Happy “Let’s Stuff Our Faces and Celebrate Colonial Genocide” Day

Image via Everyday Feminism

Thanksgiving is, in theory, a nice, cozy holiday engineered to bring loved ones together around a dinner table laden with delights and reflect back upon a year well lived. It’s a fat, happy afternoon spent gnawing on roasted meat, then an evening passed by arguing lazily over who baked the best pie, all peppered with intrusive questions from your weird aunt. Like so many other national holidays, though, this one’s got plenty of negative connotations on offer alongside the good-natured cheer. Not all theories hold water, and by now, most of us can acknowledge the bloody specter of colonialism and genocide that haunts this autumnal festival. It’s ridiculous to try and deny it. It’s not quite as offensive as the continuing existence of Columbus Day, but it’s not coming from a great place, either, no matter how awesome your Grandma’s pumpkin pie recipe may be. There is a lot of human pain and sorrow associated with the very events this holiday celebrates (as yearly events like New England’s National Day of Mourning makes clear), and the repercussions from those savage early days of European colonization still echo through North America’s indigenous communities with no end in sight.

With that in mind, we decided to assemble a festive Thanksgiving playlist of our own that features furious anthems of rage, rebellion, and anti-colonialist sentiment from North American bands with indigenous members, as well as from those who stand with them in solidarity.
Happy fucking Turkey Day.

Not A Cost – “Burnt Resolution” Pisswalker – “Sueño Americano”

Biipiigwan – Nibaak EP

Welcome to Reality (“Your Pride Drags on the Floor”)