Joy Reid described the “myth” of Thanksgiving and criticized Republicans’ efforts to muffle retellings of America’s past in a scathing takedown on her show.
The MSNBC host described the holiday’s “historical inaccuracies” and used the opening segment of her show to call out GOP officials who want aspects of American history barred from textbooks on Wednesday.
Reid said it’s important to recognize that the holiday, while full of food and discussion, is built on a story of Native Americans welcoming Europeans with open arms.
“A simplistic fairytale interpretation of a 1621 encounter between indigenous tribes and English settlers that erases the genocide that followed,” Reid said. “It’s the truth Republicans want banned from our textbooks...”
Reid’s segment comes at a time of increased book-banning efforts by Republicans.
This includes Republican-controlled states’ bans ― and attempted bans ― of “The 1619 Project,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning project by New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones which examines the history and effects of slavery in America.
There have been 681 attempts to ban access to over 1,650 book titles in the first eight months of 2022, according to the American Library Association.
Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada, ALA’s president, noted that the challenges reflected “coordinated, national efforts to silence marginalized or historically underrepresented voices” and deprived America’s youth of resources to help them combat challenges they could face in their lives.
Reid said on Wednesday that the GOP desperately wants to conceal what she described as the violent origin of America.
“We’re a country that chooses violence over and over again,” Reid continued. “There is no facet of American society that is untouched by it, as all the recent headlines remind us.”
You can watch a clip of Reid’s opening segment below.