Funny how Euro-Americans use emotional concepts such as GRATITUDE as an attempt to normalize the violence they have enacted on the Indigenous people of Turtle Island. Their mythology includes creating narratives that function as moral grounds to justify their continued occupation of all of Abya Yala (What they call the "Americas")
As a detribalized Mexican woman, I was born on Tongva/Kizh lands and was indoctrinated by LAUSD to pretend to be white kid and cut out turkeys and pilgrim hats in 1st grade.
We were invited to dress up as pioneers in Junior High as our own ignorance of our Native identities was buried in patriotic history books.
We were told that somehow we should align ourselves to settlers and forget that many of us are disconnected and uprooted from our own roots. Many of our abuelas and abuelos were shamed out of speaking their Native tongues, living in their traditional communities, and identifying by their ancestral connections.
Many of us known as Mexicans, carry a displaced history of being an uprooted people. And in that systematic ignorance and disconnection we are offered colonialism, colonial fairy tales, colonial myths, as a way to denounce our identities and participate in the final steps of our erasure.
But many of us see our connections to our northern relatives. We will not buy into the lies of divide and conquer. And although nationalism has been used to divide us, we know that our connections are ancient, vibrant, and alive!
So this Thursday, as you spend time with your loved ones, remember that gratitude is embedded in many Native cultures. Cherish your loved ones, take up space, remember that not everyone in our communities has been made aware of this reality. Share this knowledge of resistance, of resilience, of unity.
These institutions work hard to keep us divided, colonized, and separated from each other. But remember, all Indigenous nations, are like kernels on a cob. Ancient, diverse, resilient.
sas.
Citlalli
Historian, Poet, Activist
Creator of E-Decolonize Online Education and Mexican Excellence