APS brings national shame upon NM for woke Thanksgiving memo

Albuquerque Public Schools is once again drawing national scrutiny—this time for a district-wide memo that recasts Thanksgiving not as a day of gratitude, family, and American tradition, but as a moment of “mourning,” “genocide,” and “oppression.” APS now finds itself lumped in with the most aggressively woke school districts and universities in the country, prompting backlash from parents who say the district is pushing ideology instead of education.

The message came directly from APS’ Indian Education Department in its November “Indigenous Updates” bulletin. The memo declares that “many Native people do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims” and describes Thanksgiving as a reminder of the “genocide of millions of Native people, the appropriation of Native lands, and the erasure of Indigenous cultures.”

The memo also aligns APS with activist groups that observe Thanksgiving as a National Day of Mourning, noting that since 1970, demonstrators have gathered on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to mourn the holiday instead of celebrating it. APS frames the day as a time of “protest against the ongoing racism and oppression faced by Indigenous peoples around the world.”

It was only a matter of time before national media noticed. Fox News highlighted APS in a broader report on K-12 schools and elite universities working to “decolonize Thanksgiving,” replace it with “Days of Mourning,” or recast the holiday as a symbol of oppression. The report grouped APS with the University of California–Davis, Washington University in St. Louis, MIT, the University of Massachusetts, and other institutions running events like “Thanksgiving Myth-Busting” sessions, anticolonial food lectures, and classroom re-education programs.

APS’ memo fits squarely into that trend. The district’s bulletin not only reframed Thanksgiving as a symbol of historical wrongdoing, it also promoted lessons, activities, and resources that encourage teachers to challenge the “First Thanksgiving” narrative, “rethink Thanksgiving,” confront “colonization,” and push social-justice-oriented curriculum guides. These materials, included in the APS update, reference “landback,” “MMIWG2,” and other activist frameworks.

Parents in Albuquerque were not given a chance to respond—APS staff had already left for their holiday break and offered no comment when contacted.

Local residents interviewed in Old Town expressed a mix of weariness and resignation. Some supported the memo’s tone, while others said they simply “take advantage of the day off” without giving much thought to celebrations. One resident said the holiday “doesn’t hold much weight” knowing the country’s history. Another said they were “110% for anything that furthers education,” while a third dismissed Thanksgiving as “a fantasy” created for commercial gain.

But on social media, reactions were far more divided. One commenter summarized a growing frustration with APS’ ideological slant: “Anyone in their right mind can acknowledge that the events that happened to Native Americans are horrific. This holiday is about being thankful for the people and things you have in life. Both can coexist.”

Many parents and taxpayers say APS should be focusing on reading scores, math proficiency, and campus safety—not lecturing families about “mourning” and rewriting a holiday cherished by millions. After years of declining test scores and ballooning administrative DEI initiatives, critics argue this latest memo is yet another sign that APS has lost sight of its mission.

As school districts across the nation face backlash for radicalized curriculum shifts, Albuquerque Public Schools has now placed New Mexico in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons—turning what should be a unifying holiday into another ideological battlefield.