Thanksgiving is over, which means we’re getting into the winter season, which for Goshen is always cold, boring and drawn-out, like my classmates’ presentations that I have to sit through.
Nevertheless, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.It’s pretty amazing that we still get to celebrate it after all these years.
Many people know the darker side of Columbus Day, but don’t really pay attention to the darker side of Thanksgiving.
I remember learning about Thanksgiving in grade school. It all started when the Native Americans brought gifts and shared a feast with the settlers.
They said, “Here, have these gifts. Please don’t move us off our lands.”
To which we responded like most American bureaucracy, “Thank you. We acknowledge your request and are unable to confirm anything at this time.”
And you know the rest of the story.
We evicted the Natives off their land, oppressed them for hundreds of years to come and made it into a holiday about thankfulness.
The only way this holiday’s history could be more ironic was if it was named Trustgiving.
Have you ever seen Native Americans celebrating Thanksgiving?
No, and it’s not because they don’t like green bean casserole.
Native Americans celebrating Thanksgiving is like Britain celebrating July 4th.
There have been recent protests on the Goshen College campus to stop celebrating and honoring this day.
Students are petitioning Goshen to reduce the 2 full vacation days we have off for Thanksgiving.
“Having school on Wednesday is not enough,” said one student.
“If it must be a holiday, fine, but only give us Thursday afternoon off.”
Administration and faculty are skeptical as always of these student tirades.
Sometimes it feels like the administration and faculty are parents and the student body is their emo daughter.
Of course, their attempt to stall and wait it out doesn’t work because it’s not just a phase.
Goshen demands acknowledgement of the darker side of Thanksgiving, and celebrating it as a holiday for two days just doesn’t cut it.
