4) After reading Keeler ("Thanksgiving: A Native American..."), one could respond:

"Yes, I know that Thanksgiving -- with its ideology of white people and native people sitting down to eat at the same table and living in peace -- is, in many respects, a lie (imagine if Germany created a holiday, "Thanksgiving," where they invoked a make-believe history of Jewish Germans and Aryan Germans sitting down to eat together and live in peace -- wouldn't this be an awkward and absurd attempt to white-wash Germany's genocidal history of mass murder?).

However, I don't think about Indian genocide when I'm with my family at Thanksgiving, and I don't think I have to, in order to be an ethical person. I simply give thanks for all I have; in fact, I resent the idea that I am somehow morally obligated to even mention the genocide against native people that took place (I didn't do it), so this country could exist as it does today (on stolen land, etc.). It's enough for me to focus on the positive -- I will leave it to the public schools (and, if one home schools, ethical parent-teachers) to educate us about the immoral aspects of America's history, but it is not appropriate to bring this up at a happy Thanksgiving family gathering. I'm definitely not going to tell my friends and family that I observe "American Indian Remembrance Day / Genocide Awareness Day"!

Of course, I agree that we should remember history (so we do not repeat it), but sometimes a holiday is just a holiday. Even if my ancestors were the victims of U.S. colonialism/genocide, I still would not let that stop me from giving thanks on this special day. If you want to give thanks that this government did not succeed in exterminating all native peoples completely, then go ahead, but I think this holiday is what you make of it."

What do you think of this response? Why is it strong or weak?