{"id":2384,"date":"2016-11-28T16:22:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T21:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=2384"},"modified":"2017-12-09T13:00:19","modified_gmt":"2017-12-09T18:00:19","slug":"national-day-of-mourning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2016\/11\/28\/national-day-of-mourning\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re still here\u2019: Native Americans mark National Day of Mourning at Plymouth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEvery inch of this land is Indian land,\u201d Moonanum (pictured above), an Aquinnah Wampanoag, told the crowd of hundreds that had gathered on Plymouth\u2019s Cole\u2019s Hill for United American Indians of New England\u2019s 47th annual National Day of Mourning<\/a> on Nov. 24, 2016\u2014the day the majority of Americans celebrate as Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers,\u201d organizers wrote on the Facebook event page<\/a>. \u201cThanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression that Native Americans continue to experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event began with prayers and singing and dancing at the foot of the bronze statue of Massasoit that looks out toward Plymouth Rock and the harbor. Then there were speeches and a march through the town.<\/p>\n

\u201cSay there were 30,000 to 70,000 of us when the English landed here,\u201d Russell Peters of Mashpee told the crowd before beginning a song dedicated to the long jailed Native American activist Leonard Peltier. \u201cThere are less than 5,000 Wampanoag today,\u201d he said. \u201cIf that doesn\u2019t shout genocide, nothing does.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re still here,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n

Photos copyright 2016 Greg Cook.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Mahtowin<\/a>
Mahtowin Munro speaks at the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth on Nov. 24, 2016. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Speakers<\/a>
Speakers at the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth on Nov. 24, 2016. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Moonanum,<\/a>
Moonanum, an Aquinas Wampanoag, speaks at the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth on Nov. 24, 2016. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cEvery inch of this land is Indian land,\u201d Moonanum (pictured above), an Aquinnah Wampanoag, told the crowd of hundreds that had gathered on Plymouth\u2019s Cole\u2019s Hill for United American Indians of New England\u2019s 47th annual National Day of Mourning on Nov. 24, 2016\u2014the day the majority of Americans celebrate as Thanksgiving. \u201cMany Native Americans do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,108],"tags":[63,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2384"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4379,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2384\/revisions\/4379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}