Plymouth, Massachusetts Kisha James (Aquinnah Wampanoag and Oglala Lakota), co-leader of United American Indians of New England (UAINE), opened the rally by telling the history of NDOM, which was founded in 1970 by her grandfather, the late Wamsutta Frank James. Kisha James quoted an accou

“When people celebrate the myth of Thanksgiving, they are not only erasing our genocide but celebrating it,” said James. “We did not simply fade into the background, as the Thanksgiving myth says. We have survived and flourished. We have persevered. The very fact that you are here is proof that we did not vanish. Our very presence frees this land from the lies of the history books and the mythmakers.”

(See also: Leonard Peltier’s greeting to National Day of Mourning.)