University at Buffalo Hosts Forum to Discuss ‘Decolonizing Thanksgiving’

The University at Buffalo in New York held a “Decolonizing Thanksgiving” event last week, which questioned if it was “right to celebrate Thanksgiving” and the United States’ “history of settler colonialism.”

The event, which was hosted by the university’s Intercultural and Diversity Center (IDC) on November 21, was part of a segment called “Tough Topics.” Tough Topics events are described as a “weekly open forum” where national, global, and current events are talked about.

“Is it right to celebrate Thanksgiving and America’s history of settler colonialism?” the description of the event said. “What can we do to honor this day of mourning for Native communities? We can redefine the meaning of Thanksgiving and respect indigenous people’s histories.”

This is not the first time that the IDC at the university has hosted an event criticizing Thanksgiving. In 2021, the IDC held an event titled “The Real History of Thanksgiving,” which described the holiday as “whitewashed” and discussed alternatives for Americans to “do in place” of Thanksgiving, according to Campus Reform.

Other universities, such as the University of Michigan and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, have held similar events talking about decolonizing Thanksgiving.

In a press release from the Center for Social Solutions at the University of Michigan in 2021, Thanksgiving was described as a “national day of mourning” for a lot of Native Americans and a “reminder” of the “genocide and decades of suffering” that they endured from the Europeans’ arrival.

The press release offered ways for people “to decolonize” their Thanksgiving celebrations such as learning the “real story behind Thanksgiving” and for people to “support the land back movement.”

Washington University also recently offered a “Decolonizing Thanksgiving” event that was hosted by the university’s Office for International Student Engagement and Cross-Cultural Connections. Students were encouraged to join in for the event to “learn about the holiday’s origins,” and the “impact of colonization on Native American communities.”

Breitbart News reached out to the Intercultural and Diversity Center at the University at Buffalo for a statement but did not receive a response by the time of publication.