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Yellow Bird: Don't feel guilty about Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Filed Under: Opinion

"Mark Anthony Rolo, former executive director of the Native American Journalists Association and currently a writer for the Progressive Media Project, recently wrote a column for the national wire titled, “Why, as an American Indian, Thanksgiving is so difficult.”

He missed the mark when he wrote about American Indians and the Thanksgiving holiday.

Rolo says he's an American Indian who has to be careful about admitting to the guilty pleasures of enjoying a turkey feast (Thanksgiving) because it's thought by “white liberals” that he is commemorating the cultural death of “my Indian people.”

He should serve himself up a piece of “sorry pie” on this Thanksgiving for his misleading perceptions and speaking on behalf of many American Indians.

Remembering “genocide, land stealing and smallpox” isn't what this holiday is about. It's about thanking the Creator for the gifts given to us and remembering how fortunate we are. You don't sprinkle hate and anger onto that kind of feast."

Get the Story:
Dorreen Yellow Bird: No need to baste Thanksgiving turkey in guilt (The Grand Forks Herald 11/22)
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