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A28 u.s. news
Diasabra 24 OctOber 2020

400 years on, Mayflower's legacy includes pride, prejudice

tory is not friendly and that is tive American tribes and the which have been marginal-
troublesome,” he said. Wampanoags,” Cosstick said. ized in past years. Fifty years
“It’s not as if they went to ago, state officials disinvited
Handy said it's more impor- America in order to steal land a leader of the Wampanoag
tant now than ever now to from an Indigenous popula- Nation to the commemora-
“recognize everyone’s role in tion,” she said. "Much of it tion after learning his speech
our history and the great di- was clearly wrong, but there would bemoan the tribe's
versity of this country.” The are many stories that need to suffering.
U.S. was embroiled in civil be told. And I think the an- This year, many anniversary
unrest this summer, with niversary gives a chance for events were canceled or post-
protesters demanding justice all of those stories to be told.” poned because of the corona-
for George Floyd and other virus pandemic.
Black Americans killed or in- As the racial reckoning has
jured by police. brought new scrutiny to how “We should have never been
African American history is treated the way that we were,
(AP) — Four centuries “Considering my ancestors Ginny Mucciacco, a descen- taught in American schools, our ancestors," Currence
after white Europeans helped incite the racial hier- dant of Mayflower passenger Native Americans have long said. “I think that if they
stepped off the Mayflow- archies that caused the need Degory Priest, said the Pil- pushed for the unvarnished were here now, if they were
er and onto America’s for these movements now, I grims’ work ethic was admi- stories of their ancestors to looking down on us, I think
shores, some descendants do feel ashamed that that had rable. be heard. When the Pilgrims they’d be very proud at the
of the colonists are wres- to be part of history," said Ol- arrived at what we now know movement that’s going for-
tling with the complicated ivia Musoke, 19, whose an- “To have this tie to our ear- as Plymouth, Massachusetts, ward now."
legacy of their ancestors cestor on her mother's side ly history is really, I won’t the Wampanoag tribe helped
amid a global racial reck- arrived in America on the say it’s a privilege, an honor. the exhausted settlers survive Even though the virus has
oning. Mayflower. But it’s just something to be their first winter. But Na- put a damper on the com-
proud of because so many of tive Americans also endured memoration, some members
There is immense pride Musoke, whose father is them worked so hard, for so racism, oppression and new of the Wampanoag tribe say
among those who can trace Black, said the pride she feels many years to help establish diseases brought by the Eu- they're hopeful that the at-
their families back to the pas- in coming from people who this country. And it’s just very ropean settlers. tention on the problem of
sengers who boarded the ship helped settle this country important to me,” said Muc- systemic racism this year will
in Plymouth, England, in “gets diminished by the role ciacco, 90, of Dedham, Mas- “We were exposed to disease. help their voices and stories
1620 to flee religious perse- they played in kind of ma- sachusetts. We were exposed to slavery. be heard in a way they haven't
cution and realize a better life. nipulating and terrorizing I mean, what happened here been before.
Yet for some, the devastat- people of color, which trick- The soul-searching extends was people who came not
ing impact that the Pilgrims' led down to the structures we across the Atlantic to Eng- just for religion — that might “It’s opening up everyone
landing in New England had have today.” land, where Mayflower de- have been their purpose of else’s eyes to how unbalanced
on Native Americans weighs scendants say they, too, are leaving their homeland — the world is and unequal,”
heavily in this moment of For some, it's a difficult issue trying to reconcile pride and but they came here and want- said Troy Currence, Hazel
unrest over systemic racism. to reconcile. prejudice.Vicky Cosstick, a ed to wipe out the existence Harding Currence's son and
“The pilgrims came out of Briton whose ancestors John of a whole culture,” said Ha- a medicine man from the
In interviews with The As- religious persecution in Eng- Alden and Priscilla Mullins zel Harding Currence, 78, of Herring Pond Wampanoag
sociated Press, Americans land. And I’m very proud of were passengers, said she's the Herring Pond Wampano- Tribe.
and Britons who can trace the fact that they set off to troubled by the suffering the ag Tribe of Cape Cod.
their ancestry either to the create their own independent Indigenous people endured "The world is spinning out
Pilgrims or the Indigenous culture,” said Seth Howland — but she doesn't feel guilt. Organizers of the events of control. So I think more
people who helped them sur- Handy, 53, another descen- “I’m of course horrified and planned for this year to com- people are going to be aware
vive talked openly about the dant of a Mayflower passen- appalled to know what hap- memorate the 400th anni- and more sensitive and open
need in 2020 to fairly tell the ger. “But they came to a place pened as a result of British versary of the Mayflower's to receiving a message like
history. where there was existing cul- colonialism in America and arrival pledged to amplify the that,” he said.
ture. And, you know, the his- what happened to their Na- voices of the Wampanoag,

Texas man accused of shooting at Minneapolis police station

(AP) — A Texas man who Donald said Friday that she loosely-connected anti-gov- Boogaloo Bois member Ste-
says he is affiliated with has charged the 26-year-old ernment group, and he made ven Carrillo. Federal pros- MacDonald said Hunter
the Boogaloo Bois anti- Hunter, of Boerne, Texas, statements on social media ecutors have charged Car- made his initial court appear-
government movement with traveling across state describing what he did in rillo in the death of a federal ance Thursday in San Anto-
and is suspected of open- lines to participate in a riot. Minneapolis. protective officer in Oakland, nio, Texas. It's unclear if he
ing fire on a Minneapo- California, during a protest has an attorney. His case isn't
lis police station during According to a criminal com- Police in Austin, Texas, over Floyd's death on the listed in online federal court
a protest in May is fac- plaint, Hunter traveled from stopped a pickup truck on same night Hunter allegedly records from both Minnesota
ing riot charges, a federal Texas to Minneapolis in late June 3 in which Hunter was opened fire in Minneapolis. and Texas.
prosecutor announced May to join in protests over a passenger for multiple traf-
Friday. George Floyd’s death. Floyd, fic violations. Hunter had six
who was Black, died on Me- loaded magazines for a semi-
Video shot on the night of morial Day after a white automatic rifle in a tactical
May 28 shows a person later Minneapolis police officer vest he was wearing. Officers
identified as Ivan Harrison pressed his knee on his neck also found multiple firearms
Hunter firing 13 rounds for nearly eight minutes. The in the truck.
from a semiautomatic as- incident sparked protests
sault-style rifle on the Third against police racism and Several days after the stop,
Precinct police station while brutality across the country. federal suspected of opening
people believed to be looters fire on a Minneapolis police
were inside. According to the complaint, station during a protest in
Hunter claims to be a mem- May agents learned of Hunt-
U.S. Attorney Erica Mac- ber of the Boogaloo Bois, a er's online affiliation with