Top 5 reasons to NOT celebrate Thanksgiving, November 2020
Vegans Boycotting #Thanksgenocide: This campaign is asking all animal advocacy groups to promote social justice, anti-racism, and decolonialism this November by boycotting Thanksgiving Day (and any Thanksgiving related events) and recognizing it as a national day to morn a violent genocide by white settlers of Native Americans and First Nations People.
“Boycott” means not holding public vegan Thanksgiving events and making a commitment not to celebrate Thanksgiving in one’s personal life as well. If you are like us, you believe veganism is an ethical model for the industrialized world; let’s also join the charge against an out-dated holiday with a make-believe history that covers up the true genocidal past of the U.S.
Gathering with friends and/or family and eating turkey or tofurky, marshmallows or Dandies, traditional pumpkin pie or dairy-free pumpkin pie is a celebration of genocide. That is *not* vegan; it is not social justice. There is no such thing as a vegan Thanksgiving. Don’t ignore one form of oppression to promote another. Veganism is nonviolence; genocide isn’t.
- To celebrate Thanksgiving is to ignore a history mired in racism and colonialism.
2. The first thanksgiving was in celebration of the murder of 700 unarmed Indigenous men, women, and children
3. 45 million turkeys are killed each year for Thanksgiving.
4. Thanksgiving became a frequent celebration after many bouts of mass killings of Indigenous Peoples
5. The same day Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday he ordered U.S. troops to march against starving Sioux in MinnesotaTo celebrate Thanksgiving is to ignore a history mired in racism and colonialism.
