Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Thanksgiving. I see why many people like it a lot. It’s the day where you and your family get together, watch football, eat and have fun. But there are some major problems with the holiday, mainly the origin.

We’re introduced to the origin of Thanksgiving very early in life, usually in the 2nd or 3rd grade. However, the origin we are taught is a lie. The way teachers explain it is that the pilgrims who came in the Mayflower and the Native Americans had both helped each by surviving difficulties with obtaining food in the harsh environment, and then they decided to have a big feast to celebrate their relationship. Well, the truth is much more complicated and a lot darker. Although, the Native Americans did help the pilgrims with harvesting and farming, their relationship was not good. The Mayflower pilgrims  stole the Native Americans’ food, robbed their graves and they thought of them as satanic heathens, according to Chicago Tribune.

There are several groups of people who refuse to celebrate the holiday due to the negative connotation that it holds, such as many Native Americans now, and many Americans who feel guilty about what happened.

Professor Robert Jensen of the University of Texas at Austin, who knows a lot about the topic, even claims that it’s immoral to keep celebrating it.

“One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting,” Jensen said.

The message of gratefulness really has nothing to do with the historical events that it came from. Some people such as myself think that Christmas does that better though. Thanksgiving as a day isn’t bad, but next time you start setting up the table for a giant feast, think a little more about the history of the day you’re celebrating, and happy holidays!