Beloved Community,<\/p>\n
A little over a month ago, you may recall, Boston University officially celebrated the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples\u2019 Day in place of Columbus Day. This\u2014along with the addition of Juneteenth to the holiday calendar\u2014are among critical steps taken to better honor a diversity of persons and experiences. Such actions also help acknowledge gaps or even inaccuracies in the ways histories have often been named.<\/p>\n
Thanksgiving is another one of these holidays with a troubled history. While the holiday is loosely based upon real events, the constructed Thanksgiving tale conceals a larger painful history. Native Americans have objected to the holiday for many years. Particularly as the global health pandemic has acutely illuminated historic racial inequities, there is an even greater call to name problematic histories. As one author<\/a> writes, \u201cThe holiday arrives in the midst of a national struggle over racial justice, and a pandemic that has landed with particular force on marginalized communities of color. The crises have fueled an intense re-examination of the roots of persistent inequities in American life.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreover, many may not be aware that Native American communities are among those most hard hit by the health pandemic. Last year, a New York Times article<\/a> reported that Native American populations in Phoenix have been affected by COVID-19 at four times the rate of the white population. Similarly, Native Americans in New Mexico (who comprise only 9% of the state\u2019s population) accounted for forty percent of cases of the virus.<\/p>\n Now, I imagine you might be groaning at this point either because I am interrogating a beloved tradition or simply because you are tired\u2014utterly exhausted!\u2014and you just want to have a fun and restful holiday away. I get it, and I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n There is need always<\/em><\/strong> to make time for intentional gratitude<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em> Cultivating a posture of gratitude is one of the most powerful tools to promote health and wellness, hope and healing. May you find beautiful, life-giving time to remember and express deep thanks for the many experiences, resources, and people who have blessed your life and supported you in your journey.<\/p>\n Hold in remembrance, as well, current Native American communities and the continued profound racial and health inequities they face.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I also invite you to reflect and celebrate differently this year. Some reflections<\/a> to consider include: How does the health pandemic make you think differently about Thanksgiving? Hold a time of silent remembrance of the history of Native Americans in this country. You might use the Native Land digital map tool<\/a> to search about the history of the land on which your home or neighborhood resides. Hold in remembrance, as well, current Native American communities and the continued profound racial and health inequities they face. What might you do in response? I invite you, as well, to consider cultivating practices of environmental justice to foster a more waste-free Thanksgiving<\/a> holiday.<\/p>\n As a community committed to social justice, there is need to be open to inconvenient, hard disruptions of usual practices. I truly wish for you a day of rest and gratitude. And<\/strong>, I hope we as community will foster practices that seek to name histories honestly and continue actively to seek justice and wholeness for marginalized communities.<\/p>\n G. Sujin Pak, dean<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Beloved Community, A little over a month ago, you may recall, Boston University officially celebrated the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples\u2019 Day in place of Columbus Day. This\u2014along with the addition of Juneteenth to the holiday calendar\u2014are among critical steps taken to better honor a diversity of persons and experiences. Such actions also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12612,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[200,203],"tags":[246,301,282],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48540"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48544,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48540\/revisions\/48544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}