While many are gathered with their families around the dinner table this Thanksgiving, some are calling on people to remember those who don’t have such a warm feeling about the holiday.
On Twitter, the hashtag #UNThanksgiving trended, a term used to recognize the history, activism, and resistance of Indigenous people and Native Americans.
YouTube promoted the term this year, saying Unthanksgiving is about “acknowledging, educating, and honoring centuries of Indigenous resistance.”
For Indigenous and Native Americans, the fourth Thursday of November is dedicated to Indigenous history, activism, and resistance. It’s called Unthanksgiving. pic.twitter.com/SS9PGRiUmK
— YouTube (@YouTube) November 26, 2020
There have long been protests against Thanksgiving, with activists pointing to fabrications of the narrative behind the holiday, highlighting what many critics say is the whitewashing of colonial history.
Unthanksgiving is largely celebrated on the West Coast. The first annual Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Gathering on Alcatraz Island in California was held in 1975, according to SFist, a news and lifestyle outlet based out of San Francisco.
Graffiti from the first gathering in 1975 can reportedly still be seen on the island, reading, “Indians Welcome.”
Unthanksgiving takes place on the same day as the National Day of Mourning on the East Coast, a day that is marked by an annual protest at Plymouth, Massachusetts, organized by the United Native Americans of New England. The National Day of Mourning has been held since 1970.
