Decolonizing Thanksgiving: Gratitude with Accountability
Every year, as Thanksgiving rolls around, I feel the tension between the comfort of tradition and the truth of history. I love the smell of roasting vegetables, the sound of laughter in the kitchen, the ritual of naming what we’re grateful for. But I also know that this holiday is built on violence—on colonization, displacement, and genocide. And for those of us who are white, that truth demands more than quiet reflection. It calls for accountability.
Decolonizing Thanksgiving isn’t about guilt or canceling the day altogether. It’s about refusing to keep repeating a myth that erases Indigenous suffering and survival. It’s about taking responsibility for the stories we tell, the histories we inherit, and the power we hold.
If you’re white—if you benefit from the systems that grew out of colonization—here are a few ways to start shifting how you show up this season:
Acknowledge the land you’re on. Learn whose land you occupy and say their names out loud. Native-Land.ca can help you begin, but don’t stop there — learn how those nations are still here, still fighting for their rights.
Tell the truth. The “first Thanksgiving” story most of us learned is a lie meant to soothe white innocence. Learn about the Wampanoag people and how colonization devastated their communities and talk about it at your table.
Center Indigenous voices. Don’t speak about Indigenous people—listen to them. Share their writing, art, and calls to action. Pay them for their labor and insight.
Move from gratitude to action. Support Indigenous-led organizations, language preservation, and land return efforts. If you’re gathering and feasting, make sure your giving is real, not symbolic.
This Thanksgiving, I want my gratitude to mean something. That means facing history honestly, owning my place in it, and committing to do better. Gratitude without accountability isn’t gratitude at all—it’s comfort.
See you on the journey,
Robin
https://mannahattafund.org/ “The Manna-hatta Fund is an invitation to all settlers and non-Native people who wish to acknowledge the legacy of theft and genocide that comprise the history of New York City and the United States. 100% of all Manna-hatta Fund donations go directly to American Indian Community House. American Indian Community House uses the funds to support their operations and programs, and also makes grants to other Indigenous organizations working in NYC, such as American Indian Law Alliance and Lunaapeew, the Lenape diaspora project.”
“Why the Thanksgiving myth persists, according to science” — Science News, Nov 2023: Explores how collective memory and national origin stories preserve myths more strongly than historical complexity. Science News
“Thanksgiving Myths Aim to Silence Indigenous Voices. We Won’t Be Silent.” — Truthout, Nov 2024: Argues that sanitized Thanksgiving narratives align with broader strategies of erasure and calls for decolonizing the holiday. Truthout
“It’s Time to Move Past the Thanksgiving Myth” — Native News Online, Nov 2024: From an Indigenous perspective, it critiques how schools teach a nostalgic, exclusionary version of Thanksgiving. Native News Online
“Axios Explains: Thanksgiving’s troubled history” — Axios, Nov 2024: Provides a concise historical “reality check” to the iconography of a harmonious feast. Axios
“The Real History of Thanksgiving” — Library of Congress blog (Minerva’s Kaleidoscope), Nov 2024: A short myth-busting piece that walks through common misunderstandings vs. documented facts. The Library of Congress
“The Real History and Dark Truth of Thanksgiving in America” — Reader’s Digest, 2025: Lays out commonly held myths vs. historical evidence about Thanksgiving’s origins and legacy. Reader's Digest
“Thanksgiving’s TRUE Origins & The Creation of the American Myth (FULL DOC)” — YouTube: A documentary-style video that examines how the Thanksgiving narrative was shaped. YouTube
“The REAL History of Thanksgiving – Jim Staley 2024” — YouTube: A video breaking down myth vs. evidence about the holiday’s history. YouTube
“The History and Mythology of the ‘First Thanksgiving’” — YouTube: A scholar-led discussion contrasting how the event has been mythologized. YouTube
“The Myth of Thanksgiving: Native American Perspectives on …” — YouTube: Focuses on reclaiming Indigenous voices and countering the dominant narrative. YouTube
“In Our Words: An Indigenous Story of Thanksgiving” — Discovery Education Highlights Wampanoag and Native American perspectives on the 1621 Harvest Feast.Discovery Education Highlights Wampanoag and Native American perspectives on the 1621 Harvest Feast. Discovery Education
The Real Story of Thanksgiving: Myths, Truths, and Untold Histories by Thomas J. Grey (2025) - A newer book that aims to deconstruct the standard Thanksgiving myth while uplifting lesser-known stories and Native voices. Barnes & Noble
This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving by David J. Silverman (2019) - Though not brand new, this is a well-regarded, deeply researched academic book that has influenced much of the recent rethinking. (Mentioned in the Wikipedia entry on the Thanksgiving myth.) Wikipedia
The Stories We Are Told: The Thanksgiving Myth & Higher Education’s Responsibility For Its Undoing by Olivia Tencer and Melina Roise - Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck+1
The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond: (Undoing Racism and Community Organizing workshops) https://pisab.org/
The Center for the Study of White American Culture: https://cswac.org/
Embodied Supervision: Deepening Clinical Presence and Practice
January–June 2025 (Option to resume in September)
Facilitated by: Alison Gerig, LCSW
When: Second Fridays of the Month (January 9 • February 13 • March 13 • April 10 • May 8)
Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Format: Virtual (option to move in-person in fall)
Cost: $100 per session (one absence included)
About the Group
This supervision group welcomes mixed-level clinicians who wish to deepen their clinical presence, expand their skills, and grow within a supportive and embodied community. Together we’ll use somatic practice, relational awareness, and collective reflection to support your ongoing development as therapists. We’ll also explore how our social locations and the socio-political environment shape clinician and client experience, including how past and present experiences of trauma and dispossession of our bodies may show up more acutely in this current climate.
Registration: To register, please email alisongerig@gmail.com. We will do a short intake to explore your goals and see if the group is the right fit for you.
See the flyer below for more information!
