I was going to post this under the Thanksgiving Open Thread. But I think this topic deserves its own space. My question: is the Thanksgiving Holiday racist?

Oftentimes (as recently exemplified in the Community Values advertising brochure) Thanksgiving is viewed as a celebration of the cooperation between early European immigrants (the pilgrims) and the First Peoples. Nations were already present and well-established on this continent, when conquerors from Europe arrived some 500+ years ago, and settlers subsequently began to arrive afterward.

I have a hard time disassociating the myth of cooperation from the brutal conquest of this continent. It has been the "Manifest Destiny" whereby Europeans have driven Native groups and people out of traditional territories, spreading death, disease, killing, and war across the land.

Is it disingenuous to celebrate the notion of cooperation, when the larger truth is of killing, murder and horribly violent conquest?

I am particularly interested in hearing the perspective of members of groups that have been traditionally (and/or still are) oppressed. How do you relate? How do you feel about Thanksgiving in regard to the conquest of the land and Native peoples? What's your story?

Are we living in the dark ages? I just got the November/ December issue of "Community Values Magazine -- Elite Thurston County Edition" and was horrified to see blatantly racist images of stereotypical Native Americans that any Native person would be offended by.

Do people really still believe that all Native American people wear a plains Indian chief's head dress? It’s high time that the mythical, so-called traditional, Thanksgiving dinner meme, where Settlers and Indigenous people supposedly "shared" a meal, be put to rest. The picture is even complete with a stereotypical "drunken Indian."

This is absolutely shameful and humiliating. It is clear that these "Community Values" consist of conspicuous racism, history revision, and disregard for the dignity of local tribes and Native American people in general. Would it be acceptable to portray any other ethnic group, such as African Americans, or people of the Jewish faith in this light?

This publication, and it's supporters, the Tumwater Area Chamber of Commerce, Thurston County Chamber of Commerce, and Lacey Chamber of Commerce, as well as the participating businesses, and the graphic design studio, Atlanta based Pixelution Studios, should be ashamed. Beyond that, they should be held accountable for publishing this detestable image, which can only serve to further alienate Native peoples. It certainly does not encourage me to patronize those businesses.