"Obscuring bitter truths about historical crimes helps perpetuate the fantasy of American benevolence, which makes it easier to sell contemporary imperial adventures -- such as the invasion and occupation of Iraq -- as another benevolent action."

"No Thanks to Thanksgiving" by Robert Jensen at AlterNet.

These days whenever somebody asks me what I'm doing for Thanksgiving, after polite explanations that I am not a turkey person (and I absolutely despise cranberry sauce), I usually wind it up by saying something along the lines of "If the Indians had known what was going to happen, they'd have sent the Pilgrims packing." Or words to that effect.

(For more background on early New England's bloody history and how the holiday was made official see "Cooking the History Books: The Thanksgiving Massacre; Is All That Turkey and Stuffing a Celebration of Genocide?" by Laura Elliff, archived at the Bloomington-Normal Independent Media Center's website.)