Last Friday, as the day got colder and the sky got darker, ARISE hosted its annual Decolonizing Thanksgiving event. This transformative evening unfolded as a tapestry of group activities, story-telling, political education, personal reflections, and community celebrations — woven together with the overarching theme of Indigenous Joy.
The event began as it always does: with an abundance of delicious food, ordered from our beloved community member and star-chef, Chantevy! Youth mingled as they ate, reconnecting, reuniting, and coming together to celebrate this opportunity for community gathering.
The event kicked off with a spirited icebreaker: the Marshmallow Towers challenge. Youth Leaders and Junior Flames teamed up to construct towers made of nothing but marshmallows, spaghetti, string, and tape. The room got loud with giggles, laughter, and yelling as each group raced to build the tallest structure within the allotted time. The only rule: a marshmallow must crown each creation.
Amid the marshmallow mayhem, youth demonstrated the kind of loving, caring teamwork that thrums at the heart of everything ARISE – and as the adult allies watching on, we couldn’t have been more proud. The laughter and camaraderie that filled the space not only set a perfect tone for the evening, but encapsulated the very unity and intergenerational understanding we aspire for in the amplification of Indigenous joy.
The evening continued with a Gallery Walk, featuring portraits and stories of Native and Indigenous leaders, dreamers, and changemakers throughout history up until now. It showcased the diversity of identities, strengths, and talents of Indigenous changemakers, from artists to activists, while simultaneously combatting the harmful myth that Indigenous resistance is relegated to the past. Together, we celebrated the living Indigenous cultures and knowledge systems that continue to shape the world.
This moved us into our teach-in about Palestine. Participants developed an understanding of settler colonialism and imperialism as systems of power, domination, and exploitation rooted in the same ideologies of Western, white supremacy. The session explored how these ideologies led to devastating genocide in across the globe, mass displacement, land theft and destruction of homes, from the Americas to Southeast Asia to Palestine. Youth participants mapped out the “roots” and “symptoms” of colonization through sorting ideologies, tools, and symptoms onto a tree diagram.
With the death tolls in Palestine surpassing 11,000, we held a moment for mourning and collective action. Learn more here.
In close, the Decolonizing Thanksgiving event transcended its role as a gathering; it became a platform for unity, understanding, and celebration. Participants left not only with a deeper awareness of historical and global struggles but also with a renewed commitment to advocating for justice and celebrating the resilience and joy within Indigenous communities.
Our event's teach-in followed from a PASS workshop earlier in the week, where youth explored how the school to prison pipeline is rooted in the same transnational Prison Industrial Complex that generates the ongoing genocide in Palestine. You can read about our workshop here!
