Thanksgiving: Time to Consider Native Americans' Plight

Common Dreams - This Thanksgiving season, the nation should finally commit itself to bridging the socioeconomic divide between the descendents of those who came together during the first Thanksgiving: the Native Americans and the white newcomers. More than cranberry sauce and turkey, this type of reflection and action is essential to the holiday season.

Recently, President Barack Obama hosted a White House Tribal Nations conference with representatives from all 564 federally recognized U.S. tribes. Bringing "about meaningful change for those who had, for too long, been excluded from the American dream," was a driving force behind his presidential bid, Obama said. "And few have been more marginalized and ignored by Washington for as long as Native Americans, our first Americans." The president's words deeply resonate with the findings in my upcoming report, "Challenges to Native American Advancement." Read more.