OMNI
THANKSGIVING
DAY NEWSLETTER #8, NOVEMBER 26, 2020, NATIONAL DAY OF GRATITUDE, MOURNING, AND
ATONEMENT. And BLACK FRIDAY/BUY NOTHING DAY NOV. 27.
Compiled
by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
http://omnicenter.org/donate/
CONTENTS: OMNI THANKSGVING DAY
NEWSLETTER #8, 2020
A Day of
Mourning
2020
A Native American Point of View
About Face: Veterans Against the War
2019
400th Anniversary 2020
Another Native American POV
White Nationalism
Black
Friday and Buy Nothing
Amazon Workers
War Resisters League
Rain Forest Actions Network
Making
Connections
Native Americans and Palestinians
Thanksgiving
Day 2019
TEXTS
2020
A NATIVE AMERICAN’S POINT OF VIEW 2020
https://popularresistance.org/as-a-native-american-heres-what-i-want-you-to-know-about-thanksgiving/
(PR is an excellent source of questioning mainstream verities,
and , as usual with such points of view, it needs your financial support. –D)
ABOUT FACE:
VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR 11-26-20
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Dick,
For the past two years, you've
received a Thanks-taking day email from my sister-in-struggle and fellow
About Face member, Krystal Two Bulls. She generously shared her personal story
and offered insights on how we can all deepen our commitment to
decolonization and counteract the ahistorical, harmful narratives about
this day.
This year, I had the opportunity
to visit with a newer Indigenous About Face member, Danny Grassrope, as he
shared his reflections:
Thanks-taking, we have to know
the true history of what it was. It’s a time of mourning to remember those
people who were trusting these settlers -- they showed them how to garden
here, how to use the resources here, and then they just slaughtered them.
I’m thankful that my ancestors stood their ground so that we can have a
future, that we are still here. I’m thankful that there are people in my
community that are good mentors, that continue to empower us younger folks
to learn our language, to learn our ways.
All we ask is that you acknowledge who we are and what happened. Know our
side of history.
I’m not asking you for pity, I’m asking you to acknowledge who I am. To
give me the time and space and help us get our land back, so we can protect
our sacred sites and who we are and our herbal roots that we use for
medicine, our plants.
Our Land is not just a physical form or entity, the land is who we are, the
land is where we practice our ceremonies, and that’s true for Indigenous
folks around the world, not just here on Turtle Island.
We're grateful for the chances
we've had to grow our collective commitment to decolonization over the past
two years, and we continue to dedicate ourselves to the unlearning,
relationship-building and solidarity practices that our values require of
us. As part of that commitment, we're highlighting three things you
can do to deepen your knowledge and act in solidarity with Indigenous
movements alongside us. (If you've already done all three,
consider sharing with a friend!)
1.
Support the Cheyenne River Grassroots Collective
Danny is also a member of this
collective, and he shared his powerful story and call to action with us:
I’m from the Kul Wicasa Oyate,
but I stay on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. About two years ago,
Cheyenne River wanted to call veterans to train folks in Cheyenne River.
The specific training was veterans training veterans, but it opened up for
the community to join as well. So then when we went to this training that
About Face was actually putting on, it was very interesting. Krystal Two
Bulls talked about Indigenous folks in the military. She talked about her
story, and it was very similar to mine.
Back then, I was embarrassed to say that I was a veteran in the military
because of this movement and Standing Rock, where the National Guard was a
present military force. But it was crazy, because when they started doing
the blockade, I was like, "hey, I know that person -- I know some of
these people in uniform." The people I was rolling with asked,
"how do you know these people?’" and I’m like, "uh...I might
have joined the National Guard and that was the unit that I was in."
But I asked them not to tell anybody, because there was a part of me that
didn’t want people to know. I was a little embarrassed.
But when About Face hosted this training in Cheyenne River, I was like,
"hey, I like what About Face is and what it stands for." I
thought, “Ooh, I want to be a part of this group.” The following day, I
decided to join, and I brought in with me the fight against the Keystone XL
Pipeline and what it will do to our people and the land.
So it’s very empowering that there are groups like About Face out there and
people that share knowledge on the reservations on and off. Because now
it’s not just an Indigenous fight, it’s everybody’s fight.
The connection between the pipeline fight here on Turtle Island and the
wars abroad is colonialism. The KXL Pipeline comes from a fossil fuel
industry. The US military goes into the Middle East, extracting their
resources for the same industry. It’s just this long cycle that we need to
break and dismantle, and we want to encourage other people to find their
roots. So I think that’s where About Face and this movement
to dismantle the military industrial
complex of big oil and greedy people comes in. This movement isn’t just our
movement, it’s everyone’s movement. We do this for everybody.
Danny asks that folks support
the collective as they help lead the fight against the pipeline by:
· Following
the Cheyenne River Grassroots collective for updates on Facebook, Instagram,
and/or Twitter and
sharing their content to spread the word.
· Donating
to their crowdfund
· Demanding
your elected officials say no to KXL and pressure Biden to shut it down.
2.
Follow and Support the #LandBack Campaign
We're proud to join with our own
Krystal Two Bulls as she spearheads the #LANDBACK Campaign at NDN
Collective. Make sure to read the manifesto to familiarize
yourself with the principles and vision, including their most
immediate demands to close Mt. Rushmore and return those and all
public lands in the Black Hills to Indigenous hands.
Take a few moments today to
watch their inspiring 5-minute mini-documentary about
their recent actions.
Click
on the photo above to watch the #LandBack campaign's mini-documentary.
3.
Complete the DecolonizeU Self-Study Course
We created a new "resources" section
of our website, where you can now find all the materials for our pilot
DecolonizeU course, “Militarism On Turtle Island.” Together,
we explore the historic and ongoing relationship between Indigenous
resistance and militarization in so-called North America. Learn
from three weeks of readings, reflection questions, and recordings of talks
from Indigenous movement leaders at your own pace! (If you already
took this course as part of the live cohort when we launched it, stay tuned
-- we've got more planned for the future.)
As we take these actions, we
also want to remind ourselves that decolonization goes far (far) beyond a
single day or a single list of ways to show up and to learn. This
Thanks-taking, we re-commit to deepening our solidarity with Indigenous
resistance -- today, every day, and for the long-haul.
Thank you for choosing to join
in this commitment with us.
In love and solidarity,
Brittany Ramos DeBarros
(she)
Organizing Director and Member
About Face: Veterans Against the War
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About Face: Veterans Against The War
P.O. Box 3565
New York, NY 10008
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2019
Published last year too late for my 2019 newsletter
(see at end)
2020
400TH ANNIVERSARY, PILGRIMS
LANDED IN PLYMOUTH IN 1620.
American Indians plan
day of mourning. Indigenous alternative to Thanksgiving
scheduled again on Plymouth Rock by WILLIAM J. KOLE The Associated Press |
November 27, 2019 at 3:57 a.m. (Title in
NADG is “American Indians plan
day of mourning on Plymouth Rock.”)
(Photo
deleted—D) Andres Araica of Boston
prays in front of a statue of the Wampanoag leader Massasoit in Plymouth,
Mass., before a 1998 protest march on the American Indians’ annual National Day
of Mourning.
PLYMOUTH, Mass. --
American Indians are preparing to convene their 50th annual National Day of
Mourning in the seaside town where the Pilgrims settled.
United American
Indians of New England has held the solemn remembrance on every Thanksgiving
Day since 1970 to recall what organizers describe as "the genocide of
millions of native people, the theft of native lands and the relentless assault
on native culture."
But Thursday's
gathering will have particular resonance -- and, indigenous people say, a fresh
sense of urgency.
Plymouth is putting
the final touches on next year's 400th anniversary commemorations of the
Pilgrims' landing in 1620. And as the 2020 events approach, descendants of the
Wampanoag tribe that helped the newcomers survive are determined to ensure the
world doesn't forget the disease, racism and oppression the European settlers
brought.
"We talk about
the history because we must," said Mahtowin Munro, a co-leader of the
group.
"The focus is
always on the Pilgrims. We're just going to keep telling the truth," she
said. "More and more nonnative people have been listening to us. They're
trying to adjust their prism."
As they have on every
Thanksgiving for the past half-century, participants will assemble at noon on
Cole's Hill, a windswept mound overlooking Plymouth Rock, a memorial to the
colonists' arrival.
Beneath a giant bronze
statue of Massasoit, the Wampanoag leader in 1620, American Indians from tribes
around New England will beat drums, offer prayers and read speeches before
marching through Plymouth's historic district, joined by dozens of sympathetic
supporters.
Organizers say they'll
also call attention to the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women, as
well as government crackdowns on migrants from Latin America and the detention
of children. Promotional posters proclaim: "We didn't cross the border --
the border crossed us!"
Past gatherings have
mourned lives lost to the nationwide opioid addiction crisis, shown solidarity
with the Black Lives Matter movement and condemned environmental degradation.
The tradition was born
of Plymouth's last big birthday bash in 1970 -- a 350th anniversary
commemoration that triggered demonstrations by native people excluded from a
decidedly Pilgrim-focused observance.
Since then, the
National Day of Mourning has become an increasingly multiethnic affair in the
community nicknamed "America's Hometown." MORE
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2019/nov/27/american-indians-plan-day-of-mourning-2/
ANOTHER
NATIVE AMERICAN VIEW
Reflecting on colonization this Thanks-taking
Day
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Krystal Two Bulls via email.actionnetwork.org 11-28-19
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8:00 AM (46 minutes ago)
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to me
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Relatives,
Today is always a complicated day for me and I hope
you will join me for a moment of reflection. As you may know, I am
Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne from the Pine Ridge and Northern
Cheyenne Indian Reservations. As a Native American woman, today is
not a day of giving thanks. Most of us who were educated in Western
schools were taught that today acknowledges the “Native Americans”
saving the lives of the “Pilgrims,” by teaching them how to garden
and hunt. They then supposedly shared a meal together, which was the
predecessor of the Thanksgiving meal most Americans share today.
That is not what happened and that is not what today
represents for me. Today is instead a painful reminder that the
colonization, militarization, attempted genocide of my people is
ongoing. It marks the beginning of a season of remembering the
numerous massacres that Native Peoples have faced since contact.
Today I remember the Wampanoag People who shared their Indigenous
Ecological Knowledge with desperate Pilgrims only to be massacred by
them. The U.S. military has always attacked my Peoples in the winter
because those are the months when we are at our most vulnerable.
 The Sand
Creek Massacre, the Dakota 38 +2 Hangings, the Wounded Knee Massacre
and the Fort Robinson Outbreak are just a few atrocities that impact
me directly. I descend from survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre,
where 20 Medals of Honor were awarded to the US Soldiers responsible
for murdering hundreds of women, children and elderly.
The colonization and militarization of this land
established the roots of oppression that have rippled out since in
the forms of U.S. imperialism and interventionism. From kidnapping
children from their parents at the border to the removal of
Palestinians from their lands- the violence that the United States
military is presently unleashing around the world continues to be
patterned from the colonization of Turtle Island and her original
stewards.
And yet all over the world the People are rising up
and taking the streets to counter the spread of fascism. So, we must
continue to uphold the voices of those most impacted by war and US
intervention. We must continue to deepen our understanding of
organizing and direct action. We must continue to strengthen our
relationships with our allies and coalition partners. We must
continue to leverage our privilege and experiences as veterans.
And we must do this while staying grounded in our
understanding of the impacts of militarism on Turtle Island and
journeying down the road to decolonization. About Face: Veterans
Against the War has been a community of healing and support for me,
that has been transformational. It has been a safe space to have the
tough conversations about war, colonization, tokenization,
appropriation, imperialism and the impacts of all of these on us as
human beings.
I invite you to join us in our commitment to not just
use the word decolonization in our work, but to embody it with our
daily actions and organizational practices. If you need a place to
start, kick off your 2020 right and sign up for the FREE
online course we are hosting in January! This
inaugural (*cough* pilot) DecolonizeU class titled “Militarism on
Turtle Island” is open to anyone who registers. For three weeks will
study the historic and ongoing relationship between indigenous
resistance and the militarization of North America through selected
readings and live webinars featuring indigenous guests speakers.
Learn more and
register HERE!
Lastly, we hope you will support our ability to keep
doing this work by donating here this
#GivingTuesday and asking a handful of friends and
family to do the same.
Blessings,
Krystal Two Bulls
Director of Special Projects
About Face: Veterans Against the War
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"The Myth of the First Thanksgiving Is a Buttress
of White Nationalism and Needs to Go"
By Michael J.
Silverman, History
News Network, posted November 24, 2019.
David J. Silverman is a professor at
George Washington University, where he specializes in Native American, Colonial
American, and American racial history. He is the author of Thundersticks, Red
Brethren, Ninigret, Faith and Boundaries, and This
Land Is Their Land. His
essays have won major awards from the Omohundro Institute of Early American
History and Culture and the New York State Historical Association. He lives in
Philadelphia.
BLACK FRIDAY, CYBER MONDAY, PRIME DAY, SHOP ‘TILL YOU AND
THE WORKERS DROP
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IT’S MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2019.
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It's officially peak shopping season. Today we’re looking at
safety conditions inside one major retailer’s warehouses.
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A dangerous time for Amazon workers
If the past is any guide, worker-injury
counts will spike this week at Amazon. Last year’s Cyber Monday coincided
with a rise in injuries. So did Prime Day.
Jeff Bezos’s retail behemoth prides itself
on speed—specifically, the speed with which it can sweep items from warehouse
to doorstep. To consumers, such processes seem almost magical.
But in facilities across the country,
workers must lift and scan hundreds of items per hour to keep the system
going. Some are getting seriously injured—or even killed—in the process.
Our new investigation, published in collaboration with Reveal
from the Center for Investigative Reporting, looks at the human cost of such convenience.
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When you order something from Amazon and you’ve worked
inside Amazon, you wonder, ‘Hey, is ordering my package going
to be the demise of somebody?’”
One former safety manager, who worked at multiple Amazon facilities
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Candice Dixon, a former employee, puts the
company’s (quite literally) back-breaking pace in perspective:
Dixon had to scan a new item every 11
seconds to hit her quota, she said, and Amazon always knew when she didn’t …
She started the job in April 2018, and within two months, or
nearly 100,000 items, the lifting had destroyed her back. … She could no
longer work at Amazon. Today, she can barely climb stairs.
Read the full story here.
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By
the Numbers (Jason Raish)
4 The average number of serious injuries per 100 full-time
workers in the warehouse industry, in 2018.
9.6 Amazon’s rate of serious injuries per 100 full-time workers,
according to internal records from 23 of the company’s 110 fulfillment
centers nationwide. It’s nearly double the average injury rate in the
warehousing industry.
98.45 The percentage of his expected productivity achieved by Parker
Knight, a disabled veteran. The 1.55 percent shortfall triggered his final
write-up.
More than 1 billion The number of packages delivered to Amazon Prime members
during the 2018 holiday season, according to the company.
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Buy Nothing Day in
France 2019
“Black Friday Sales Spur Protest France; Amazon Targeted as Lawmakers Consider
Ban.” (AP). NADG (11-29-19). Protesters “held signs in front of the gates
reading “Amazon: For the climate, for jobs, stop expansion, stop
over-production!” “French climate groups
are planning “Block Friday” demonstrations today.”
Christian
Lowe, Sarah White. Block Friday: French activists
try to disrupt discount shopping day. Reuters,
NOVEMBER 29, 2019 . https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-holidayshopping-france/french-activists-protest-against-amazon-in-black-friday-backlash-idUSKBN1Y310S?il=0
No Tanks Giving through WRL
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War Resisters League 11-29-19
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8:30 AM (1 hour ago)
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to me
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Hi Dick,
We hope you are
having an easy week doing the things you love: whether that's spending time
with friends and family, reading, cooking, or volunteering.
While you're enjoying those things, we hope you also take
the opportunity to reflect on the way Thanksgiving and its unofficial
sister-holiday, Black Friday, are part of an ongoing story of
settler-colonialism, erasure, and consumer capitalism. For us, this holiday is a reminder of
just how deeply militarism and settler mentalities are embedded in our
culture.
War Resisters League is one
of the few places whose internationalist politics are informed by a
domestic anti settler-colonial analysis. But, we have a lot of work
ahead of us. Can you donate to support WRL's work today?
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This framework is precisely why we make
sure to turn our gaze inwards as we carry out our work countering
militarism:
WRL's No SWAT
Zone work focuses on collaborations between federal agencies, arms
dealers, and the military, which fuel police militarization in the
U.S. and work to uphold systems that target Black, brown and indigenous
people. We build the capacity of local groups working on the frontlines
of militarism in the borderlands, like the collaborative work WRL did
with Puente Arizona to disrupt the National Homeland Security Conference
that took place in Phoenix, AZ this year. And, it's why we lift up
leaders like WRL's 2018 Peace Award Recipient, Corrina Gould, whose
work with indigenous land trusts is literally gaining grounds
for indigenous sovereignty.
At WRL, we believe capitalism
and settler-colonial violence are part of the root causes of war. Can you
donate $25 today to help us keep the work going?
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Recommended reading
for today:
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Raising $5K on
Giving Tuesday will allow WRL to:
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Rainforest Action Network 11-29-19
Dick,
Yesterday, we were all
thankful for what we have, but today, many of us are rushing to the store to
buy up holiday gifts…
How about doing
something different this year? What about giving your loved
ones the gift of hope?
Wouldn’t you rather
invest in keeping the world green than spending your green on one-off gifts?
This year, we’ve
witnessed the Amazon fires, climate disasters, and deforestation in Indonesia.
But we’ve also experienced people around the world coming together to fight for
our collective future. Isn’t that worth more than a cheap deal at a store?
Rainforest Action
Network is fighting every day of the year, for more than 30 years, to protect
rainforests, communities and our climate. We’ve stood toe to toe with some of
the world’s largest corporations, and we’ve won! In fact, in just the last five
years we’ve convinced more than 20 companies to cut deforestation from their
supply chains. And we’re leading the way against holding banks responsible for
investing in climate change.
By giving the gift of a RAN
membership to your loved ones, you’re making an investment in their future —
what greater gift could you give?
Because really, what’s
more important? This year, instead of watching orangutans on a tv that’s two
inches bigger or a few pixels sharper, let’s ensure that orangutans survive in
the real world.
Make a lasting difference in the
world. Give the Gift of Hope today.
For love and
rainforests,
Marie Michelson
Digital Director
Rainforest Action Network
At RAN, we take the “Network” in our name
seriously. It is only through your support that we are able to fund
major campaigns for the forests, their inhabitants and the natural systems that
sustain life. Please consider joining RAN as a Member by making a gift
today.
425 Bush St, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94108,
United States
MAKING CONNECTIONS: Native Americans and
Palestinians
Inter/Nationalism: Decolonizing
Native America and Palestine by Stephen Salaita.
Publisher’s description:
Connecting the scholarship and activism of Indigenous
America and Palestinians .
Steven Salaita argues that American Indian and
Indigenous studies must be more central to the scholarship and activism
focusing on Palestine. His discussion includes a fascinating inside account of
the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement; a wide range of Native poetry;
the speeches of U.S. President Andrew Jackson; and the discourses of “shared
values” between the United States and Israel.
This is a powerful and moving analysis of what
it means to decolonize settler societies through an unflinchingly ethical and
incisively original notion of inter/nationalism. Steven Salaita is, as always,
bold, brilliant, and visionary. Inter/Nationalism offers a searing,
comparative analysis of what liberation means in North America and
Palestine-Israel. It is a must read for academics, activists, and anyone
interested in challenging the logics of ethnic cleansing and settler civility.
—
Sunaina Maira,
University of California, Davis
Table of Contents Thanksgiving Day 2019
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2019/11/thanksgiving-day-day-of-mourning.html
Truth
about the First Thanksgiving
Native
American Day of Mourning 2019, Google Search 11-27-2019
Native
American Day of Mourning 2017, Google Search 11-17-2017
UnThanksgiving
Buy
Nothing Day (day following Thanksgiving)
END: OMNI THANKSGIVING DAY NEWSLETTER #8, 2020
