More November Updates from the LAB Group

The LAB (Land Acknowledgment and Beyond) Group invites you to consider these things:

1. Thanksgiving Considerations:

• the history of “Thanksgiving” from a Native point of view
• learn why Thanksgiving Day for us might be marked as a Day of Mourning for
  our Native neighbors
• think about whether the ways we decorate or reenact historical events that
  Thanksgiving commemorates reinforce traditional stereotypes.

Resources about Thanksgiving:

• Native Hope’s 2023 “History of Thanksgiving from a Native American
  Perspective”
• The Hook and Ladder Theater, along with Fire in the Village, will host “Decolonize Thanksgiving 3.0 with Annie Humphrey, David Huckfelt and Special Guests” – a special Indigenous concert offering a different perspective on the Thanksgiving holiday. November 29, 2024, from 7 –11:30 p.m.

2. Black Friday Considerations

• Friday, November 29, 2024, the day we now call “Black Friday,” is National Native American Heritage Day.
• On this day we are encouraged to honor the persistence, resilience and resolve of Indigenous people throughout the country and to honor that legacy by recognizing Native Americans as the first people of this nation and
  celebrating their integral importance to our past, our present, and our future.

Resources for National Native American Heritage Day:

• Native Hope’s 2023 Native American Heritage Day blog. More about the history
  of this holiday and ways you might partner with Native Americans working to
  bring about a “world with no barriers for Native Americans.”
• President Joe Biden’s “Proclamation on National Native American Heritage
  Month, 2024”
• Minnesota’s Native American Heritage Month 2024 Proclamation, providing
  Minnesota specifics

3. Looking Ahead:

• The LAB Book Discussion Group will meet on Tuesday, December 10 at 7
  PM to discuss Chapters 6, 7 and 8 of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the
  United States – For Young People. Please plan to join us – even if you did not
  make the first meetings and/or of you have not read all the chapters.
• Land Acknowledgement and Beyond Large Group will meet next on
  Tuesday, January 6, 2025 at 7 PM. We will continue to develop our Action Plan
  for 2025. A Zoom link will be shared closer to the meeting date.
• Another Offering – from Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light:
  Reparations Learning Labs: We are offering monthly, hour-long, interactive
  sessions on Zoom that invite people into deeper reflection, work, and action
  towards repair and reparation.
  – These sessions are intended for white-bodied people from across different
  identities, lineages, traditions, and geographies who are already committed to the work of repair and reparation, and who want to continue to learn, grow, and build community.                                                                                              – We will focus on moving from ideas towards action, and on building
  personal, collective, and systemic reparations practices. Black, Indigenous,
  Brown, and Native folks and other people of color are also welcome to join.
  -RSVP to the events you want to attend:
  Spiritual Practices | Wednesday, December 11 | Noon – 1 pm
  Political Solidarity | Wednesday, January 8 | Noon – 1 pm
  Wealth Return | Wednesday, February 12 | Noon – 1 pm
  All sessions will take place over Zoom.