National Hug-an-Indian Day

The Seattle Public Schools are concerned that the tragedy of Thanksgiving will be taught to students in their district, some of whom are Native Americans and will be terribly hurt and distressed. They sent this letter to their teachers (h/t Michelle Malkin):

Dear Seattle Public Schools Staff:

We recognize the amount of work that educators and staff have to do in order to fulfill our mission to successfully educate all students. It’s never as simple as preparing and delivering a lesson. Students bring with them a host of complexities including cultural, linguistic and social economic diversity. In addition they can also bring challenges related to their social, emotional and physical well being. One of our departments’ goals is to support you by suggesting ways to assist you in removing barriers to learning by promoting respect and honoring the diversity of our students, staff and families.

With so many holidays approaching we want to again remind you that Thanksgiving can be a particularly difficult time for many of our Native students. This website http://www.oyate.org/resources/shortthanks.html offers suggestions on ways to be sensitive of diverse experiences and perspectives and still make the holiday meaningful for all students. Here you will discover ways to help you and your students think critically, and find resources where you can learn about Thanksgiving from a Native American perspective. Eleven myths are identified about Thanksgiving, take a look at #11 and begin your own deconstruction.

Myth #11: Thanksgiving is a happy time
Fact: For many Indian people, “Thanksgiving” is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation. As currently celebrated in this country, “Thanksgiving” is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship.

It's clear that us white folks who are descendants of evil Europeans need to do something about this. Therefore, I'm declaring Thursday, Nov. 22nd, National Hug-an-Indian Day. I want each of you to go to your nearest tribal casino, find the first Indian you can see (probably a pit boss or supervisor), and give them a big ol' White European Interloper hug. You may have a hard time finding a real live Indian since the gaming compacts that many of the tribes have (especially in California) has made zillionaires out of them and they're too smart to hang around in the casinos.

You might even consider dropping a $20 into one of their incredibly low payback slot machines and really make their day. It won't take you long to lose it, that's for sure.

Let's right this wrong.