As part of a nationwide act of recognition and solidarity, the United American Indians of New England and their allies gathered at Plymouth on Thursday for a National Day of Mourning.
Hundreds gathered at the site of the statue of Massasoit, the intertribal chief of the Wampanoag nation and one of the first indigenous leaders to meet the Pilgrims in 1620. Demonstrators met at Cole’s Hill above Plymouth Rock before marching through historic Plymouth, according to the Boston Globe.
A prayer was held at the site of Massasoit’s statue, the Globe noted.
Kimimilasha “Kisha” James, a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag and co-leader of the United American Indians of New England, told the assembled crowd during a Facebook livestream, “We have thrived and flourished. We have persevered.”
“The very fact that you are here is proof that we did not vanish,” James said. “Our very presence frees this land from the lies of the mythmakers and the history books. We will remember all of our ancestors in the struggle that came before us.”
Formed in 1970, the organization describes itself on its website as “a Native-led organization of Native people and our supporters who fight back against racism and for the freedom of [Indigenous activist] Leonard Peltier and other political prisoners. We support Indigenous struggles, not only in New England but throughout the Americas.”
The organization also “seeks to shatter the untrue image of the Pilgrims” and “create a true awareness of Native peoples and history” an event flyer read.
In 1621, Massasoit and the Pilgrims signed a treaty that inaugurated 40 years of peace between them, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The peace ended after Massasoit’s death, resulting in a catastrophic conflict known as King Philip’s War, named after Massasoit’s son — also known as Metacom — who succeeded his father, according to the Bill of Rights Insititute.
The war concluded when King Philip was killed by English settlers driving the Wampanoag and other Indigenous groups out of New England.
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