforcing and benefitting from a global economic system that criminalizes labor and creates deathly low wages.

◆ Enforcing immigration policies on borders drawn on indigenous lands.

◆ Misappropriation of taxpayer funds for aforementioned terrorist activity while education, health care, and housing services collapse.

—————————————- —————

About FIRE – Flagstaff Immigrant Rights Enforcement is established to take direct action in solidarity with communities impacted by ICE raids. We do not represent anyone or any groups other than ourselves and our actions. FIRE is an independent agency and can be made up of anyone fighting for human rights and the abolition of ICE terrorism. LET’S TURN UP THE HEAT ON ICE!

[all text and video from here]

THIS MORNING, in the Twitterverse, we were talking about Thanksgiving. As many of my friends are also people who work to extract themselves from, or diminish the effects and momentum of imperialism and its trappings (or who happen to be of indigenous blood), it is not unusual for us to talk about other sides of “Thanksgiving.” About not passing it on to children as we received it, about not practicing it at all, about practicing alternate forms of the holiday. One friend (Kai) related a story to me that I liked, saying

When I was a kid, my mom would roast a turkey + braise a duck on Thanksgiving. My parents said one was US tradition and one tasted good.

This bifurcated or dual function/form seems to me a good way to approach the holiday. Who wants to put away what some have come to know as a warm, happy time of gathering with family and celebrating food, love, taste, tribe, and life? The USA has so few “traditions” as it is, so as two-dimensional and full of tinsel that they are, they are dear to those of us who grew to know them as recurring events.

But using Thanksgiving as a time to teach children about both the myth and the damage done behind the Myth is crucial. And I capitalize “myth” that second time because this is not about being contrary or “radical” or anything. Thanksgiving is probably the most popular and earliest-given justification for invasion, murder, imperialism, occupation, and “othering” that we know of in this country. You see the harm wrought by the colonizer’s mindset time and time again, and even now in Iraq we hear fables fashioned on the same framework and it sickens. But Thanksgiving is Iraq, with its steaming platter of corpses. Iraq is Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving stands in place of the real story, one of greed and superiority and crusade and greater stores of weapons and greater capacity for violence.

In 1637, English soldiers massacred some 700 Pequot men, women and children at Mystic Fort, burning many of them alive in their homes and shooting those who fled. The colony of Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay Colony observed a day of thanksgiving commemorating the massacre. By 1675, there were some 50,000 colonists in the place they had named “New England.”

—Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving”

Thanksgiving is the earliest fable given to us along the path of mental indoctrination that allows the USA to continue its method. Some say now a great change has come upon us and we may have to shift the way we do things. Global powers now, no sole hyperpower, diminished American might, changing demographics. We’ll see. “Time will tell,” as a reggae song often playing in my early household would promise the listener. Time will tell. (Obama’s words on not prosecuting anyone for war crimes etc tell us a lot already, though.)

Nonetheless, the path is in place and it is a path that begins with commercially-crafted tales designed to distract us from the USA’s long-running methodologies of exceptionalism and crusade and in place of that, offer us patriotic pablum; saccharine feelgood fakery that suffocates entire peoples and their struggles. Ultimately, who benefits from these fables and the lessons they instill? Who benefits from the invasion of Iraq? From the mercenary armies we have there and are now launching into many nations and onto ocean vessels? From our military bases that multiply like virus? Who are the myths of Thanksgiving designed to benefit? What are the truths they are meant to obscure?

What is it about the story of “The First Thanksgiving” that makes it essential to be taught in virtually every grade from preschool through high school? What is it about the story that is so seductive? Why has it become an annual elementary school tradition to hold Thanksgiving pageants, with young children dressing up in paper-bag costumes and feather-duster headdresses and marching around the schoolyard? Why is it seen as necessary for fake “pilgrims” and fake “Indians” (portrayed by real children, many of whom are Indian) to sit down every year to a fake feast, acting out fake scenarios and reciting fake dialogue about friendship? And why do teachers all over the country continue (for the most part, unknowingly) to perpetuate this myth year after year after year?

Is it because as Americans we have a deep need to believe that the soil we live on and the country on which it is based was founded on integrity and cooperation? This belief would help contradict any feelings of guilt that could haunt us when we look at our role in more recent history in dealing with other indigenous peoples in other countries. If we dare to give up the “myth” we may have to take responsibility for our actions both concerning indigenous peoples of this land as well as those brought to this land in violation of everything that makes us human. The realization of these truths untold might crumble the foundation of what many believe is a true democracy. As good people, can we be strong enough to learn the truths of our collective past? Can we learn from our mistakes? This would be our hope.

—Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving”

That’s a little Haunted Land talk there. I like the hope part. It’s not a “hope” built on simply escaping the utterly depraved last 8 years. It’s not one built on some illusion of letting bygones be bygones with no truthful accounting nor consequence doled out. It’s reality: You cannot move forward with great crimes unaddressed and build a shining city on a ransacked graveyard. (If you ask the Wampanoag people, they will tell you that the “First Thanksgiving” actually involved not “finding corn” but in stealing it and looting childrens’ graves.) You can try! You can scribble in the ledgers and change the stories and lie to the kids, but truth has a way of making itself known, even if the only pathways left to travel are the disease and disintegration of a standing lie.

So! With all that said, I do hope that everyone enjoys their day tomorrow, as well as their lives and their families and their full bellies. I also hope that more and more as we go forward, it can be a day not only for fine foods and laughter and friendship and family, but also for respect, truth and the debt we owe to others. We can dismantle the machine that enacts these crimes one generation at a time, stripping away the veneer of propaganda and revealing the hard beating heart underneath. We could use the words of the Seattle schools this year, who are urging their staff not to simply “celebrate, but to educate.” We can imagine ourselves strong enough to “learn the truths of our collective past” and yet rise.