"In the interview that follows, Dillingham - the author of Oaxaca Resurgent: Indigeneity, Development, and Inequality in Twentieth-Century Mexico, who often shares his analysis on X at @asdillingham - explains how Thanksgiving functions to whitewash the history of settler colonialism. As a scholar whose work centers Indigenous history, colonialism, and education, Dillingham also has invaluable insights to share on how we can teach honestly about Indigenous history, even amid the current political climate."
"Jesse Hagopian: A couple of years ago you wrote a critique of the traditional Thanksgiving story that was published in The Washington Post. Can you talk about the reaction to it? A. S. Dillingham: The reaction was revealing. After that piece ran, I got a wave of angry emails. One person even asked, "What do you have against being thankful?" - as if critiquing a national myth means I don't appreciate gratitude or sharing a good meal with family and friends."
The Trump administration's assault on honest history has pressured educators and politicians to accept a sanitized Thanksgiving narrative instead of confronting settler colonialism. Repression and censorship encourage celebration of a false Thanksgiving story that obscures dispossession and genocide inflicted on Indigenous peoples after European arrival. Thanksgiving functions as a mechanism of historical whitewashing that erases Indigenous experiences and resistance. Critiques of the traditional Thanksgiving myth provoke hostile responses that misconstrue historical critique as ingratitude toward family or communal meals. Teaching Indigenous history honestly remains possible and necessary amid political pressure, requiring deliberate curriculum choices and resistance to censorship.
Read at Truthout
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