Thanksgiving Myth Masks Brutal Genocide: Settlers' Sanitized Narrative Erases Indigenous Suffering

Another Sunday Silver Sermon

America's history, written by the victors, glosses over the dark reality of settler colonialism and the exploitation of Native Americans. The nation's wealth was built on stolen land and resources, a legacy that continues through neocolonial foreign policies.

The U.S. exploits other countries for raw materials, rigs trade deals, and sets debt traps to maintain economic dominance.

Its aggressive military has waged over 250 wars, often to secure resources like gold and oil. This pattern of exploitation, from the Trail of Tears to modern-day interventions, reveals a nation that has consistently prioritized profit and power over human rights and fair global partnerships

This week’s Sunday Silver Sermon is about Thanksgiving

The story of Thanksgiving we often hear in school paints a rosy picture of Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing a peaceful meal. But I’m writing today to reveal a much darker truth.

The brutal reality of settler colonialism in America.

The early settlers, ironically fleeing oppression in England, quickly became oppressors themselves. They didn't find an empty land waiting for them, but a continent filled with diverse Indigenous nations.

The fake doctrine called "Manifest Destiny" was used to justify the systematic destruction of these nations. We shouldn’t pull any punches in describing the genocide that followed. The founding growth of the United States was built on theft, murder, and pillaging.

Many of you who know me through YouTube and my previous writings on “The Pickaxe” recall that before moving to Pittsburgh two years ago, I was living with my wife and son in Denver, Colorado, near Greenwood Village (home of Newmont Gold)

As many of you know, I’m not just an avid historian, but I also have deep personal ties to this region. My mother resides in northern New Mexico, just south of Durango, Colorado. And my wife MariSol's family hails from Rio Arriba County, also in northern New Mexico.

My journeys have taken me through New Mexico and Southern Colorado countless times, allowing me to gain a profound understanding of the region. It was on these travels that I encountered the site of the horrific Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, a stark reminder of the not-so-distant past.

The Sand Creek Massacre, a horrific event in Colorado on November 29, 1864, saw U.S. troops brutally attack a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village, killing around 230 people, mostly women, children, and the elderly.

Afterward, Colonel Chivington's soldiers paraded through Denver, displaying over 100 scalps and other gruesome "trophies" taken from the mutilated bodies of their victims, including limbs and genitalia. This macabre celebration of genocide was met with cheers from Denver's citizens, who hailed the soldiers as heroes, rather than vomiting at the atrocities committed. - Jon Forrest Little

This violence benefited a small minority of settlers who had access to guns and military support. The U.S. military played a key role in this conquest, using tactics developed against Indigenous peoples in later conflicts around the world.

The consequences of this history are still felt today. For example, the average income of a Lakota person is far below that of the average white American, a direct result of centuries of dispossession and discrimination.

For the Pine Ridge Reservation, which is home to many Lakota people, the median household income ranges between $2,600 and $3,500 per year.

This is extremely dangerously low compared to the U.S. national median household income. The U.S. national median household income is $80,610 as of 2023

Learning about the spurious origins of US wealth via the manufactured doctrine called “Manifest Destiny” challenges us to confront the uncomfortable truth that much of America's wealth and power was built on a foundation of genocide and stolen land.

In Pittsburgh, most of the Forests and Rivers are Indian names (for example, two big rivers near my home where one is named the Monongahela and the other is named the Youghiogheny.)

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, we need to remember this history and work towards justice for Indigenous peoples.

Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them." ~ Bill Vaughn

The adage about developers naming streets after trees they've cut down is a powerful metaphor for settler colonialism in America.

Just as developers destroy nature and then romanticize it, colonizers decimated Native American populations and cultures, only to later appropriate and commodify aspects of their heritage.

In the case of Native Americans, settlers systematically destroyed their way of life. By slaughtering buffalo, a crucial food source, they weakened indigenous communities.

This deliberate strategy forced Native Americans into dependency, making them vulnerable to forced relocation. The Trail of Tears exemplifies this, where thousands died during forced marches to unfamiliar territories. Those who survived found themselves confined to reservations, which were essentially concentration camps, stripped of their freedom and traditional lifestyles

The Buffalo Nickel, featuring a Native American chief and a buffalo, is a cruel irony of American currency.

Minting a coin with a buffalo and Native American is a cruel mockery, glorifying the decimation of indigenous peoples and their vital food source by Anglo settlers.

It glorifies the very people and resources the U.S. systematically destroyed. This coin celebrates genocide, much like minting a coin with a mushroom cloud on one side and an innocent Japanese girl (Hiroshima victim) on the other side of the coin would celebrate nuclear devastation.

It's not commemoration; it's a stark reminder of America's dark history, commodifying the very cultures it annihilated for profit and expansion.

This one startling photo captures the horrifying extent of the buffalo slaughter carried out by early settlers of the American West.

This mountain of skulls piled up in the Midwest in the mid-1870s captures the extent of the buffalo slaughter carried out by American settlers.

Manifest Destiny: A Propaganda Campaign Justifying White Expansion as God's Will to Conquer Native American Lands Across the Continent.

Manifest Destiny was a propaganda campaign that justified the conquest of Native American lands by claiming it was God's will for white Americans to expand across the continent. This concept echoed similar justifications used by European colonizers like Columbus, Cortez, and others in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. It provided a religious and moral veneer to the violent displacement of indigenous peoples and the theft of their lands

Except from Smithsonian Magazine

“Hundreds of women and children were coming towards us, and getting on their knees for mercy,” he wrote, only to be shot and “have their brains beat out by men professing to be civilized.” Indians didn’t fight from trenches, as Chivington claimed; they fled up the creek and desperately dug into its sand banks for protection. From there, some young men “defended themselves as well as they could,” with a few rifles and bows, until overwhelmed by carbines and howitzers. Others were chased down and killed as they fled across the Plains.

Soule estimated the Indian dead at 200, all but 60 of them women, children or elderly.

He also told of how the soldiers not only scalped the dead but cut off the “Ears and Privates” of chiefs. “Squaws snatches were cut out for trophies.”

The Bible is not just about cute little stories on how to be nice, it’s a book that has Very Strict Definitions on Economic Conditions

Let's dive into what the Bible says about wealth, especially when it comes from unfair systems, and how Christians should think about the distribution of wealth, power and prestige.

The Bible has a lot to say about wealth and how we should use it. In the early Christian communities described in Acts, we see a pretty radical approach to sharing. Acts 4:32-35 tells us that believers "had everything in common" and "there were no needy persons among them" This isn’t a call for Communism it’s a call for cooperation and economic justice.

This shows that early Christians took care of each other and shared what they had

Jesus himself had some strong words about wealth. He warned that it's super hard for rich people to enter God's kingdom (Luke 18:25)

He also told a rich young ruler to sell everything he had and give to the poor (Luke 18:22)

These teachings show that Jesus was concerned about how wealth can sometimes get in the way of following God.

When it comes to wealth from unjust systems like slavery, the Bible is clear that oppression is not okay. Exodus 22:21 says, "Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt." This reminds us to treat everyone fairly, especially those who might be vulnerable.

The prophet Amos spoke out against those who "trample on the poor" and "deprive the poor of justice in the courts" (Amos 5:11-12). This shows that God cares about economic justice and fair treatment for everyone.

So, what does this mean for us today? As Christians, we should be thinking about how we can create a more egalitarian society based on the spirit of Utitarianism defined as “The Greatest Good for the Greatest Many” (You could say this puts the commandment of Love your Neighbor as Yourself in a theoretical paradigm.)

This doesn't mean everyone has to have exactly the same stuff, but it does mean we should work to make sure everyone has what they need.

Some practical ways to do this might be:

1. We must denounce the fiat money system and work for sound money legislation so that our resources are authentic and not rigged in favor of the privileged over the villagers.

2. We build a spirit of charity with others in our community not through tokenism, wokeness, a red bucket and bell near Christmas, or toy drives but by creating a macroeconomy based on fairness.

3. We fight each day to join the resistance movement. We resist war, corruption, and our unethical and corrupted fiat money system.

4. The Debt-based economic model and the Federal Reserve Debt Note (and the corresponding Cantillon effect) lead us down the immoral path. We must urgently avoid existing financial instruments and institutions that benefit those who stand closest to the printers. This is 'The Path to Ruin.'

5. It's about supporting organizations that truly help those in need and avoiding those with high administrative costs.

6. But remember, your actions can make a difference. You can give directly to those in need, just as the Good Samaritan did when you saw them on the road.

7. I'm here to speak out each day against the unjust systems that perpetuate poverty for some while others amass wealth.

8. This is why I take to my soapbox each week to discuss the Federal Reserve's role in this injustice, from setting nonsensical interest rates to monetizing debt via QE and money printing, all while fractional reserve banking schemes continue.

9. We all agree that those who stand next to the printers benefit most.

10. The Cantillon Effect, a term used to describe the uneven distribution of wealth in our current economic system, shows that those who receive newly created money first (banks, Wall Street) can spend it before prices rise, gaining purchasing power. Average citizens receive the money later, facing higher prices and reduced buying power.

11. Your ideas are probably better than mine, let’s stay in touch with each other.

Remember, Jesus said, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded" (Luke 12:48). This means that if we have more, we have a bigger responsibility to help others.

The Parable of the Sheep and Goats, also known as the Last Judgment, emphasizes the corporal works of mercy. Jesus teaches that feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming immigrants, and caring for the sick are actions done directly to Him. Those who perform these acts of compassion are the "sheep" welcomed into God's kingdom.

Conversely, those who ignore the vulnerable are the "goats" who neglected Jesus Himself. This parable calls believers to radical citizenship, urging us to see Christ in every person in need and respond with active love and service. It challenges us to move beyond passive faith to engaged, compassionate action in our communities and world.

By following these biblical principles, we can work towards a world where everyone has enough and can limit others from unnecessary suffering or burden because of unfair systems.

It's never easy, but it's an important part of living out our faith!

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Not Financial Advice