In Her Grandfather's Legacy: Kisha James Destroys the Myth of a Pilgrims Thanksgiving

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In Her Grandfather's Legacy: Kisha James Destroys the Myth of a Pilgrims Thanksgiving

"We are not vanishing. We are not conquered. We are as strong as ever." Kisha James, granddaughter of Wamsutta.

By Brenda Norrell, Nov. 28, 2024

Censored News original series

Kisha James, Wampanoag, began the National Day of Mourning on Plymouth Rock with the words of her grandfather Wamsutta, words that the settlers tried to silence, and the factual account of the first Thanksgiving: The slaughter of Pequot women and children.

"The first Thanksgiving was declared in 1637 by Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to celebrate the massacre of over 700 Pequot men, women, and children on the the banks of the Mystic River in Connecticut."

Destroying the myths of the pilgrims' Thanksgiving, James reminds that the United States is built on bloodshed, massacres and slavery.

"Let us not forget that this country was founded on the ideology of white supremacy,  the widespread practice of African slavery, and a policy of genocide and land theft. Let us not forget that under the pipelines, skyscrapers, mines and the oil rigs lie the interred bones, sacred objects and villages of our Native ancestors."

"Let us not forget that this is a country that continues to glorify murderers such as Christopher Columbus, that worship slave owning presidents such as Washington and Jefferson and even carves their faces into the sacred Black Hills of the Lakota."

Wamsutta: 'Our Spirit Refuses to Die'

Kisha James, Wampanoag of Aquinnah, and co-lead of the United American Indians in New England, began the National Day of Mourning with these words.

"Once again on so-called Thanksgiving, United American Indians of New England and our supporters are gathered on this hill to observe a National Day of Mourning for the Indigenous People murdered by settler colonialism and imperialism worldwide."

"Today marks the 55th time we have gathered here to mourn our ancestors, tear down settler mythologies and speak truth to power."

"The National Day of Morning came into existence in 1970 when my grandfather an Aquinnah man named Wamsutta, Frank James, was invited by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to speak at a banquet celebrating the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the pilgrims."

"The organizers of the banquet no doubt imagined that Wamsutta would sing the Praises of the American Settler Colonial project and thank the pilgrims for bringing civilization to these shores."

"However, the speech that Wamsutta wrote -- which was based on historical fact rather than the sham version of history perpetuated in the Thanksgiving myth -- was a far cry from complimentary."

"In his speech, Wamsutta not only named atrocities committed by the pilgrims, but also reflected upon the fate of the Wampanoag at the hands of the settler Invaders."

Wamsutta Frank James

"Wamsutta's speech contained a powerful message of Native American Pride," Kisha James told the gathering on Thursday.

"Our spirit refuses to die," wrote Wamsutta. "Yesterday we walked the woodland paths and sandy trails. Today we must walk the macadam highways and roads

"We are uniting. We stand tall and proud and before too many moons pass we'll write the wrongs we have allowed to happen to us."

"When State officials saw an advanced copy of Wamsutta's speech, they refused to allow him to deliver it, saying that the speech was too inflammatory."

"They told him he could speak only if he were willing to offer false praise of the pilgrims. The organizers even offered to write a speech for him, one which would better fit with their settler narrative, but Wamsutta refused to have words put into his mouth."

"His suppressed speech was printed in newspapers across the country, and he and other local native activists began to plan a protest."

"The flyer for this protest which was circulated nationwide read, "What do we have to be thankful for. The United American Indians of New England have declared Thanksgiving day to be a national day of morning for Native Americans."

"On so-called Thanksgiving Day 1970 Wamsutta and members of at least 25
tribes, as well as a handful of non-native allies, gathered here on this hill and observed the first national day of morning."

"Attendees spoke about the pilgrim invasion and conditions in Indian Country; marched around Plymouth; boarded Mayflower 2, and even buried Plymouth Rock in sand."

"One leader of the American Indian movement would later say of the first national day of morning that it is, quote, 'A day American Indians won't soon forget. We went to Plymouth for a purpose, to mourn since the landing of the pilgrims the repression of the American Indian and to indict the hypocrisy of a system which glorifies

that repression."

Kisha James, Wampanoag, speaking. 2024
Watch livestream, recorded video.

"So why do so many Native people object to the Thanksgiving myth?" Kisha James asked.

"According to this myth, the pilgrims seeking religious freedom landed on Plymouth Rock, the Indians welcomed them with open arms, and then conveniently faded into the background, and everyone lived happily-ever-after the end."

"Here is the truth: The first the pilgrims are glorified and mythologized because the circumstances of the first permanent English colony in North America, Jamestown, were too ugly to hold up as an effective national myth."

"Pilgrims and Indians are a much more marketable story than settler cannibalism."

"Second, the pilgrims came here as part of a commercial venture -- they didn't need religious freedom, they already had that back in the Netherlands. The Mayflower Compact was merely a group of white men who wanted to ensure they would get a return on their investment."

"Third, when the pilgrims arrived on outer Cape Cod, by the way not
on the pebble down the hill, one of the first things they did was rob Wampanoag graves at Corn Hill and steal as much of their winter provisions of corn and beans as they were able to carry."

"Fourth, some ancestors did greet the pilgrims and save them from starvation, and what did we, the Indigenous People of this continent get in return for this kindness?"

"Genocide, the theft of of our lands, the destruction of our traditional ways of life,  slavery, starvation, and never ending oppression."

"Fifth, the first official Thanksgiving did not take place in 1621, when the pilgrims had a harvest time meal provided largely by the Wampanoag, instead the first Thanksgiving was declared in 1637 by Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to celebrate the massacre of over 700 Pequot men, women, and children on the the banks of the Mystic River in Connecticut."

"Subsequent slaughters of Indigenous People would be celebrated by a day of Thanksgiving -- and yet we are labeled as savages in the history books."

"So why does any of this matter, after all 1620 was a long time ago and the pilgrim forefathers have been rotting in their graves for centuries."

"It is simple: The past influences the present."

"In her book, Lose Your Mother, a Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route, Saidiya  Hartman wrote, quote, "I too live in the time of slavery by which I mean I am living in the future created by it, so too are we living in the time of the pilgrims."

"Because the settler project created by the pilgrims did not end with the pilgrims the evils that the pilgrims brought to these shores, racism, slavery, the class system, jails, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny -- these evils continue to affect the peoples of Turtle Island and beyond."

"For as Plymouth loves to remind us, this is America's Hometown, the United States was born here, and its myriad crimes therefore rest on the shoulders of the pilgrim forefathers, and indeed all settler projects worldwide past and present are indebted to the pilgrims."

"These settler colonial projects have terrorized indigenous peoples for centuries. From the colonial period to the 21st century, this has entailed torture, massacres family separations, systemic military occupations, and the forced removals of Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral homelands."

"Let us not forget that this country was founded on the ideology of white supremacy,  the widespread practice of African slavery, and a policy of genocide and land theft. Let us not forget that under the pipelines, skyscrapers, mines and the oil rigs lie the interred bones, sacred objects and villages of our Native ancestors."

"Let us not forget that this is a country that continues to glorify murderers such as Christopher Columbus, that worship slave-owning presidents such as Washington and Jefferson, and even carves their faces into the sacred Black Hills of the Lakota."

"And until this country this settler Colonial project and all settler colonial projects are dismantled, we will continue to live in the time of the pilgrims so the pilgrims are not ancient history and we can't cannot allow their crimes to be sanitized and forgotten and that is why year after year we have gathered on this hill to tear down the Thanksgiving mythology."

"When people perpetuate the Thanksgiving mythology, they are not only erasing the pilgrims legacy of settler colonialism and genocide, but also celebrating it."

"But Native people did not simply fade Into the background as the Thanksgiving myth said. We have survived and flourished. We have persevered. The very fact that you you are here, is proof that we did not vanish."

"Our very presence frees this land from the lies of the history books and the myth-makers."

"We will remember and honor all of our ancestors in the struggle who went before us. We will speak truth to power as we have been doing since the first National Day of

Mourning in 1970."

"The first National Day of Morning in 1970 was a powerful demonstration of Native unity, and it has continued for all these years as a powerful demonstration of the unity of all people who speak truth to power."

"Many of the conditions that prevailed in Indian country in the 1970's still prevail today. In 1970, our average life expectancy was just 44 years. Today we continue to have the lowest life expectancy of any group in the US and the death rate for Native women has increased 20 percent over the past 15 years."

"In 1970 our suicide and infant mortality rates were the highest in the country. This has not changed."

"All of us are struggling under the oppression of a capitalist system which forces people to make a bitter choice between heating and eating."

National Day of Mourning 2024

"We Will Continue"

"We will continue to gather on this hill until we are free from this oppressive system --  until corporations and the U.S. military stop polluting the Earth, until we dismantle the brutal apparatus of mass incarceration," Kisha James said.

"We will not stop until the oppression of our LGBTQ and Two Spirit siblings is a thing of the past; until unhoused people have homes; until there are no more murdered and missing indigenous women and other relatives; until human beings are no longer deported or locked in cages at the U.S. border -- despite the fact that no one no one is illegal on stolen land; until no person goes hungry or is left to die because they have little or no access to quality health care; until insulin is free; until union busting is a thing of the past."

"We will not stop until the U.S. ends its Colonial occupations of Puerto Rico and the Sovereign Kingdom of Hawaii; until the U.S. stops its warmongering worldwide; until the US ends its interventions in Haiti and repays the billions it stole from the Haitian
people; until the U.S. pays reparations to Black Americans; until land back for Native Nations; until Free Palestine."

"Until then, the struggle will continue -- in the spirit of Crazy Horse, in the spirit of Metacom, in the spirit of Geronimo, above all, to all people who fight and struggle for real Justice."

"We are not vanishing we are not conquered. We are as strong as ever."

Watch recorded video

https://www.youtube.com/live/pdpBNKI31TA

Listen to the statements: https://www.youtube.com/live/pdpBNKI31TA

Censored News Series: National Day of Mourning

Leonard Peltier's Statement to the National Day of Mourning
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/12/leonard-peltiers-words-for-national-day.html

Freedom for Leonard Peltier urged at National Day of Mourning
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/12/freedom-for-leonard-peltier-urged-at.html

In the Legacy of Her Grandfather, Tisha James Destroys the Myth of the Pilgrims Thanksgiving
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/in-her-grandfathers-legacy-kisha-james.html

Palestinians and Native People: Unity and Revolution at Plymouth Rock
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2024/11/palestinians-and-native-people-unity.html

THE SUPPRESSED SPEECH OF WAMSUTTA (FRANK B.) JAMES, WAMPANOAG

Shared by United American Indians of New England

http://www.uaine.org/suppressed_speech.htm

To have been delivered at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1970

ABOUT THE DOCUMENT: Three hundred fifty years after the Pilgrims began their invasion of the land of the Wampanoag, their "American" descendants planned an anniversary celebration. Still clinging to the white schoolbook myth of friendly relations between their forefathers and the Wampanoag, the anniversary planners thought it would be nice to have an Indian make an appreciative and complimentary speech at their state dinner. Frank James was asked to speak at the celebration. He accepted. The planners, however , asked to see his speech in advance of the occasion, and it turned out that Frank James' views — based on history rather than mythology — were not what the Pilgrims' descendants wanted to hear. Frank James refused to deliver a speech written by a public relations person. Frank James did not speak at the anniversary celebration. If he had spoken, this is what he would have said:

I speak to you as a man -- a Wampanoag Man. I am a proud man, proud of my ancestry, my accomplishments won by a strict parental direction ("You must succeed - your face is a different color in this small Cape Cod community!"). I am a product of poverty and discrimination from these two social and economic diseases. I, and my brothers and sisters, have painfully overcome, and to some extent we have earned the respect of our community. We are Indians first - but we are termed "good citizens." Sometimes we are arrogant but only because society has pressured us to be so.

It is with mixed emotion that I stand here to share my thoughts. This is a time of celebration for you - celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People.

Even before the Pilgrims landed it was common practice for explorers to capture Indians, take them to Europe and sell them as slaves for 220 shillings apiece. The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod for four days before they had robbed the graves of my ancestors and stolen their corn and beans. Mourt's Relation describes a searching party of sixteen men. Mourt goes on to say that this party took as much of the Indians' winter provisions as they were able to carry.

Massasoit, the great Sachem of the Wampanoag, knew these facts, yet he and his People welcomed and befriended the settlers of the Plymouth Plantation. Perhaps he did this because his Tribe had been depleted by an epidemic. Or his knowledge of the harsh oncoming winter was the reason for his peaceful acceptance of these acts. This action by Massasoit was perhaps our biggest mistake. We, the Wampanoag, welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end; that before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a free people.

What happened in those short 50 years? What has happened in the last 300 years?

History gives us facts and there were atrocities; there were broken promises - and most of these centered around land ownership. Among ourselves we understood that there were boundaries, but never before had we had to deal with fences and stone walls. But the white man had a need to prove his worth by the amount of land that he owned. Only ten years later, when the Puritans came, they treated the Wampanoag with even less kindness in converting the souls of the so-called "savages." Although the Puritans were harsh to members of their own society, the Indian was pressed between stone slabs and hanged as quickly as any other "witch."

And so down through the years there is record after record of Indian lands taken and, in token, reservations set up for him upon which to live. The Indian, having been stripped of his power, could only stand by and watch while the white man took his land and used it for his personal gain. This the Indian could not understand; for to him, land was survival, to farm, to hunt, to be enjoyed. It was not to be abused. We see incident after incident, where the white man sought to tame the "savage" and convert him to the Christian ways of life. The early Pilgrim settlers led the Indian to believe that if he did not behave, they would dig up the ground and unleash the great epidemic again.

The white man used the Indian's nautical skills and abilities. They let him be only a seaman -- but never a captain. Time and time again, in the white man's society, we Indians have been termed "low man on the totem pole."

Has the Wampanoag really disappeared? There is still an aura of mystery. We know there was an epidemic that took many Indian lives - some Wampanoags moved west and joined the Cherokee and Cheyenne. They were forced to move. Some even went north to Canada! Many Wampanoag put aside their Indian heritage and accepted the white man's way for their own survival. There are some Wampanoag who do not wish it known they are Indian for social or economic reasons.

What happened to those Wampanoags who chose to remain and live among the early settlers? What kind of existence did they live as "civilized" people? True, living was not as complex as life today, but they dealt with the confusion and the change. Honesty, trust, concern, pride, and politics wove themselves in and out of their [the Wampanoags'] daily living. Hence, he was termed crafty, cunning, rapacious, and dirty.

History wants us to believe that the Indian was a savage, illiterate, uncivilized animal. A history that was written by an organized, disciplined people, to expose us as an unorganized and undisciplined entity. Two distinctly different cultures met. One thought they must control life; the other believed life was to be enjoyed, because nature decreed it. Let us remember, the Indian is and was just as human as the white man. The Indian feels pain, gets hurt, and becomes defensive, has dreams, bears tragedy and failure, suffers from loneliness, needs to cry as well as laugh. He, too, is often misunderstood.

The white man in the presence of the Indian is still mystified by his uncanny ability to make him feel uncomfortable. This may be the image the white man has created of the Indian; his "savageness" has boomeranged and isn't a mystery; it is fear; fear of the Indian's temperament!

High on a hill, overlooking the famed Plymouth Rock, stands the statue of our great Sachem, Massasoit. Massasoit has stood there many years in silence. We the descendants of this great Sachem have been a silent people. The necessity of making a living in this materialistic society of the white man caused us to be silent. Today, I and many of my people are choosing to face the truth. We ARE Indians!

Although time has drained our culture, and our language is almost extinct, we the Wampanoags still walk the lands of Massachusetts. We may be fragmented, we may be confused. Many years have passed since we have been a people together. Our lands were invaded. We fought as hard to keep our land as you the whites did to take our land away from us. We were conquered, we became the American prisoners of war in many cases, and wards of the United States Government, until only recently.

Our spirit refuses to die. Yesterday we walked the woodland paths and sandy trails. Today we must walk the macadam highways and roads. We are uniting We're standing not in our wigwams but in your concrete tent. We stand tall and proud, and before too many moons pass we'll right the wrongs we have allowed to happen to us.

We forfeited our country. Our lands have fallen into the hands of the aggressor. We have allowed the white man to keep us on our knees. What has happened cannot be changed, but today we must work towards a more humane America, a more Indian America, where men and nature once again are important; where the Indian values of honor, truth, and brotherhood prevail.

You the white man are celebrating an anniversary. We the Wampanoags will help you celebrate in the concept of a beginning. It was the beginning of a new life for the Pilgrims. Now, 350 years later it is a beginning of a new determination for the original American: the American Indian.

There are some factors concerning the Wampanoags and other Indians across this vast nation. We now have 350 years of experience living amongst the white man. We can now speak his language. We can now think as a white man thinks. We can now compete with him for the top jobs. We're being heard; we are now being listened to. The important point is that along with these necessities of everyday living, we still have the spirit, we still have the unique culture, we still have the will and, most important of all, the determination to remain as Indians. We are determined, and our presence here this evening is living testimony that this is only the beginning of the American Indian, particularly the Wampanoag, to regain the position in this country that is rightfully ours.

Wamsutta

September 10, 1970

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Article copyright Censored News.