Important to forgive on Thanksgiving Day

I hope you are enjoying Thanksgiving Day, which as you know, this tradition originated in 1621, when the English settlers gratefully celebrated with the indigenous people of the area the success of their first harvest after three consecutive days.

The settlers shared turkey, pumpkins and dried fruits with the natives, today it is known as the first Thanksgiving Day.

This traditional celebration takes relevance due to the historic apology recently presented by the President of the United States, Joe Biden, for the atrocities committed during more than a century with the kidnapping of thousands of Native American children, who were interned by the State in schools where they suffered abuse and were forced to forget their culture.

In an indigenous community in Arizona, Biden referred to one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history.

For from the early 1800s through the 1970s, the United States ran hundreds of boarding schools across the country to put native children through forced adaptation to the culture of European settlers, including conversion to Christianity. And a recent government report revealed cases of psychological, physical and sexual abuse and even the deaths of 1,000 children.

Joe Biden “We lost generations, culture language and trust, it was horribly wrong a sin on our soul.”

“The federal government has never ever offered an apology for what happened, until now I formally apologize, as president of the United States, for what we did.”

And Biden called for rewriting history correctly.

“I know that no apology can or will ever make up for what was lost during the darkest federal internment policy,” ‘’today we are finally moving toward the light.”
In light of this historic development, Christina Snider-Ashtari, Secretary of Tribal Affairs in the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, in an interview with Radio Bilingüe news director Samuel Orozco, responded that the president’s statement is a very important step toward healing indigenous communities.

“I think it’s a significant step toward healing because almost every Native person living in the United States is a descendant of someone who was in those boarding schools, who was forced to be in those boarding schools. The boarding schools are also linked to the massive dispossession of indigenous peoples’ lands throughout the United States, so to see the highest official of the United States publicly and visibly interacting with tribal leaders, proclaiming his deep apologies for the things that were perpetrated by the nation of which he is chief, I think is really significant.And I think, if that were not the case, then we would have some problems. I think for Native Americans, the fact that the very representative of the one who perpetrated those crimes against children, crimes against families, to come and actually take that responsibility by saying, “Yes, we did it. And “Yes, you’re not wrong.” And “Let’s stop subjecting them to psychological abuse as a people, and ”Let’s fully accept the fact that we played this role in this terrible part of history.”

Christina Snider-Ashtari, Secretary for Tribal Affairs in the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, reiterated that, today, is an important moment of openness.

“Again: I think this is significant, and it means that we can have dialogues that maybe in another time we wouldn’t have been able to have because he’s taking this on now in his role as President of the United States.”

Christina Snider-Ashtari, Secretary of Tribal Affairs for the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, apropos of this Thanksgiving and its significance, that one should remember the origin of this day which is gratitude.

“Thinking about this holiday and what we are thankful for: I’m very thankful for all that we’ve been able to do together to bring about really big changes that I think will benefit generations to come, like our children are going to have a free-flowing Klamath River. We’re going to see, they’re going to have the opportunity to learn about their ancestral practices in a way that, in other circumstances, some of our parents or our grandparents were beaten just because they tried to learn it, because they were in boarding school and they faced, you know, this violent practice of assimilation,” says Christina Snider-Ashtari.

Finally, Christina Snider-Ashtari, Secretary of Tribal Affairs for the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, sent this reminder to all people, especially Native Americans.

“I’m so grateful to be at a time when we Indians can really take pride in who we are, and we can really you know, when tribes in the Northwest say the salmon are sick and we need to help them, people listen to them, and they really roll up their sleeves to get to work and do the work that it takes to get it done. I really appreciate the opportunity to reflect on all of this, and it’s a good month to remember Native American heritage.”

On behalf of the entire Radio Bilingüe team we thank you for listening and stay tuned, Happy Thanksgiving.