The fourth Thursday of November annually marks Thanksgiving for most of us. It’s a commercialized holiday that we’re taught originates from the thanks pilgrims gave to the Native Americans. They had a big feast, everybody was friends, they ate corn and turkey. Hopefully, you’ve learned by now how false that is.

The fourth Thursday of November annually marks the National Day of Mourning and Unthanksgiving Day, both protests of Thanksgiving on the East and West Coasts, respectfully. These celebrations honor the indigenous people of the Americas and promote their rights. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but they don’t have a lot of them.

Personally, I think celebrating Thanksgiving is disrespectful. I also think that’s the understatement of the century, but at the very least, it is—disrespectful, that is. It’s inconsiderate and rude and cruel. And I don’t think anyone intends it to come off that way. I doubt anybody plans their Thanksgiving around celebrating a slaughter, but that is what this holiday is. It’d be like celebrating the Holocaust or slavery annually. Like, no. Don’t do that.

I know what you’re going to say: Megan, it’s not about the democide (a term coined by R. J. Rummel who defined it as “the intentional killing of an unarmed or disarmed person by government agents acting in their authoritative capacity and pursuant to government policy or high command”) of the indigenous people. We’re not celebrating that! That’s awful! It’s a holiday about family and being thankful.

Do we really need a holiday to be thankful? If that’s the case, I’m ready to give up on society. And, OK, I get not ruining family gatherings, but gather in the name of something else. Not on this blatant, hurtful bedrock of senseless murder and greed. Is that really something to celebrate? We can be thankful any day! And, we can make effort to gather as a family any other day, too.

So, maybe your problem is that you’ll no longer have an excuse to feast. Well, I have some news for you: You can eat any day, too. And large portions aren’t exactly scarce in the United States.

By all means, have a family gathering, be thankful, eat, but don’t do it in the name of Thanksgiving. Everybody’s more concerned with the Black Friday deals, anyway.

Megan Keane is a senior English and psychology major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or mkkeane@eiu.edu.