As its frontpage says, the NDN Collective describes itself:
NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.
Together, we decolonize and transform systems while providing tools and strategies for Indigenous self-determination and movement-building.
We're big fans and today, Thanksgiving Day 2020, its Twitter account shared this:
2020 is the year to tell the REAL story of Thanksgiving. Let’s talk. Read the full thread on our IG: https://t.co/kQUaTHD4x1
— NDN Collective (@ndncollective) November 26, 2020
S/O to @sywtta for this collaboration and for breaking myths around "Thanksgiving". pic.twitter.com/J0PmWjz4de
We agree. Here's the Instagram thread:
The first article recommended at the end of the thread is Ruth Hopkins' The First Thanksgiving: Separating Myth From Fact, published earlier this month at Teen Vogue. Hopkins is "a Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer, biologist, attorney, and former tribal judge," whose husband, Roly S. Hopkins, Jr., was recently elected chair of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate after serving a short period an interim chair (our partner is a citizen of the SWO).
Hopkins begins:
Here in the United States, we’ve all heard the legendary tale of the first Thanksgiving, when Pilgrims dined with Natives in celebration of a bountiful harvest.
It all started in November 1620, when a group of 102 English religious separatists known as Pilgrims, joined by unaffiliated commercial entrepreneurs, arrived on the shores of North America in a ship called the Mayflower, at present-day Cape Cod. They’d planned to settle in Virginia but were blown 500 miles off course.
Unfortunately, like much of U.S. history, the narrative surrounding the landing of the Mayflower, and what happened to the English settlers on board, has been whitewashed, diluted, or just plain fabricated.
On the 400th anniversary of that fabled landing at Plymouth Rock, let’s delve into the reality of this famous event by sorting myth from fact.
Read the rest at Teen Vogue, and follow @Ruth_HHopkins on Twitter.
We're grateful for the NDN Collective's leadership. If you find you agree, consider making a donation.
Photo: NDN Collective launched the LANDBACK Campaign on Indigenous Peoples’ Day of this year. Photo by Willi White.
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