Darren Parry is an author, lecturer and the former chairman of the Shoshone tribe. As Thanksgiving approaches, Parry said the holiday is an opportunity to reevaluate our values.
“I think there's a lot of things we don't know about that first Thanksgiving that people kind of speculate about. But here's the truth. Here's a group of people that completely tried to wipe out another culture. And when they figured they couldn't wipe them out, kill them off, they tried to assimilate them all," Parry said. "So the fact that we want to teach our children that, you know, we all came together … well, I think most of us realize that that's not true. But then we don't really tell the rest of the story. … What happened has completely changed the narrative going forward.”
Even recognizing all of the pain the holiday carries, Parry said that he finds joy in having a day set aside for gathering with his friends and family.
“I will never not be a fan of Thanksgiving. But I can separate the facts from the truth. And the truth is, we live in a country that completely tried to annihilate my people and many other tribal nations across this country, and still kind of do so with policies that they have today," Parry said. "But I can use this day as a day of thanksgiving, and show gratitude for the blessings that I have for the trails that my people made for me to follow and then work on trying to make restitution and reparations and reconcile the past, then the work begins.”
Coming soon: We'll hear Parry's ideas on what steps we can take to do this work as a community.
