Native struggles honored at Plymouth Rock protest

Nearly a thousand people gathered to commemorate the 36th National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, Mass., on Nov. 24. Since 1970, United American Indians of New England (UAINE) and their supporters have gathered on U.S. “thanksgiving” day to tell the world that Native people have no reason to give thanks for the arrival of the Pilgrims and the other European settlers who stole Native lands and sought to eradicate Native peoples and cultures.

Mahtowin Munro

At this year’s commemoration, speakers represented Native nations from Peru to Maine and ranged in age from a Penobscot elder who spoke of the importance of protecting the Earth to a Chicano student who spoke of the racist anti-immigrant laws of the United States. Speakers included Sam Sapiel, Cesar Villalobos, Tiokasin Ghost Horse, Working Beaver Wixon, Juan Gonzales, Stephanie Hedge coke, Augustin Herrera, Bert Waters, Moonanum James and Mahtowin Munro.

Non-Native allies attending this important day of solidarity with the Indigenous struggle included African-American, Latin@, Arab, Asian and white supporters. The crowd listened attentively to the speakers at an outdoor rally on the hill above Plymouth Rock.

Bert Waters

Moonanum James, co-leader of UAINE, spoke of the real “first thanksgiving” in Massachusetts. “It was not a nice little dinner where the Pilgrims and Indians sat down to have a meal and then everybody lived happily ever after,” he said. “In fact, the first official ‘Day of Thanksgiving’ was proclaimed in 1637 by Governor Winthrop. He did so to celebrate the safe return of men from Mas sachusetts who had gone to Mystic, Conn., to participate in the massacre of over 700 Pequot women, children and men.”

UAINE co-leader Mahtowin Munro spoke about the importance of solidarity with the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, noting, “The government is treating the dispossessed survivors of Katrina just the way that Indians have traditionally been treated—first, the survivors were labeled as criminals for daring to attempt to survive, then forced into internment camps, then treated as helpless wards who are not capable of making any decisions for themselves, and then offered substandard housing in areas where no jobs are available to them.”

Several speakers stressed the importance of supporting the upcoming Dec. 1 Day of Absence in honor of Rosa Parks, the African-American woman whose defiance of segregation laws sparked the Mont gomery, Ala., bus boycott 50 years ago.

This year’s National Day of Mourning was dedicated to Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier, who will soon mark the 30th anniversary of his imprisonment. Peltier, who is now in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, sent a special message to the event, which read in part: “It is time we all unite to stop the madness threatening the whole planet, and stand together with those who go beyond words and deliver on the promise of freedom and justice, and against those guided by greed, arrogance and prejudice. Stay true, work in unity, confront the traitors, don’t be afraid, and don’t let our struggle die.”

Following the rally, the crowd chanted “Free Leonard Peltier” as they marched through the streets of Plymouth. After the march, a pot-luck social was held in a nearby hall.