"Thanksgiving in History and Prison"

Let me start by saying that on Thanksgiving Day we prisoners are given the best meal of the year. The holiday meal in prison consists of few ounces of turkey, one slice of ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce and a slice of pumpkin pie. It is the highlight of an otherwise ever declining food entre’, like I said, I was very pleased with my meal and a good time was had by all.

Being of a curious nature I asked some of the cons in my cell-block if they knew “why” we celebrate “Thanksgiving Day” here in America, and I was not surprised to hear that most, had no clue. What the heck are kids learning in school these days? Knowing as I do that other cons and European friends read this, I thought I’d give you the Mayor Mark version of a history lesson that culminates into the reason we celebrate what we call “The Thanks Giving.”

The beginning? maybe 🙂

Across the northern part of China and Europe is a vast stretch of very cold land we called “the Steppes”. In more modern times this land swath would be, among other things, called Mongolia, and Mongolia is the home of a people we call, the Mongols. The Mongol people are not an individual race, they are a mixture of Asians and Europeans, and the history of this people and the violence with which they used to destroy much of China and parts of Europe is well documented in both histories, culminating in the most infamous of all Mongols, Genghis Khan! A hard land makes a hard people.

It is this linage of people, The Mongols, are the people archaeologists have proven crossed over an ice-land-bridge from Russia and into Alaska some, 13,000 years ago. Gradually over the centuries these people migrated south into the United States, Mexico and South America. Point is, the “Native American”, the American Indian, and DNA has proven this correct, are a mixture of Asians and Europeans, they are without a doubt the descendants of the Mongol hordes who rode the Steppes of Russia and China. Why is this important? I tell you this because we have this great debate in America about our linage, about who was here first, and the truth is this: we were all here first, because, we are all the same people! However, I of course am one of the growing number of people who do not believe that the Mongol/Native Americans, were, the first here in America, I believe that long before the Eurasian Mongols came here and became the American Indian, that there were people already living here. I site an article in “Archaeology Magazine” deck. 2012 called “Who came to America first?”

In this article, author, Nikhil Swamkinathan brings to light recent artifacts, stone tools and such, found in the Paisley Caves in central Oregon which date a 1000 years before the first Mongols crossed over from Russia to Alaska. I also site the “Spirit Cave Mummy”, “Kennewick Man” and even American Indian Legend as proof that there were people here in America long before the Mongolians, a true native people who were systematically displaced, murdered or interbreed out of existence by the new “Amerind” tribes. In her book, “Life Among the Paiutes” Sarah Winemucca Hopkins, the daughter of the great Paiute Chief Winnemucca, relates one of her tribal legends about a people they called the Si-Te-Cah, a people her tribe encountered when first arriving in their new land, a people very different from her own people, I quote from, pg 75.
“My people say that the tribe we exterminated had reddish hair. I have some of their hair,
which has been handed down from father to son. I have a dress which has been in our family
a great many years, trimmed with reddish hair. I am going to wear it some time when I
lecture. It is called a mourning dress, and no one has such a dress but my family.”

My point is, that this continent has a long, colorful and violent history, one that we, even today, do not completely understand. The historical facts are: The Mongolians who came to America took the land from the people who were already here, the first Native Americans, and then the Europeans displaced them and left us with this melting pot comprised of all people and all races…and that, in a nut shell, is what makes America one of the great places to live.

In comparison, the history of the United States is no less violent than that of any other country, or people…people are inherently violent, that’s not a white thing, a black thing or and Asian thing, that’s a human thing. And that my friends leads me to our great traditional holiday of “Thanksgiving”.

During the time when the Europeans came to America and began to settle, to take land that had previously belonged to the “New: Native Americans, strife of course turned into ill feelings, the same ill feeling I’m sure the Si-Te-Cah felt, anyway, during this time when the Europeans were displacing the “new” Native Americans a bountiful time of peace and trust came between the Europeans and the “new” Native people. In a time of distress, the “new” Natives brought food to the Europeans and shared with them their prosperity, and from this a holiday of thankfulness was created by the Europeans in honor of those Eurasian tribes who superseded them and their kindness. Thanksgiving Day, here in America, is representative of a day when the first settlers of the United States shared not only a common “ancestry” with the Amerind Indian Tribes, the first “officially recognized” settlers, but a time of peace and goodwill. A peace long forgotten and since replaced with a racial/ethnic pride built upon lies and untruth.

Thanksgiving to me is not about the ego of the Native Americans, or the Europeans, it is about taking “one” day, just one day, out of each year, to give thanks to God, for all our blessings, such as they might be. To read more on the “first” Native Americans I suggest you go to the internet where I’m sure there are thousands of newly updated articles. One more thing: the Si-Te-Cah where said to have been redheaded…which is interesting, but Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins also described them as very “tall” and that leads me to another point of interest: did you know that there are legends about “giants” living in America, previous to the “new” Native Americans? No dummy, I ain’t talking about thirty foot giants, I’m talking about tribes of people whose average height would have made them Basketball players in today’s society. Look that up, very interesting piece of history.

And now, what could I, an outcast, a ,leper, possibly have to be thankful for? Well, for me, the answer is simple, I thank God for my life, my family and you who take of your own precious time to hear the words I rapaciously throw over these fences and walls, yes, I am thankful for you. I am also thankful for the small things too, so as soon as I could, I took the turkey I had saved from my meal outside and shared it with my only friend, Boss Man…I am thankful for him, too.

I had hoped to inform you that my texting service was once again operational, but, Peace be with you all, and I hope that you can find something to be thankful for, not only on Thanksgiving Day, but everyday.

 

Tree Rivers, 11-27-17