Pilgrims' progress?

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The Pilgrims were brave Christians who risked everything to gain religious freedom in the New World. Or they were fanatical European interlopers, guilty of "genocide" against American Indians. Multiculturalism has taken its toll on the reputation of the small band of Protestant separatists who landed at Plymouth Rock in November 1620.

Only 51 of the 102 who arrived aboard the Mayflower survived the first harsh New England winter. Now the question is whether the Pilgrims can survive political correctness in the 21st century.

As Americans prepare for their annual commemoration of the first Thanksgiving feast -- actually held in October 1621 to celebrate a bountiful harvest -- the Pilgrims are persona non grata in Plymouth, Mass.

Two years ago, the city's Board of Selectmen erected plaques at Plymouth Rock declaring: "Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. To them, Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture."

The anti-Pilgrim agenda is now national policy. Schools that celebrate Thanksgiving with classroom skits about Pilgrims and Indians do so in violation of federal curriculum guidelines.

"At Thanksgiving, shift the focus away from re-enacting the first Thanksgiving," teachers were warned in an instructional guide published by the Department of Education in 1996.

Schools should avoid "classroom role playing of the events of the first Thanksgiving," Pueblo Indian teacher Debbie Reese wrote in the guide, "Teaching Young Children about Native Americans." The guide explains that the "conception of Native Americans gained from such early exposure is both inaccurate and potentially damaging to others."

What most Americans call Thanksgiving, Moonanum James, leader of United American Indians of New England, calls a day of mourning.

"The Pilgrims did not come here seeking religious freedom. They already had that in Holland. They came here as part of a commercial venture," Mr. James declared in a 1999 protest in Plymouth.