FSU RA defends Thanksgiving display denigrating Pilgrims

A Thanksgiving-themed display at Florida State University was recently updated to assert that its trashing of the Pilgrims was not intended to “offend” anyone.

In fact, the bulletin board in one of FSU’s residence halls, which Campus Reform recently reported on, now encourages students who feel they have been discriminated against to avail themselves of the school’s bias reporting protocol.

[RELATED: Students call Columbus statue ‘celebration of genocide’]

“Feel as though you or someone you know have been discriminated against? Go to report.fsu.edu to file a report,” the bulletin board now states.

Campus Reform initially reported on the display’s hostility towards the Pilgrims, promoting “facts” such as “Native Americans provided most of the food but naturally the white settlers took credit” and “the majority of pilgrims couldn’t farm or build anything.”

Now, the board has been updated with a “disclaimer” to ensure students that the board was “meant to offend no one,” noting that the resident assistant who created the board did “not mean to imply for you not to celebrate the holiday” but simply wanted students to be “aware of the issues facing indigenous peoples.”

[RELATED: Schools replace Columbus Day with ‘Indigenous Peoples Day’]

“The intention of this board is for you to read this and for it to create dissonance in your past beliefs,” the RA asserts. “I want you all to question what you have been taught and also appreciate where we, as a country, have come from.”

Campus Reform reached out the RA for comment on the recent additions, and is currently awaiting a reply. This story will be updated if and when a response is received.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski