The Myth of Thanksgiving and the Legacy of Manifest Destiny

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On this Thanksgiving I ask you to take 13 minutes to remember the truth behind the myth of that fabled meal. The image of Native Americans and Puritans celebrating the first Thanksgiving together is an attempt to rewrite history, replacing it with a national collective memory suitable for greeting cards and kindergarten coloring books. This talk is a wake up call, and a reminder of the true cost of Manifest Destiny.

This TED talk is the message I was asked to deliver from the Lakota to you, one of many tribes steamrolled in our North American land grab. My TED wish is not a cure all, and it will not likely solve any of the bigger social problems within these communities, but that is not the point of the talk.

This is a history lesson.

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