Columbus Day

Why We Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day

October 14, 2024 Native News Online. Educate! American genocide, Columbus Day, Indigenous Activism, Indigenous Peoples Day

On Monday, Americans will celebrate the millions of people who have lived on this land since time immemorial instead of a lone man who never stepped foot on North American soil. That’s because Americans — including Native Americans — will be celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day rather than Columbus Day. In October 2021, President Joe Biden issued the first-ever presidential proclamation declaring the second Monday in October Indigenous People’s Day to celebrate and honor the invaluable contributions and resilience of Native Americans. The proclamation was the culmination of a decades-long effort by Native Americans to get the United States to cast aside Columbus Day in favor of honoring Indigenous communities and their inherent stewardship over the land.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act Reintroduced In Congress

October 4, 2023 Native News Online. Create! Columbus Day, Congress, Indigenous Peoples Day, Indigenous Rights

The bicameral Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act to replace Columbus Day as a federal holiday and designate the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day has been reintroduced in Congress. The legislation was reintroduced by Representatives Sharice Davids (KS-03), Norma J. Torres (CA-35), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), and Suzan DelBene (WA-01), along with Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM). The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act has garnered 56 cosponsors in the House of Representatives. “Our country has long failed to recognize and acknowledge its dark history of erasure and harm brought upon the first inhabitants of the Americas,” Norma Torres (CA-35) said.

A Guide To Celebrating Indigenous People’s Day

October 13, 2019 Taylor Payer, BGD Blog. Organize! Columbus Day, Decolonization, Indigenous Peoples

Has your city recently abolished Columbus Day and adopted Indigenous Peoples Day? Are you looking for some ways to celebrate the holiday? While I am not usually in the business of educating folks on Native things (there are plenty of Native folks out here doing this work I am just not one of them) something about this day has me feeling generous. Lucky for you, I come from a gift-giving culture (you’re welcome). Here are some ideas: 1. Find out the name of the tribe(s) whose land you live on and then make sure all your friends and family know that name. Understand that while you did not personally colonize or commit genocide against an entire people you are the benefactor of those legacies of violence and displacement. Know those legacies.

Goodbye Columbus – Hello Indigenous Peoples Day

October 13, 2019 Amy Goodman and Dennis Moynihan, Democracy Now. Create! climate crisis, Columbus Day, Decolonization, Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous Peoples Day is increasingly being celebrated across the U.S. in place of Christopher Columbus Day, as the myth of Columbus as beneficent discoverer is debunked and as the critical role of indigenous people in protecting the planet becomes more recognized. Indigenous defenders of Mother Earth are often at the front lines of environmental destruction, confronting militarized state and corporate power against enormous odds, with courage and determination. Columbus arrived in the Bahamas 527 years ago, unleashing a brutal genocide that killed tens of millions of native people across the hemisphere. Now, as the sixth great extinction accelerates and the planet catastrophically heats up, it may well be indigenous peoples who save us all.

Columbus And The Legacy Of Genocide

October 8, 2018 Nican Tlaca, www.dailykos.com Educate! Columbus Day

By Nican Tlaca for Daily Kos, October 12th is Columbus Day, a day which is increasingly coming under criticism for celebrating a genocidal pirate, murderer, rapist, and enslaver who is credited with the “discovery” of the Western Hemisphere. Most people today dismiss the notion that Columbus “discovered” a land that was already packed with 100 million people and 6,000 years of thriving civilizations (the earliest urban center with communal architecture is at Porvenir, Peru, dating back to 4930 B.C., according to Haas et al, 2004). The world that Europeans “encountered” (read: “invaded”) was not that of a barren wilderness, sparsely populated by nomadic tribes; but a continent filled with wealthy, urban civilizations and complex, sedentary farming cultures.

Act Out! Hitler Day, Columbus Day And More

October 13, 2017 Eleanor Goldfield, www.occupy.com Resistance Report Columbus Day, Environment, Indigenous Rights, Standing Rock

By Eleanor Goldfield for Occupy.com. This week on Act Out!, why Indigenous People's Day matters: Decolonizing the mind, the power of language, ideas and shifting paradigms. Next up, there's an epidemic of horrendous proportions in this country – and yet you may not have heard about it. We talk about the recently introduced Savanna's Act and raising awareness for stolen sisters. Finally, we sit down again with Mohawk film maker Paulette Moore. Kahsto'sera'a Paulette Moore is a Kanien'kehaka (Mohawk) filmmaker and educator currently collaborating with Free Speech TV to complete a series of films about the 2016/17 Standing Rock water protection actions. Her focus is to decolonize and Indigenize media arts in the context of Indigenous response to environmental extraction.

Columbus Day Was A Gift From Sleepy Hollow Author Washington Irving

October 9, 2017 William Francis Keegan, www.theconversation.com Educate! Colonialism, Columbus Day, US history

By William Francis Keegan for Red Green and Blue - In 1496, Columbus was the governor of a colony based at Santo Domingo, in what is now the modern Dominican Republic – a job he hated. He could not convince the other “colonists,” especially those with noble titles, to follow his leadership. They were not colonists in the traditional sense of the word. They had gone to the Indies to get rich quick. Because Columbus was unable to temper their lust, the Crown viewed him as an incompetent administrator. The colony was largely a social and economic failure. The wealth that Columbus promised the Spanish monarchs failed to materialize, and he made continuous requests for additional financial support, which the monarchs reluctantly provided. By 1500, conditions in Hispaniola were so dire that the Crown sent Francisco de Bobadilla to investigate. Bobadilla’s first sight, at the mouth of the Ozama River, was four Spanish “mutineers” hanging from gallows. Under authority from the king, Bobadilla arrested Columbus and his brothers for malfeasance and sent them to Spain in chains. Columbus waited seven months for an audience at the court. He refused to have his chains removed until the meeting, and even asked in his will to be buried with the chains.

Christopher Columbus: No Monuments For Murderers

October 8, 2017 Bill Bigelow, zinnedproject.org Educate! Colonialism, Columbus, Columbus Day, Racism

By Bill Bigelow for Zinn Educate Project. There is nothing murky about Columbus’ legacy of slavery and terrorism in the Americas. The record is clear and overwhelming. The fact that The New York Times could report this with such confidence — adding that “most Americans learn rather innocently, in 1492 [Columbus] sailed the ocean blue until he discovered the New World” — means that educators and activists still have much work to do. In fact, Christopher Columbus launched the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1494, when he sent back at least two dozen enslaved Taínos, including children, to Spain. In February of that year, Columbus dispatched 12 of his 17 ships from the Caribbean back to Spain with a letter to be delivered to the king and queen by Antonio de Torres, captain of the returning fleet. Columbus wrote: There are being sent in these ships some Cannibals, men and women, boys and girls, which Your Highnesses can order placed in charge of persons from whom they may be able better to learn the language while being employed in forms of service, gradually ordering that greater care be given them than to other slaves.

Video Shows Pickup Truck Plowing Into Native American Rights Protesters

October 13, 2016 Sam Levin, www.theguardian.com Resist! Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples, Native Americans, Protests

By Sam Levin for The Guardian - Reno police are investigating reports of a pickup truck plowing into a group of Native American rights demonstrators after dramatic video emerged showing the vehicle’s occupants arguing with activists, revving the engine and then speeding into the crowd. Police chief Jason Soto said the 18-year-old male pickup driver and 17-year-old passenger contacted police three minutes after Monday evening’s incident beneath the famous arch with the Nevada city’s slogan, Biggest Little City in the World

Native American Activists Ramp Up Push To Rebrand Columbus Day

October 12, 2015 Laila Kearney, www.reuters.com Resist! America, Columbus Day, Indigenous Activist

By Laila Kearney for Reuters, NEW YORK, Oct 9 (Reuters) - About four miles from the world's largest Christopher Columbus parade in midtown Manhattan on Monday, hundreds of Native Americans and their supporters will hold a sunrise prayer circle to honor ancestors who were slain or driven from their land. The ceremony will begin the final day of a weekend "powwow" on Randall's Island in New York's East River, an event that features traditional dancing, story-telling and art. The Redhawk Native American Arts Council's powwow is both a celebration of Native American culture and an unmistakable counterpoint to the parade, which many detractors say honors a man who symbolizes centuries of oppression of aboriginal people by Europeans.

Why Do We Celebrate American Genocide?

October 12, 2014 Podcast American genocide, Columbus Day, Indigenous Rights

Monday, October 13, is celebrated in many places around the United States as Columbus Day after Christopher Columbus. In school,

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