There’s the turkey and Black Friday perspective of Thanksgiving, and then there’s the Native American view. And it’s not about getting deals shopping. Monte Stewart reports.

UW-Superior First Nations Studies Professor Gary Johnson tells his students to forget the myths and stereotypes or whether or not this is a day of thanks for indigenous people.

“I’m sure everybody’s got their own idea of what Thanksgiving is. In your mind, what do you think of when people talk about Thanksgiving?When Columbus first got here, when the Europeans first got here, there were approximately 20 million people in this country. Do you know how many Native people there are today? There’s only about a million and a half people left.”

Johnson showed videos of how Natives are portrayed in the media. He says the main thing people don’t know about Thanksgiving is the Native perspective.

“About how we live in relationship with the earth. And we see everything that comes from the earth as a sacred gift that’s given to us. Whereas, the non-Indian tends to see things as resources and things that add value and things like that. For us, it’s about a relationship," says Johnson. “The other thing is about just the ignorance of what has happened to Native people in this country. I mean Thanksgiving is a very good example of that. Everybody thinks about the pilgrims and the Indians sitting down together, but they don’t realize the things that happened after that. The genocide that came from disease, from things like a bounty on Native people. This country has been really good at mass producing this idea of manifest destiny.”

UW-Superior Sophomore Amanda Palmer says this is a lesson in forgiveness. “After what happened with Christopher Columbus, that the Native American people were so willing to just open up and trust the pilgrims again. It shows exactly what the Native people stand for and that’s forgiveness.”

UWS Senior Scott Nelson learned a lot. “The stereotypes are so hurtful to a group a people.” (0:2.80) “It’s very eye opening. I think the biggest thing I took away from it is to Native culture, Thanksgiving is everyday. It’s appreciation for what has been given and natural.”

While the Europeans celebrate the holiday as a day of thanks and family, Johnson says Native people consider it more of a day of mourning.

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