#American innocence

[misschanandlerbong-3]

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I really appreciate that this is a time of year designated to spend time with family and engage in family traditions of meals shared together and community.

However. At the same time, and not discounting that. This is your annual reminder that the Thanksgiving origin stories we tell play a significant role in the propagandizing narrative of American innocence with regards to indigenous peoples.

This time of year, we often, in addition to spending time with family, do the ritual retelling of the "origin story" of Thanksgiving, whether this be kids learning in school about the first Thanksgiving between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag/Wôpanâak peoples, watching the Charlie Brown special retelling this, or dressing up as pilgrims and Indians. This narrative, regardless of its veracity or attention to the surrounding context, is often one of the only narratives we tell about American colonies and indigenous peoples. Its dominance in our collective imagination is reinforced by our ritual retelling of it every year. And it does this in the relative scarcity of narratives about the horrors American colonists inflected upon indigenous peoples as they wiped out large swaths of indigenous people through violence and disease, not to mention various forms of gendered violence.

I want to emphasize that it is the lack of these narratives of the violence Americans inflicted (and continue to inflict) upon Native Americans, in combination with the dominance of the Thanksgiving narrative, that contribute to a continuing imagining of America as innocent, as not owing indigenous peoples reparations as well as an end to violence and recognition of sovereignty.

And this trope of American innocence is not limited to our relation to indigenous peoples. It comes up again when we talk about slavery and African Americans (see, for example, the resistance to The 1619 Project, which was attempting to relieve the narrative scarcity around the horrors of slavery). It comes up again when we talk about Asian Americans the specific forms of racist violence that America has always subjected them to (from the treatment of Asian immigrants working on railways to the Japanese detention camps of WWII to the violence visited upon Asian Americans during Covid). And so much more.

And this narrative of American innocence is especially reinforced by trying to put temporal distance between the oppression Americans acknowledge and us now. For example, when people respond to BLM or demands for reparations with "but that was in the past, get over it." Or the continual rhetorical positioning of indigenous peoples as "ancient" or as not continuing to struggle for existence and thriving.

And we see it again in the US's respond to the mass genocide of Palestinian civilians by the state of Israel.

As I said at the beginning, I appreciate Thanksgiving as a time to come together with family and participate in family traditions. But I can simultaneously recognize that Thanksgiving and the narratives we tell around it are part and parcel to the, I repeat, propagandizing narrative of American innocence, which serves to legitimize the continuing oppression of people of color, indigenous peoples, and many other minority populations in the US, as well as abroad.

I highly, highly encourage you to:

(i) read up a bit on these attempts to tell other stories countering the trope of American innocence (for example, Viet Than Nguyen's The Sympathizer, or the 1619 Project, or Dorothy Roberts's Fatal Invention, or Kim Tallbear's Native American DNA, or Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's As We Have Always Done, or Nesrine Malik's We Need New Stories, and so many others)

(ii) support indigenous groups like the NDN collective, and educate yourself on the indigenous peoples who lived and continue to live in your area (so, for Pittsburgh, look into the Council of the Three Rivers American Indian Center)

(iii) learn what indigenous groups are actually asking for, for example the NDN collective's statement concerning Palestine, or educating yourself on what demands for "sovereignty" mean for indigenous peoples in the US

But I also encourage you to enjoy your time with family this holiday! It's a special time that I'm glad the institutions of America give us time for

#thanksgiving #indigineous people #American innocence #colonialism #narrative #also go listen to Intersectionality Matters #such a good podcast #indigenous peoples day #we need new stories #also love Dorothy Roberts we Stan

[goryhorroor]

british horror movies

#OK BEFORE EVERYONE YELLS AT ME THERES ONE MAIN REASON I DIDN'T INCLUDE ALIEN OR AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON #THEY'RE BOTH CONSIDERED BOTH AMERICAN & BRITISH SO I JUST LEFT THEM ALONE #horror #british horror movies #saint maud #the haunting #kill list #the innocents #ghostwatch #the devils #repulsion #peeping tom #28 days later #borderlands #the descent #the wicker man #hellraiser #the ritual #shaun of the dead #host #eden lake #dog soldiers #don't look now #dead of night #witchfinder general #horror of dracula #the blood on satan's claw #the hunger #the company of wolves #the vampire lovers

[shihlun]

Jim Jarmusch

- Permanent Vacation

1980

Aki Kaurismäki

- Drifting Clouds

1996

#jim jarmusch #permanent vacation #aki kaurismaki #Drifting Clouds #Aki Kaurismäki #the savage innocents #nicholas ray #film within film #film poster #night on earth #l'argent #Kauas pilvet karkaavat #finnish film #american film

[naneki-maid]

just finished reading the Age of Innocence and the last line that Archer speaks to himself, sitting on the bench outside Madame Olenska’s Paris balcony after not seeing her in almost 30 years has left me unwell.

“It’s more real to me here than if I went up.”

Cancel all my calls. I will be bedridden for several days. thanks.

#the age of innocence #edith wharton #Edith you monster. read those last few pages through TEARS. would not stop #american literature #classic literature #1920 #1921 Pulitzer Prize winner #quotes #writing #newland archer you rat bastard!!! I hate you so much! #Madame Ellen Olenska has never done anything wrong ever #💗💗💖 #I played myself. #I thought it wouldn’t end like this… #I wanna know more about her…was my lady happy after all those years? did she ever think about him? sobbing at her feet? #faaaack 🙃😭😭💗 #words

[knownoshamc]

When my grandpa was around 14 years old, he joined the Greek resistance against the German and Italian occupation (smuggling food, helping Jewish people hide). One of my mom's stronger first memories is going to a protest for the war in Vietnam. One of my own, is standing in a protest against the war in Afghanistan, with people screaming "φονιάδες των λαών, αμερικανοι!" ("Murderers of people/nations, [are the] Americans"). Now I go to protests about Azerbaijan with an Armenian friend.

People have always stood against wars, against the deaths of innocent people.

Why now, protesting against the war in Palestine, is wrong?

#palestine #ive been thinking about this for a while #and I asked people yesterday why it is considered antisemitic to criticise Israel #and i got some answers #I think this is one of the thing that baffles me #usa attacked Afghanistan because of 9/11 #and a lot of people claimed this was just an excuse #israel attacked Palestine because of october 7 #and people say they took it way too far/that theyve wanting to do it for a while #so I dont get why this is antisemitic #since it is people standing against any powerful country that kills innocents #and in my country we are very anti american imberialism/wars in general #(not in my country specifically but thats what I know for sure)

[amerasdreams]

I'm sorry but you're either for Ukraine or for russia. There is no middle ground. I don't care what your normal politics are. This isn't about politics. This is about people's lives. About them not being taken over by a country that is not only bombing them but raping and torturing them.

If you don't think we should do all we can possibly do to stop such evil, you are on the wrong side of history.

#Ukraine #I'm serious stop with regular politics for a second #If your politics supports bombing innocent civilians then you really should rethink your politics #I could word this more harshly and more eloquently but I need to go to bed #Just. Look at it from Ukrainains POV once. #Empathy is a thing. #It is our business because russia is big and so Ukraine needs a lot of help #Also russia is not going to stop there #These people with their republican and democrat blah blah blah #Nope I'm not talking about American political race #There is more at stake here. #Any moral person will support the victim over the abuser. #And when I say russia I'm talking about the government and any z ppl and supporters #Not the dissenters who get 15 years for speaking out about Bucha #And the poets who atrack the war and get raped #Wake up people #Look at their reality and quit being so selfish #I'm glad I'm taxed so my tax dollars can go to Ukraine. #I gave #More than that #Which is only about 0.02 cents of average tax vs all the other gov services so.... #Balance #Fight where you want #But there is no option here. #Fight for Ukraine or fight for russia. #To not speak up is to be for murderers and rapists. #I will never back down and this is a thing I ams all should be mad about #How can you not care about them? #If you could help people in Iran wouldn't you? #We habe the opportunity with Ukraine to help but ppl are being such misers

[transpanda-1]

💭Excuse Shampoo, she's currently boiling incandescent with rage over attempting to change her name with her insurance and marketplace saying they might cancel it instead because she's currently unemployed

#shampoo wants the american healthcare system to die one thousand trillion deaths at once and leave every innocent person alive #💭Shampoo❤🩹 #chirps

[elsamars]

favorite american horror story characters · kyle spencer (coven)

this... road... goes... two... ways. what does that mean, kyle? i... love... you.

#kyle spencer #american horror story #coven #ahs #ahsedit #evan peters #epetersedit #evanpetersedit #evanpetersdaily #horrorstorydaily #palesources #paletmblr #tusernic #petersevam #*favahsch #* #*gifs #mine #my innocent angel ♥

[dead-twink-storage]

The true revolutionary future of America where those evil white working class bastards are rendered destitute and their small family home blocks turned into concrete skyscraper housing for Uber drivers and Amazon factory workers as the professional nepotism baby desk jockey narc for social orthodoxy gets to keep his and her gated community McMansion. But its for the better because cramming 3k economic misfits into a concrete insect colony will create a "community" that certainly couldn't exist with some sense of personal space and living standards.

#most of American racial and social politics is a revenge trip against innocent people than it is any means to make a better future for all

[atopvisenyashill]

“why would elaena marry a dornishman when they’re nasty evil people who murdered her poor innocent brother daeron”

maybe because once elaena grew up she realized that there were better ways of bringing dorne into the realm than violent conquest, and that daeron got the death he deserved from not just a nobility that is valid for fearing subjugation from valyria but also a smallfolk sick and tired of these people showing up every few decades to set their principality on fire, and put aside any anti dornish sentiments she may or may not have harbored as a child to see the way her family had directly attributed to their suffering, eventually even falling in love with and marrying a dornish man??

also, considering daeron ii attempts a type of proto-reparations act in bringing dorne into the kingdom, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that someone as intelligent as elaena would recognize the inherent racism in the targaryen conquest of dorne and especially considering the very loud anti-dornish, deeply anti intellectual faction in the blackfyre rebellions, realized they wouldn’t be kind or understanding of an intelligent woman like herself and had no interest in herself or her daughters (of which she had four!!) getting shoved back into the maidenvault again?

like, daeron i is on some andrew jackson manifest destiny shit, and if it makes me an asshole for thinking “god i wish someone had merked jackson before he genocided & displaced my ancestors, good on the dornish for realizing you can’t negotiate with imperialists” than i am perfectly comfortable being considered an asshole right next to my girl elaena.

#everyone discoursing about the young dragon. listen. they should have tortured him before they killed him too. #anti daeron i targaryen #valyrianscrolls #anti house targaryen #idk just in case. clearly i’m not anti everyone i’m complimenting elaena & daeron ii #elaena targaryen #daeron the good #daeron ii targaryen #getting on my soap box #dorne #also when i say ‘my ancestors’ i mean that jackson passed the indian removal act specifically to remove my tribe (and several others) bc #white people in the midwest didn’t like that we wouldn’t leave. #my tribe managed to work somethjng out and only had to move a couple miles away from our homelands. others in our area were forcibly mkced #*moved. look up the potawatomi trail of death. they marched them thru illinois’ capital. dozens including children died. #also read about the fort dearborn massacre. and rising up from indian country which makes the argument that it wasn’t a massacre #but a battle bc white americans had been raiding potawatomi villages for weeks. so the potawatomi struck back and people to this day insist #it was a massacre just bc the potawatomi were better at fighting than the americans. nah. #u don’t get to wage a war of conquest on an innocent and indigenous population just to turn around and say they were mean for fighting back. #i’m sorry i woke up today and decided to choose violence. i’m in an awful mood aksjdjd

[thundergrace]

We do not want this. This is not a decision being made on behalf of the American people. Literally, no one wants this, and we're being forced to pay for it. Our tax dollars funding genocide. I feel sick. I don't think any amount of protests on any scale will change anything because clearly, this is a nefarious and corrupt government decision, likely fueled by greed. It wasn't made with American citizens in mind, so I'm not sure how we can stop it.

#free palestine #we're still dealing with inflation #we're in a housing crisis #they won't forgive all student loan debt #they won't make university free or affordable #won't consider universal health care or #universal basic income #or reparations for Black Americans #and our social security and entitlement programs are always in danger #ALL because of what they claim we can't afford #yet we KEEP giving BILLIONS to other countries #at least it was understandable when it was actual aid #but this is literally for weapons to murder innocent people

[butwhypants]

I feel like a lot of the discussion online about Israel/Palestine is just Americans trying not to come to terms with the fact that they are significantly more responsible for the death of over 900,000 Afghanistan, Syrian, and Iraqi citizens then I am for the 30,000 Palestinians that Israel has killed

#americans are all almost to the last actual colonists on occupied land #55 million native people were genocided - an actual genocide by the way it was 90% of the population - to make room for the US #that is an atrocity. the wars in the middle east are an atrocity. All of it to a scale beyond anything Israel has ever or will ever do #30 million people were displaced because of the indiscriminate bombing of US soldiers #the man who publicly killed himself actively signed up with the intention of participating in that murder of 900000 innocent civilians #and most of the countries we invaded didn't even bomb us - not that it would've justified anything - but like we fully knew that #I am not anti-israel I am anti-war and israel is tragically nowhere close to the top of that list atm #jumblr #politics #I ramble

[mariocki]

Superb faces from David Warner, as Professor Leopold McCarthy in My Best Friend Is a Vampire (I Was a Teenage Vampire, 1987)

#fave spotting #david warner #my best friend is a vampire #i was a teenage vampire #1987 #american cinema #horror film #comedy horror #strong contender for best fave spotting post to date #simply for the quality of those faces #these charming expressions are being pulled as he prepares to stake an innocent teen through the heart btw

[env0writes]

Idle Steps 3.13.24 “360i vs 1080p”

My childhood is filled with cigarette burns In the corner of the memory, Where I spliced it Filled with photo grain Rough and course photos that flatten color Yet in their dullness With wood slat walls Family painted walls Messy and bright and warm The burns and smoke and browns Felt all the more alive Felt far more absence than the frowns My childhood was filled with promise Of the soft and round tomorrow I’m here today and like before Am looking forward still My nows are filled with smoke And sharp and vibrant color With white washed walls Enough to make Tom Sawyer blush Redder than any paint The white the white the white And clean unlived in presentation for sale Felt all the more unliving Felt all the more stale My childhood is over My now is always for sale

@env0writes C.Buck   Ko-Fi & Venmo: @Zenv0 Support Your Local Artist!   Photo by @env0

#writeblrcafe #poeticstories #poetryportal #twc #spilled ink #wutispotlight #writtenconsiderations #idle steps #march #childhood #nostalgia #y2k #2000s #90s #capitalism #consumerism #american gothic #midwest gothic #suburban gothic #loss of innocence #loss of childhood #poetselixir #poetswhisper #env0 writes #twcpoetry #writerscreed #abstractcommunity #savage words

[naneki-maid]

I mean: how shall I explain it? I—it’s always so. Each time you happen to me all over again.

The Age of Innocence (1920) by Edith Wharton

#edith wharton #the age of innocence #books #novels #novel #quotes #quote #classic literature #american literature #my favorite #writings

[thatstudyblrontea]

Edith Wharton (January 24, 1862, New York – August 11, 1937, Paris)

#I love this portrait of her so much #Edith Wharton #american literature #english literature #the age of innocence #ethan frome #women artists #women authors #women writers #american writers #american authors #vintage photography