PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Not long after the sun rose on Thanksgiving Day in Pasco County’s Anclote River Park, Sheridan Murphy arrived with plans not to eat turkey and dressing, but to mark National Day of Mourning as indigenous sites face threats across the state.
“We have burial sites all over the state that are under attack: Brickel in Miami, Suni Sands in Jupiter,” said Murphy, executive director of the Florida Indigenous Alliance. “Of the parks that they were going to turn into golf courses and resorts and pickleball, most of them had burials that would have been impacted. And so, it's a constant struggle to get that protected.”
There were also threats at Anclote River Park, where plans to build a restaurant near a historic Native American mound generated pushback.
“They backed off the restaurant and some of the other things they had planned for here. In discussions about burial sites, they went to the step of doing some ground penetrating radar,” Murphy said. “We would have liked to see more areas, but, you know, they did come that far to go do that. So, I have to give Pasco County credit for trying to do that.”
For years, Murphy has led local demonstrations to commemorate National Day of Mourning, which started in 1970 on Thanksgiving as a way to honor indigenous communities. Many Native Americans reject Thanksgiving celebrations, saying the holiday is a painful reminder of the death, disease and destruction that came with European settlers’ arrival to North America.
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“We want people to understand that the interaction between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag and Pequot people was not the little saltshakers from Publix but was a horrific genocide that was done to them,” said Murphy, who claims Lakota ancestry. “If you want to have one special day for [Thanksgiving]…make it about family and caring for each other and acknowledge the genocide that happened here. If you want to talk about natives, acknowledge the reality that has gone on since, you know, 1620, 1492.”
Emerald Morrow is an investigative reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. Like her on Facebook and follow her on Bluesky and X. You can also email her at emorrow@10tampabay.com.