Thanksgiving Spiritual Fast

Shannon Pangani (Diné/Hopi) and Leslie Andrews (Diné/Hopi) prepare for the sunrise at Colorado AIM's fast/vigil at the colorado state capitol building


Over 100 Colorado AIM members and our allies held a spiritual fast and gathering for indigenous spiritual freedom at the Colorado state capitol. The fast was held from sunrise to sunset, with accompanying drumming and sacred songs. The fast was ended with a community meal at the Four Winds American Indian Center in Denver.

Colorado AIM called the fast to bring attention to the hypocrisy of the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving, which is based on the fallacy of religious tolerance and liberty. Colorado AIM recounted the long list of federal court cases in the area of indigenous peoples' religious freedom that have been lost over the past twenty five years.

The most recent case is one that involves the desecration of some of the most sacred sites for the Navajo and Hopi nations in northern Arizona (see www.savethepeaks.org)(see this blog 10/18/05). The trial over the expansion of the Arizona Snow Bowl ski resort concluded last week in federal court in Prescott, AZ.

Colorado AIM and our allies also exposed many of the fallacies of the conventional Thanksgiving story, and made connections between the original ideology of the European empire in our homelands and the ongoing U.S. imperialism in Iraq and around the world. See this encellent article by Robert Jensen on that point. http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1121-22.htm