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Syracuse student calls Thanksgiving 'celebration of genocide' in campus newspaper column
By Joshua Nelson
Published November 28, 2025
A Syracuse University student wrote in The Daily Orange, the university’s campus newspaper, that Thanksgiving is a "celebration of genocide."
"Thanksgiving is, in essence, a celebration of genocide. The mass rationalization of this fact sustains the contemporary structures that inform American culture itself. Without genocide, the foundation of our traditional American identity falls apart," Mateo Lopez-Castro wrote in a column last week.
Citing the John Sullivan campaign, he said the country at the outset of the American Revolution opted for "mass erasure" instead of peace and diplomacy toward Indigenous people in the country, "creating adequate conditions for the expansion of settler colonialism" and its development as an "independent entity," Lopez-Castro wrote.
A Syracuse University student wrote in The Daily Orange, the university’s campus newspaper, that Thanksgiving is a "celebration of genocide." (iStock)
Lopez-Castro noted slavery and "white supremacy" as being celebrated throughout literature and film, including the film "Gone With the Wind," although the U.S. "used the enslavement of African people as the primary tool in their respective genocide."
U.S. society rationalizes genocide, Lopez-Castro claims, and the collective denial of genocide's effects allows it to survive.
Lopez-Castro, a senior sociology, television, radio and film major, urged that Americans educate themselves to challenge pre-established understandings of American society and "transform our culture." (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
"Our entire society was built on genocide and continues to be," Lopez-Castro wrote.
SHIFTING THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS REFLECT BROADER POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DIVIDES
"We have internalized, accepted and standardized it throughout our efforts of cancerous growth. Recent American media, like the 2018 show ‘Yellowstone’ and the 2018 film ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,’ have hesitated from or ignored the accuracy necessary to properly contextualize the role of Indigenous people in their stories," the student added.
Lopez-Castro, a senior studying sociology, television, radio and film, pivoted to the Trump administration’s handling of the dissemination of information about the conflict in Gaza.
"Donald Trump’s administration has taken great efforts to silence the truths about the genocide against the Palestinians. It seeks to weaponize our struggles so that we may turn on one another, mold false narratives in the media and whitewash our true history and current reality. It pedestals genocidal campaigns and looks to hand out awards for its accomplices," Lopez-Castro wrote.
A Syracuse student criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the dissemination of information about the conflict in Gaza. (AP/Evan Vucci)
UNIVERSITIES, SCHOOL DISTRICTS NATIONWIDE CALL FOR 'DECOLONIZING' THANKSGIVING: 'DAY OF MOURNING'
Lopez-Castro urged that Americans educate themselves to challenge their pre-established understandings of American society and "transform our culture."
Universities and colleges across the country marked Thanksgiving with alternative events protesting the national holiday, according to reports from college news websites.
Diversity offices at several colleges held events this month on "decolonizing" Thanksgiving and acknowledging the "National Day of Mourning," which falls on Thanksgiving Day.
Lopez-Castro did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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