‘Anti-Thanksgiving’ Event at UVA Raises Conservatives’ Eyebrows
The American Indian Student Union at the University of Virginia has upset some conservative students on campus with an “Anti-Thanksgiving” event. The student group planned and advertised the “Anti-Thanksgiving” event as a potluck where students would “share free food.” They also recently held a screening of “The Only Good Indian,” a film about a Native American boy forced to assimilate into white culture.
AISU is celebrating Native Heritage Month throughout November. The group’s president, Katelyn Krause, told NBC 29 the event was “basically a get-together over food to discuss a native’s perspective on Thanksgiving, the history behind it, what role Native Americans played in Thanksgiving [and] contrast that with the typical American view of Thanksgiving.” But according to fellow student Nicole Bailey, executive-in-chief of a conservative campus newspaper, The Virginia Advocate, it was just “a way to raise awareness about the less glamorous parts of America’s history.”