Photograph: Library of Congress/Getty Images
By Cara Anderson
IG: @carajojo
On Thanksgiving, it’s imperative to honor Native American people and acknowledge the history that has been whitewashed with textbooks. Since the story of Thanksgiving taught to Americans is untrue, it is our duty to research and learn. I won’t assume that you know the true story of Thanksgiving, but the fairytale of Pilgrims and Native Americans working together to create a glorious feast is just not historically correct. In 1637, there was, in fact, a massacre that is marked by Thanksgiving. Nicole Breedlove explains it wonderfully.
On a cannabis note, our beloved plant is not indigenous to the Americas and was brought here by invaders. Currently, Native American Reservations individually decide on the legality of cultivation and use of cannabis on their lands.
There’s a trope of native people smoking peace pipes; and again, I stress that tribes’ practices are individualized. Some indigenous people utilize the plant as medicine and during ceremonies. Please read M. Allister Greene’s full article “Did Ancient Native Americans Smoke Marijuana?“
More food for thought: Abolishing the word “marijuana.”
“The word marijuana has Mexican-Spanish roots. It wasn’t commonly used in the U.S. until the 1920s and 1930s, when states began to pass laws against the cannabis plant. At the time, there was a growing wave of sentiment against Mexican immigrants entering the country. The immigrants brought pot smoking with them.
The term “marijuana,” sometimes spelled “marihuana”, sounded foreign. It was used by “racist politicians who first criminalized cannabis because they wanted to underscore that it was a Latino, particularly Mexican, vice,” according to the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, a non-partisan group that represents the interests of Hispanic state lawmakers in the U.S.” – Jacquie Miller
Today, I am thankful for my health, family, friends, my dog, home, and grateful to be sharing my words with you. I hope that today you remember the atrocities that the indigenous people of the Americas were subjected to. I hope that you love yourself and your family. I hope that you honor the earth and show respect to the people who lived here long before the establishment of the United States.
Tonight, I’ll be medicating my dinner by sprinkling Mondo Meds on my mashed potatoes and drizzling Pot d’Huile on my salad. Stay hungry y’all!
Photo via Pot d’Huile.
